This Superhot Hot Sauce Recipe is made with a variety of superhot chili peppers including carolina reapers, 7-pot peppers and scorpion peppers. It's extremely hot and not for the faint of heart. For true chiliheads only!
Superhot Hot Sauce Recipe
OK, my friends. It's time to reveal one of the hottest hot sauces I have ever made in my own kitchen. Yes, it's homemade and it's crazy hot. Crazy hot in a good sort of way, the way only a serious chilihead can enjoy. This might just be the hottest hot sauce in the world that you can make right at home!
I grow a big variety of chili peppers every year. I love a range of heat and flavors, from flavorful sweet peppers all the way up to superhots with their incredible heat.
I use them in so many ways, and one of my favorites it making homemade hot sauce. I do enjoy milder sauces that focus on flavor over heat, but every now and then, I want some seriously heat in my hot sauce. That's when this hot sauce comes in - a hot sauce made from superhot chili peppers.
Superhot Hot Sauce Ingredients
- Superhot Chili Peppers - Use reapers, scorpions, 7 pots - use your favorite varieties - stems removed – use a mix! Anything over 1 Millions Scovilles, baby!
- Garlic
- Basil Leaves
- Vinegar
- Salt
Hot to Make Superhot Hot Sauce
Roast the peppers. Heat an oven to 400°F. Set the superhot chili peppers and garlic on a baking sheet and bake them about 15-20 minutes, or until the skins slightly char. Keep an eye on these. You don't want them to burn, and watch out for any fumes.
NOTE: Alternatively, do this on your grill outside.
Process the ingredients. Add peppers to a food processor. Squeeze garlic out of their skins and into the food processor they go. Add basil leaves and process.
Vinegar. While processing, add in vinegar until it is nicely pureed. Watch out for the fumes!
Salt and strain, if desired. Add salt and stir. Push the sauce through a strainer or use a food mill to really strain it, if desired. Adjust with more vinegar or water to your desired consistency.
NOTE: I don't always strain. It really depends on how thick you want your hot sauce.
Bottle it up. Pour into bottles and enjoy. Give to your friends! The longer you let it sit, the more the flavors will meld.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Protect yourself from fumes. Aside from the obvious heat you will achieve with this sauce, you must also beware of fumes in the kitchen. Make this sauce in a well ventilated room. Open the windows if you can. Pepper fumes can be rough, especially with superhots. Consider a mask and/or goggle to protect your eyes.
- Also, wear gloves. I cook with superhots all the time and the oils usually do not bother my skin, but when cooking with a large amount, cutting them open, handling them, you will get some on your skin. It may burn, but if not, it can still burn other parts of your body that you touch.
- Let it sit. Once you've made the hot sauce, jar or bottle it and let it sit a week or two for the flavors to truly meld, though you can eat it right away if you'd like.
Where did you get that hot sauce bottle?
I find them locally sometimes, but I also order through Amazon. Here is a link to some bottles I like (affiliate link, my friends!): Swing Top Glass Bottles, 8.5 Ounce - Set of 4. If you like the smaller bottles that most hot sauce makers use, here's another link: Hot Sauce Bottles, 5 Oz - 24 Pack.
How hot is this superhot sauce?
With superhots, you can expect a wide range of heat, though the majority of them start at over 1 Million SHU. Some will approach or surpass 2 Million SHU, which is somewhat insane, but again, these are ranges so you can typically expect your pepper heat to fall in the middle somewhere.
The heat depends on many factors, such as soil and growing conditions of the particular peppers. Well, my peppers must have been grown under some ideal conditions, because they were HOT. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I turned the majority of them into a hot sauce that I still have today.
This is a Louisiana style hot sauce with a few extras added in for flavor. A Louisiana style hot sauce consists of peppers and vinegar, and they're extremely popular.
With good reason. This superhot version brings in the variety of superhots and adds in roasted garlic and basil. That's it, with a bit of salt. You can expect variable results depending on the chili peppers you choose to work with.
To push for the top end of the scale, use only Reapers or 7-Pot Brain Strains if you can get them. Pure Scorpions would be crazy killer hot. Or vary it up like I did. You can also make this with roasted jalapenos, or pretty much any pepper you prefer.
Choose your peppers with love. That is always a good place to start.
Storage
It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. It's all about the acidity. To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 4.0 or so, to account for errors.
I have not measured the ph of this sauce, but I won't have it around very long anyway. If you're concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph.
The best ph meters that I recommend are from Thermoworks. Get yourself a ph meter from Thermoworks today. I am a happy affiliate.
See my post on "Does Hot Sauce Need to be Refrigerated?"
Enjoy More Hot Sauce Recipes
- Homemade Sriracha (both fermented and non-fermented varieties)
- Cayenne Pepper Sauce
- Ti-Malice – Hatian Creole Hot Sauce
- Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- Habanero Hot Sauce
- How to Make Hot Sauce: The Ultimate Guide
- More Hot Sauce Recipes
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you'll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don't forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I'll be sure to share! Thanks! -- Mike H.
Superhot Hot Sauce Recipe (The Hottest Hot Sauce I Ever Made)
Ingredients
- 1 pound superhot chili peppers (reapers, scorpions, 7 pots - use your favorite varieties) stems removed – use a mix! Anything over 1 Millions Scovilles, baby!
- 4 cloves garlic
- 12 large basil leaves
- 1 cup vinegar + more as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat an oven to 400 degrees. Set the superhot chili peppers and garlic on a baking sheet and bake them about 15-20 minutes, or until the skins slightly char. Keep an eye on these. You don't want them to burn, and watch out for any fumes. Alternatively, do this on your grill outside.
- Add peppers to a food processor. Squeeze garlic out of their skins and into the food processor they go.
- Add basil leaves and process.
- While processing, add in vinegar until it is nicely pureed. Watch out for the fumes!
- Add salt and stir. Push the sauce through a strainer or use a food mill to really strain it, if desired. Adjust with more vinegar or water to your desired consistency.
- Pour into bottles and enjoy. Give to your friends! The longer you let it sit, the more the flavors will meld.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
NOTE: This recipe was updated on 11/26/21 to include new information, photos and video. It was originally published on 11/20/15.
Mili says
Awesome recipe, thank you so much ! So I found that leaving some of the pulp adds greater heat, more depth of flavour which is less vinegary. I will try a waterbath (bain-marie) with all the extra not going into the fridge. I am hoping it'll keep !
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Great, Mili! Glad you enjoyed it! Nice and HOT for sure! =)
Angelina says
Can you can this sauce for longer shelf life? Would canning change the heat or flavor?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Angelina, yes, see the section in the post on this:
HOW LONG WILL THIS HOT SAUCE KEEP?
It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. It’s all about the acidity. To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 4.0 (3.5 is better) or so, to account for errors. I have not measured the ph of this sauce, but I won’t have it around very long anyway. If you’re concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph.
Canning won't really change the flavor, but over time the ingredients meld more and more. I hope this helps!
TIM TOBISH says
First summer of gardening. I have a scotch bonnet which is loaded with little green peppers and a Trinidad Scorpion that's just a bit behind that. This sounds like a good recipe. Two questions:
1) What kind of vinegar? Distilled white or cider (or something else)?
2) I planted the Trinidad Scorpion between my tomatoes and it's getting pretty shaded. Will that affect the heat?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Tim, you can use whatever vinegar you prefer. Use one you enjoy the flavor of. Shade really shouldn't affect the scorpion heat, though other conditions can, such as soil conditions, temperature and other stressors.
Steve says
Wow, this recipe looks amazing. I’ve got 2 questions- does the sauce have a very “vinegary” tang to it, like Tabasco, and if so, would it be ok to substitute half the vinegar for water or something, to allow more of the peppers’ flavor to come through? Also, just because I kinda think it’d be an awesome thing to try, have you roasted these super hots over wood smoke before, and tried that for sauce? An insane man’s version of the chipotle? LOL
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Steve, if you're concerned about vinegar flavor, yes, you can replace some with either water or citrus. It will keep for longer with vinegar and/or citrus, which lowers the pH, however. Also, I have made many sauces from smoked peppers. Very good! Definitely worth giving that a go. Let me know how it turns out for you. Enjoy!
Dan says
Hello,
I was curious about the basil leaves. Does the Basil flavor come through good? I haven't made hot sauce with it yet and was a little apprehensive since it can be a strong flavor.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Dan, it's not a very strong flavor addition, though you'll detect it. You can easily omit if you'd prefer. Let me know how it turns out for you.
Tony says
I got my hands on a bag of dried reapers, can I just toast these then reconstitute them to make the sauce?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Tony, yes, you are correct. I have a post here on how to make hot sauce from dried pods. You may find it a useful reference. Let me know how it turns out for you: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/how-to-make-hot-sauce-from-dried-peppers/
Joe says
Great Recipe! However was wondering if refrigeration is recommended?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Joe. I like to keep my hot sauces in the refrigerator personally, but many people keep them out. It's really up to you. Best to get your hot sauce to a pH of 3.5 or lower for longer keeping.
Sue W says
My husband loves this recipe! I was wondering does everyone else’s turn out a little thick? More like a tomato sauce thickness than a watery mix? I use a mesh strainer but wonder if I am doing something worng?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Great, Sue! Glad to hear. You can very easily thin the sauce by adding a little bit of water, say a tablespoon at a time, or some extra vinegar until you reach the consistency you prefer. Let me know how that works for you. Enjoy!
william says
this recipe is great . I used it last 2 years with ghost and butch t , everyone loved it . just put up this years batch , 8 pints from 1 large reaper plant , used bat nitro , bat phos guano and good organic compost . plant was up against brick wall really liked the heat . I used apple cider vinegar and Alaskan alderwood salt , nice smoky flavor and major heat . thanks for sharing you recipes Mike.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks so much, William! Glad you are enjoying it! It's one of my favorites. Easy and tasty. And HOT!
Dan says
Just made batch pound scorpion pound Ahi Rico pound Burning Bush added extra cup vinegar got 9 8ounce jars canned. Roasting oven cuts the fumes in the house a lot. Wife says thanks
Eric says
Just made a full batch of this. Yielded about 18oz. I blended in vitamix and added another 1/2 cup vinegar to thin it out. I used 3oz Carolina reaper, 6oz ghost pepper, and about 9oz Scotch bonnets. Grew them all myself and have way more scotch bonnet than the others. Would have loved to try 100% reapers but I only have 3 small plants....Ended up roasting on the grill outside at 400deg. Gave it a nice fire roasted char taste....This batch is super hot despite only 50% superhots.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Eric! Yeah, you'll still get plenty of heat there! Glad you are enjoying it!
Sean says
Just made (barely made it through) a batch with Carolina Reapers and Dragon's Breath peppers....next up Carolina Reapers with Ghost peppers!!! This is a fun day!!! Glad I am making these things outside!!! Even the neighbors are getting a little thrill out of it!! haha
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Haha, awesome, Sean! Yeah, outside is smart! My wife is still mad at me from the last batch of Reaper sauce. =)
Garth says
Just made this, used extra garlic and it’s burning white hot this stuff lit my mouth on fire and it was quite the sauce!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
I hear you, Garth! This is most definitely a HOT hot sauce! Enjoy (in small doses, haha!).
Jett O. says
Do you think you could add fruit to this recipe to give it some sweetness?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Jett, absolutely. I use fruit in my recipes all the time. Check out some of the other recipes in my hot sauce recipes section of the site. You'll find several of them with fruit. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/