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.
Christa says
We had an unexpectedly large harvest of Carolina Reapers this year - probably due to the hot, dry summer - so i tried the recipe. Once the fumes had cleared a bit and I could approach the sauce safely, I gave it a try. I like the flavour - the basil really works. I would consider to do the processing entirely outside and maybe wear a snorkel pointed backwards next time...
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Christa. Yes, fumes!!
Jes says
I’ve just received a variety of super hot peppers. Single peppers of about 7 varieties. What can I make to try them each individually? Is there a single pepper recipe?
Mike Hultquist says
Jes, this and most of my hot sauce recipes can be made with a single type of pepper. Also, see jellies/jams, dehydrating (you can make spices/flakes), other sauces, and more. Check through the recipe section at the top. I hope you find a lot of recipes you enjoy. Try this one, but with your single peppers: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/carolina-reaper-hot-sauce/
Norman T. Paul says
Why does the hot sauce separate. Oil sits at bottom of bottle. I ferment for 2 weeks just chilli and Garlic then blendwith a dash of Vinegar then boil and bottle. The pulp separates from the oil that sit on the bottom of the bottle. How can I resolve this separation?
Mike Hultquist says
Norman, you can look into a thickener to help. Separation is normal, and you can just shake the bottle, no problem. But, for a thickener, check out Xanthan Gum. It works great and has no affect on flavor. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/ingredients/xanthan-gum/
Donna says
I just made this and tasted. WOW. I used scorpion, ghost, and habanero, because those are the hottest we are growing this year. My husband told me (after tasting) that he didn't think he could use it... so I am going to dilute the heat (slightly). Thanks!!
Mike Hultquist says
Boom! Yes! Thanks, Donna!
Ken says
I am all about heat and always looking for new recipes.
I make a hot relish that seems to be a big hit hear the only problem is it never last very long. I really want to try making hot sauce thank you can't wait to try it.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Ken. I agree, mine never lasts long at all. Enjoy!
Daniel says
I also love to make hot sauce and I’m growing moruga scorpion peppers and 7 pot bubble gum white variety I am really excited to try this hotsauce with my peppers I looks really good should try with habeneros
Mike Hultquist says
Great peppers! Enjoy, Daniel!
Robert Lewis says
I've made my own hot sauces from a few different recipes, can't wait to try this. One recipe suggests boiling your hot sauce bottles to sterilize them before bottling as to help preserve your sauces longer if you make a bigger batch. It seems to make sense, and work. Have you tried this?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Robert, yes, I discuss this in other posts. You can sterilize your bottles then process them in a water bath to make them shelf stable.
Kort says
A super simple recipe but so good. I like fermenting my super hot sauces.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Kort!
Elijah Snyder-Vidmar says
I came here looking for recipe ratios because I am trying to fix a sauce I made that is too dangerously hot. I didn't weigh or count how many peppers I used, but it was around 60+ red/yellow moruga scorpions. I fermented for a few weeks with a mango and some onion. Added a whole head worth of roasted garlic after fermentation, apple cider vinegar, lime juice. First taste absolutely hurt my stomach and my friend was on the floor heaving and thought she was going to die (we both are able to drown stuff in ghost pepper sauce so we're not too sensitive). Um... any advice on what I can do? I see that you used only four cloves of garlic for a pound of superhots. I'm thinking I probably need to add two to three whole heads of garlic and another couple of mangoes in order to make the sauce even palatable and easier on the stomach.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Hi, Elijah. Yes, this is an extremely HOT recipe. With the sauce you made, it's pretty much purely superhots (quite a bit beyond a typical commercial ghost pepper sauce), so they can really get you, as you've discovered. My suggestion would be to make another batch of hot sauce but use only mild peppers, like bells, then combine it with your fermented superhot batch. That will dilute it to be closer to what you may enjoy. See how that works, then you can continue to dilute with other ingredients as needed. Down side is you wind up with a lot more hot sauce. Up side is you wind up with a lot more hot sauce! Seriously, let me know how it goes for you. Let me know if I can help more. Email me anytime. -- Mike H.
Daniel says
Mix it with a weaker pepper like cayenne if it’s really that bad use red bell peppers to mild it
naznin lila says
You should started selling these sauces. I will be your first customer !
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Naznin!
Robert Burton says
I used the original recipe just before lockdown in the UK (Feb '20) and used 1lb of Apocalypse scorpions that I had roasted on the BBQ so had a nice smoky taste to it, I did make a small change and that was to add about 2oz of dark chocolate. These sauce was stonkingly hot but very full of flavour and kept in vacuum sealed jars for about a year. Nice one Mike!!
Next try is Armageddon chilli's should be good.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Nice, Robert. Yeah, you'll get some SERIOUS heat with those. I love it. Stonkin' Hot! Haha.
Kevin M says
I've been tweaking my own hot sauce recipe for many years. I thought it would be a good side-by-side test with your recipe, Mr. Hultquist! I used 'smoked' Habaneros, Carolina Reaper, and Scorpion (same combo in my sauce). Only change was to add a little cilantro left over from making your 'cranberry salsa' earlier. The heat was awesome, the garlic was a nice touch. Overall, very close competition! Thank you for putting out these fantastic recipes!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Excellent! I appreciate it, Kevin. Love it.
Jérémie says
I wanna taste this right away! Very funny and informative video here, Mike, for a must-have hot sauce recipe for sure! Thank you so much!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, Jérémie. Good flavor, and HEAT!! Haha! Quite hot.
Jérémie says
Strangely, I'd never made this sauce until now... I was very interested in it, because the peppers are not mashed and cooked with all the ingredients, but a bit reduced in the oven and just mixed with vinegar. I was hoping for the pure flavor of the Reaper, and I'm not disappointed! Here's an ultimate sauce with no frills, just the pure and devastating taste of forbidden fruit! HMMMM SO HOT!!!! Thank you sir!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Jérémie! Glad you enjoyed it!