Red Habanero Peppers

With a pleasant, crisp texture, they are also overflowing with flavor. Despite the extreme heat, you’ll also taste some sweetness with hints of floral and fruity notes when eating a habanero. They pair well with sweet fruits like mangos that help counter the habanero’s spice level.

You can find habaneros in hot sauces, marinades, salsas, jerk seasonings, and more. In Mexico, it’s common to find peppers in bottles of tequila or mescal to add an extra kick to drinks. Always be cautious when handling and cooking with them as the capsaicin, which makes pepper hot, in the peppers is an oil and can cause blistering to the skin. We highly suggest you use gloves.

Our red habanero peppers range from 300,000 to 350,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The higher the number of SHU, the hotter the pepper. This number indicates the number of times that chili oil from a specific pepper needed to be diluted with sugar water until they could no longer detect any heat. Wilbur Scoville invented this test over a hundred years ago. If you would like to learn more about the Scoville Scoville Scale be sure to check out our Complete Guide to the Scoville Scale by clicking here.

Although the burn is intense, you won’t experience it for very long. Generally, habanero chilies are grouped among the hottest chili pepper varieties, but it’s toward the bottom of that group. Several hot peppers measure double, triple, or more units on the Scoville scale. Red Savina is the hottest of all habanero peppers measuring 500,000 SHU. This plant originated in the United States. Frank Garcia grew the first-ever Red Savina in Walnut, California.

Studies have shown that spicy food lovers tend to live longer than those who avoid hot foods. So not only are habaneros delicious, but they are also extremely beneficial for your health. Packed full of Vitamin C your immune system powerhouse! You can get 100% of your daily intake from just one habanero—that’s more Vitamin C than you get from eating an orange! There’s also a healthy amount of Vitamin A.

You can easily rehydrate these dried red habanero peppers by submerging them in warm water for 20 minutes.

Looking for a larger amount?
We offer wholesale discounts on purchases over $500. You can learn about wholesale on our Wholesale Page.

Frequently Asked Questions About Habanero Peppers

How hot is a habanero pepper?

Habaneros range from 100,000 to 577,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). There are many varieties of habanero peppers, the most popular varieties are red and orange habaneros, those typically range between 300,000 to 350,000 SHU.

What does a habanero pepper look like?

Ripe habanero peppers are typically 1/5-2.5 inches in length. The skin is smooth but can be slightly waxy. The pepper's body often has a slight taper from the stem to the tip, which can be pointed or blunt. Inside, they are filled with seeds which are spread around a white, spongy placenta where capsaicin, the compound responsible for their heat, is most concentrated.

Where do habanero peppers come from?

At one point, it was thought that the pepper came from China, but now it’s more commonly thought to have first grown in the Amazon. Archaeologists discovered a habanero from 6,500 B.C. It is easily grown in other hot climates such as Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, and even warmer parts of the United States like Texas and California. Some habaneros also grow in the Caribbean.

Want to learn more about habanero peppers? Check out our habanero pepper guide on our blog.