Looking for the spiciest food in the world?
This list is fire and includes the hottest foods for all you heat seekers.
Here are the spiciest foods on the planet!
Related: 14 Spiciest Peppers in the World
Spiciest Foods In The World
Heat things up fast with the spiciest dishes, snacks, chili peppers, and condiments on the planet!
- Some of these foods are extremely spicy and not intended for diners under the age of 18.
- Those with high blood pressure, a sensitive stomach, or in poor health are advised not to consume these foods.
- If you don’t feel well while eating these spicy foods, you are advised to immediately stop eating.
- Please take care not to get any traces of sauce in your eyes. If you do, immediately rinse your eyes thoroughly with water and/or seek medical attention.
- Women that are pregnant or breastfeeding should not consume these foods.
1. Phaal Curry
WARNING! This curry dish is hot.
Phaal is considered the hottest curry in the world, chefs who prepare Phaal curry wear gas masks when cooking it.
The bhut jolokia pepper is native to India. The pepper is so hot, the Indian military has turned it into a “biological weapon.”
Phaal is generally prepared using ten different hot peppers.
2. Gaeng Tai Pla (Thai Curry)
Ready to add some serious kick to your world?
Gaeng Tai Pla is a legendary recipe developed by people in the fishing communities of Southern Thailand. Gaeng Tai Pla is a highly spicy curry; it has a very intense taste and pungent aroma.
Gaeng Tai Pla features fermented fish innards, dried chiles, galangal, turmeric and kaffir leaves, fish, pumpkin, eggplant, yardlong beans, and bamboo shoots for one of the spiciest curries in the world
Another super spicy Thai curry is Kua King. Its made with either pork, chicken, fish or beef; and served with rice.
3. Ma Po Tofu
Spice up things up!
The Sichuan dish is made with a spicy bean chili sauce, tofu and ground pork and a Sichuan peppercorn that is popular in Sichuan cooking.
The spiciest Chinese dishes are from Sichuan, Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Yunnan. Your tongue may be on fire but trust me, it’s worth it.
5. Doro Wat
Often called the national dish of Ethiopia, the berbere-spiced Doro Wot is the crown jewel of spicy Ethiopian cuisine. Doro wot literally means “chicken stew.” The word doro stands for chicken, and wot means stew.
The dish flavored with a spiced butter called niter kibbeh and berbere, a spice blend that often includes fenugreek, hot chiles, paprika, cardamom, and coriander. Toward the end of cooking, hard-boiled eggs are added to the stew.
If you walk into any Ethiopian or Eritrean restaurant around the world, you will undoubtedly be served this incredibly tasty, spicy dish.
6. Jamaica Jerk Chicken
Jerk chicken seasoning incorporates a spicy peppery kick from scotch bonnet peppers.
Jerk marinade or sauce are used to season the meats and consist of allspice, onions, garlic, Scotch bonnet peppers, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and thyme.
These spices are also commonly used as a dry rub known as Jamaican jerk seasoning.
8. Onnuriye Donkatsu (Korean Pork Cutlet)
The Onnuriye Donkatsu restaurant in South Korea is known for serving the Donkatsu of Death, aka the Drop-Dead Donkatsu, on of the spiciest dishes you’ll ever endure.
The pork cutlet is drenched in an ominous dark red sauce made from a rich broth of Asian herbs that the owner claims is the spiciest chili on earth.
The restaurant dares diners to eat the Drop-Dead Donkatsu within 20 minutes, but be warned: They won’t serve the dish unless you bring a carton of milk with you.
The brave few — and they are few — who complete the challenge get their face on the Wall of Fame.
9. Great Balls of Fire Fritters
The habanero-soaked Great Balls of Fire fritters at Salvador Molly’s in Portland, Oregon, will test even the greatest spicy fanatics.
The Portland, Oregon, restaurant challenges diners to clean their plates for a chance to be honored in the eatery’s Hall of Flame. Get ’em while they’re hot.
10. Herr’s Carolina Reaper Cheese Curls
Herr’s Carolina Reaper Cheese Curls are the world’s hottest snack!
Boasting over 1,500,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), this mighty pepper sets the standard for hot.
I guarantee that you heat seekers will not be disappointed. The rest of you, well… you’ve been warned!
Related: 30 Best Unique Spicy Snacks
11. Spicy Tuna Rolls – Seppuku Challenge
People come to Bushido in Charleston, South Carolina, to attempt a spicy tuna roll challenge.
The Japanese restaurant’s Seppuku Challenge (“seppuku” is the ritual suicide samurai committed in battle) dares diners to eat 10 increasingly spicy hand rolls stuffed with cucumbers, tuna, and habanero peppers.
12. Chocolate Bhutlah Pepper
This pepper was created by Chad Soleski from Wisconsin.
This pepper variety is a cross between the Douglah 7 Pod and the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper).
The name “Bhutlah” comes from joining the words “bhut” and “douglah.”
The Chocolate Bhutlah pepper ranks up to 2,000,000 SHU on the official Scoville scale, which is close to the Carolina Reaper.
13. Culley’s “The World’s Hottest Ramen Noodles”
The World’s Hottest Ramen Noodles! Brought to you by Culley’s from New Zealand!
A fusion of Culley’s signature flavor-full taste with one of the hottest peppers in the world, Carolina reaper as a ramen soup – just breathe it in and it’ll make your eyes water!
These instant noodles measure 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
Related: 7 Spiciest Instant Ramen Noodles In The World (2023)
14. Death By Pizza
The Little Italy Pizza Co. in the United Kingdom makes the world’s hottest pizza contains a sauce from twenty Trinidad Moruga Scorpion chilies.
The sauce is slathered on a regular pizza, kicking up the heat to a whopping 12 million Scoville units.
The pizza is the star of a popular eating challenge.
15. The Paqui Carolina Reaper Potato Chip
Made from the hottest pepper on the planet.
The world’s spiciest potato chip is so brutal there’s only one per package.
16. Vato Loco Cocktail
What is the spiciest alcoholic drink?
Vato Loco is the hottest drink on Earth and involves seven different kinds of chiles.
It’s served at Mercadito in Chicago. You’ll have to sign a waiver before you can drink it.
Relate: 30 Best Spiced Rum Cocktails to Spice Up Your Winter
17. Chilli Seed Bank Corn Chips
The World’s Hottest Corn Chips are infused with their own triple pressed, A-grade Carolina Reaper, Scorpion and Bhut Jolokia puree, and finished with a dusting of Carolina Reaper powder to deliver explosive heat!
They are the world’s hottest, after all.
This is a dangerously hot food product and must be consumed responsibly. ARE YOU GAME?
13. Widower Curry
People have actually been known to hallucinate after eating it. A restaurant in Grantham, England called Bindi serves a curry, called “The Widower”, made with 20 infinity chilies, claiming to be the world’s hottest curry.
The infinity chili pepper is a chili pepper hybrid of the Capsicum chinense species created in England by chili breeder Nicholas Woods of Fire Foods, Grantham, Lincolnshire.
For two weeks in February 2011, the Infinity Chili held the Guinness World Record title for the world’s hottest chili with a Scoville scale rating of 1,067,286 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
14. Isoyama Shoji Instant Ramen
The ultra spicy Isoyama Shoji Instant Ramen is prohibited in Japan.
They’re made with bhut jolokia (ghost peppers) — which are 400 times spicier than Tabasco, clocking in at more than 1 million Scoville heat units (SHUs). In other words, this is some seriously spicy stuff!
It’s curry flavored and seriously spicy and clocks in at over 1 million Scoville Heat Units.
15. Reaper Taco
The Reaper Taco at Gringo’s Tacos in New Jersey is spicy.
These tacos are made with Carolina Reaper powder.
You have to sign a waiver to eat them.
16. The Carolina Reaper Pepper
The spiciest (edible) pepper in the world, the Carolina Reaper clocks in at 2,200,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The Carolina Reaper pepper was first found in the state of South Carolina and that is how it got its name.
Carolina Reaper Peppers are a cross between a Ghost Pepper and a Red Habanero.
There are hotter peppers out there like the Dragon’s Breath Pepper, but it’s not edible, and is spicy enough to kill you. It is literally so hot that it’s used to numb the skin, as an alternative for people allergic to anesthetic.
17. The 4 Horsemen Burger
Chunky’s in San Antonio, Texas serves up The 4 Horsemen Burger and tops it with jalapenos, serrano chiles, a habanero sauce and the infamous ghost chile.
Since its inception, only four people have managed to take it down.
18. Volcanic Vindaloo
The Volcanic Vindaloo is the hottest supermarket curry every made.
It features the Naga chilli – one of the world’s hottest with a Scoville rating of up to one million, which is 200 times hotter than Tabasco Sauce or a jalapeno.
Vindaloo, an Indian curry that is thought to have originated in Portugal, is notorious in its native Goa and around the world.
19. Hormel’s Ghost Reaper Chili
This chili packs a punch.
The hottest ghost and Carolina reaper peppers combined total more than 3 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
20. Mad Dog 357 No. 9 Plutonium Hot Sauce
This isn’t so much a hot sauce as it is a death wish.
The extract registers 9 million on the Scoville scale, and it’s 60 percent pure capsicum.
A bolded, all caps, red warning on the site reads: DO NOT CONSUME DIRECTLY – FOOD ADDITIVE ONLY!
21. Jalapeño Peppers
Jalapeños have the distinction of being the most popular North American pepper.
They can be stuffed, pickled, or used in a variety of dishes.
The dried and smoked version of these hot peppers is known as chipotle pepper.
22. Japanese Wasabi
Wasabi is most commonly known as the spicy green paste served as a condiment to all forms of sushi.
Similar to horseradish, wasabi affects the nasal passages and sinuses when eaten.
Although the spicy effects of eating wasabi can be quite intense, they last for only a very short while.
Wasabi is probably the best known of Japan’s spicy ingredients, as freshly grated wasabi is a major component of sushi.
23. Cayenne Peppers
Cayenne peppers make the list because they are the most popular peppers in the world.
Cayennes range from 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville Heat Units, similar to a serrano pepper.
The majority of hot sauces rely on cayenne for the kick, especially if the sauce contains vinegar.
24. Korean Red Hot Garlic
Thomas Farms from Corralitos (Santa Cruz County) offers Korean Red Hot garlic, said to be the spiciest and most robust around.
25. Beaver Extra Hot Horseradish
Beaver Extra Hot Horseradish is the perfect condiment for anyone who likes food spicy… really spicy food.
Their horseradish is made with 100% pure, fresh grated horseradish roots and classically pairs with any red meat.
Mix with mayonnaise to minimize the heat.
26. MAMEE’s Daebak Ghost Pepper Spicy Chicken Noodles
MAMEE’s Daebak Ghost Pepper Spicy Chicken Noodles are Malaysia’s spiciest noodles clocking in at 1,000,000 Scoville Heat Units!
This particularly painful cup noodle even has a Scoville Heat Unit scale printed on the cup to warn others of the spice level.
27. CaJohns Black Mamba 6 Get Bitten Hot Sauce
CaJohns’ hot sauce clocks in at 6 million Scoville Heat Units and used Chocolate habanero peppers.
It’s an earthy and smoky pepper that looks like a chocolate candy on a stem.
28. Scorpion Pepper
Is Scorpion pepper hotter than ghost pepper?
Scorpion peppers range from 1,200,000 to 2,000,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
Ghost peppers range from 855,000 to 1,041,427 (SHU) on the pepper scale.
29. The Flaming Ron Pie
From Ron Bruns’ Bremen Patisserie in Australia, the Flaming Ron meat pie includes three of the world’s hottest chilis.
The combination of Trinidad Scorpion Butch T peppers, Naga Jolokia chilis, and habenero peppers are what give the Flaming Ron its heat.
The pie is recorded as being over 300 times hotter than a jalapeño.
30. Nuclear Buffalo Wings
Alliger’s House of Wings (aka chicken wings, buffalo wings, hot wings) prides itself on its spiciest sauce, known as the “nuclear.”
Alliger’s atomic wing sauce scores 120,000 on the Scoville Scale — the standard measuring system for spicy heat.
World’s Spiciest Food FAQs
Which country’s food is the spiciest?
- Thailand
- India
- China
Why is food spicy?
BluIt turns out that capsaicin – the active ingredient in spicy food – binds to a special class of vanilloid receptor inside our mouth called VR1 receptors. After capsaicin binds to these receptors, the sensory neuron is depolarized, and it sends along a signal indicating the presence of spicy stimuli.
Why do people like spicy food?
Eating spicy can cause you to release endorphins — a happy chemical which gives you an instant feeling of pleasure from head to toe. People crave the spicy foods just like they crave sweets or salty foods.
What are Scoville heat units?
Scoville heat units, also known as SHU are a measurement of the number of times capsaicin needs to be diluted by sugar-water. The number of Scoville Heat Units (SHU) indicates the amount of capsaicin present. The higher the Scoville rating, the hotter the pepper/hot sauce.
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