Hot sauce Scoville chart, with every source checked
Published heat figures for 30 hot sauces from the US, Mexico, the Caribbean, India, Thailand and beyond, each with who published it. None has a public lab test: most numbers are the maker’s own or come from the press, and some sites quote a pepper’s figure as if it were the sauce’s.
Checked October 20, 2026 · How we source facts
Sauces by published heat
| Sauce | Published SHU | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| The Last Dab: Xperience United States | 2,693,000 | Seller’s figure: HEATONIST (seller and co-maker)[1] |
| Da' Bomb Beyond Insanity United States | 135,600 2 published figures | Press figure: The Takeout, Hot Ones sauce list[2] |
| Blair's Ultra Death United States | 1,100,000 | Press figure: Wikipedia (no citation given)[4] |
| Mad Dog 357 Gold United States | over 1,000,000 | Seller’s figure: Amazon US listing title ('Over 1 Million Scoville')[5] |
| Mad Dog 357 United States | 357,000 2 published figures | Maker’s figure: Mad Dog 357 (maker)[6] |
| Dave's Insanity United States | 180,000 | Press figure: Fox News, cited by Wikipedia[7] |
| Brooklyn Delhi Ghost Pepper United States | 39,000 | Press figure: The Takeout, Hot Ones sauce list[2] |
| El Yucateco Red Habanero Mexico | 7,600–9,500 2 published figures | Maker’s figure: El Yucateco (maker), cited by Wikipedia[8] |
| Tabasco United States | 2,500–5,000 2 published figures | Maker’s figure: McIlhenny Company (maker)[9] |
| Secret Aardvark United States | 5,000 | Press figure: The Takeout, Hot Ones sauce list[2] |
| Cholula Mexico | 1,000–2,000 2 published figures | Maker’s figure: Cholula (maker), cited by Wikipedia[10] |
| Tapatío United States | 3,000 2 published figures | Press figure: Wikipedia[11] |
| Sriracha (Huy Fong) United States | 2,200 2 published figures | Press figure: CBS News, cited by Wikipedia[12] |
| Valentina Mexico | 900 | Press figure: Thrillist, cited by Wikipedia[13] |
| Frank's RedHot United States | 450 | Press figure: Wikipedia, citing a US heat chart and CBS News[14] |
Extracts, not table sauces
These are concentrated pepper extracts, sold in drops rather than as everyday sauces. Their figures are claims; none has a public lab test.
| Sauce | Published SHU | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| Blair's 16 Million Reserve United States | 16,000,000 | Press figure: Wikipedia (no citation given)[4] |
| Plutonium No. 9 United States | 9,000,000 | Maker’s figure: Mad Dog 357 (maker, product name)[6] |
| The Source United States | 7,100,000 | Press figure: The Pitch, Kansas City (2009)[15] |
| Da' Bomb The Final Answer United States | 1,500,000 | Press figure: The Pitch, Kansas City (2009)[15] |
No published Scoville figure
- The Last Dab: Apollo (United States): Apollo pepper.
- Nando's Hot PERi-PERi (South Africa): African bird's eye chilli (PERi-PERi), cayenne and green chilli. Nando's rates heat on its own PERi-ometer, not in Scoville units.
- Encona Original (United Kingdom): Habanero and Scotch bonnet (64% pepper mash).
- Melinda's Original Habanero (United States): Habanero.
- Ching's Secret Red Chilli (India): Red chilli.
- Naagin Smoky Bhoot (India): Bhut jolokia and lavangi chilli. Naagin rates heat on its own 10-point meter, not in Scoville units.
- Sriraja Panich (Thailand): Chilli (variety not published).
- Buldak Original (South Korea): Capsicum oleoresin (chilli extract). The 4,404 SHU often quoted is for the Buldak instant noodles, not this sauce.
- Salsa Huichol (Mexico): Not published.
- Matouk's West Indian (Trinidad and Tobago): Scotch bonnet, aged and pickled, with papaya.
- Grace Scotch Bonnet (Jamaica): Scotch bonnet.
Why sauce figures disagree
- Who measured it. Makers, sellers and journalists publish different numbers for the same bottle, and few say how they got them. Cholula is 1,000–2,000 SHU by its maker and 3,600 on a widely shared list.
- Pepper figures sold as sauce figures. The Last Dab: Xperience is listed at 2,693,000 SHU, which is the lab average of its pepper, not of the diluted sauce.
- Labels change. Older figures stay online after recipes and labels change, as with El Yucateco.
- Extract. Adding capsaicin extract can push a sauce far above its peppers, which is how extracts reach millions of SHU.
Questions
What is the hottest hot sauce?
Among table sauces on this list, the highest published figure is 2,693,000 SHU for The Last Dab: Xperience, but that is the lab average of its pepper, Pepper X, not a test of the sauce. Concentrated extracts such as Plutonium No. 9 (sold as 9 million SHU) are hotter, but they are not table sauces.
How hot is Tabasco?
TABASCO's maker rates the original red sauce at 2,500–5,000 SHU, about the same as a typical jalapeño pepper at most.
Are hot sauce Scoville ratings lab tested?
Rarely in public. None of the sauces here has a published lab report. Figures come from the maker, from sellers or from the press, and they often disagree.
Why is a sauce milder than the pepper it is made from?
Because the pepper is diluted with vinegar, salt, water and other ingredients, so a bottle cannot be hotter than its hottest pepper unless extract is added.
Peppers
For the heat of the peppers themselves, with lab-tested figures, see the verified ranking and the Scoville scale.
Sources
- HEATONIST (seller and co-maker): The Last Dab: Xperience: 2,693,000 SHU (secondary source)
- The Takeout, Hot Ones sauce list: Da' Bomb Beyond Insanity: 135,600 SHU (secondary source)
- Wikipedia list of hot sauces (whole Da' Bomb line): Da' Bomb Beyond Insanity: 119,000–1,500,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Wikipedia (no citation given): Blair's Ultra Death: 1,100,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Amazon US listing title ('Over 1 Million Scoville'): Mad Dog 357 Gold: over 1,000,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Mad Dog 357 (maker): Mad Dog 357: 357,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Fox News (via Wikipedia): Dave's Insanity: 180,000 SHU (secondary source)
- El Yucateco (maker) (via Wikipedia): El Yucateco Red Habanero: 7,600–9,500 SHU (secondary source)
- McIlhenny Company (maker): Tabasco: 2,500–5,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Cholula (maker) (via Wikipedia): Cholula: 1,000–2,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Wikipedia: Tapatío: 3,000 SHU (secondary source)
- CBS News (via Wikipedia): Sriracha (Huy Fong): 2,200 SHU (secondary source)
- Thrillist (via Wikipedia): Valentina: 900 SHU (secondary source)
- Wikipedia, citing a US heat chart and CBS News: Frank's RedHot: 450 SHU (secondary source)
- The Pitch, Kansas City (2009): The Source: 7,100,000 SHU (secondary source)
- Associated Press via Bangor Daily News (2023): The Last Dab: Xperience (secondary source)
- Wikipedia: The Last Dab: Xperience (secondary source)
- The Christian Science Monitor (2007): Mad Dog 357 (secondary source)
- Wikipedia: Tabasco (secondary source)
- Nasdaq (McCormick announcement): Cholula (secondary source)
- FOX 11 Los Angeles: Tapatío (secondary source)
- Wikipedia: Sriracha (Huy Fong) (secondary source)
- Salsa Valentina (maker): Valentina (secondary source)