Heat is measured in Scoville heat units. A jalapeño runs about 2,500 to 8,000, a habanero 100,000 to 350,000, and a Carolina Reaper averages around 1.6 million. A sauce made only from peppers can never be hotter than the peppers in it, which is why the very hottest bottles on this list use extract, concentrated capsaicin that goes far past what any pepper can reach.
Want the burn without the extract? Start with our Carolina Reaper hot sauces and ghost pepper hot sauces, or browse every sauce we rate Extreme. Working up to it? The Hot Sauce Challenge Set runs 10 sauces from mild to extreme, in order.
