The bhut jolokia (English: king cobra chile) – also known as naga jolokia, Dorset naga, naga morich, or ghost chili – is a chili pepper. In 2007, it was confirmed by Guinness World Records to be the hottest chili in the world, replacing the Red Savina. It is a naturally occurring inter-specific hybrid originating in the Assam region of northeastern India.

It also grows in the Indian states of Nagaland and Manipur. Disagreement has arisen on whether it is a Capsicum frutescens or a Capsicum chinense. Some claim it is a C.

frutescens, but recent DNA tests have found that it is an interspecies hybrid, mostly C. chinense with some C. frutescens genes.

In 2000, scientists at India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a rating of 855,000 units on the Scoville scale, and in 2004 an Indian company obtained a rating of 1,041,427 units through HPLC analysis. This makes it almost twice as hot as the Red Savina pepper, Guinness World Record holder at that time. For comparison, Tabasco red pepper sauce rates at 2,500-5,000, and pure capsaicin (the chemical responsible for the pungency of pepper plants) rates at 15,000,000–16,000,000 Scoville units.

In 2005, at New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute near Las Cruces, New Mexico, regents Professor Paul Bosland found bhut jolokia grown from seed in southern New Mexico to have a Scoville rating of 1,001,304 SHU by HPLC. In February 2007, Guinness World Records certified the bhut jolokia (Prof. Bosland's preferred name for the pepper) as the world's hottest chile pepper.

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