habaneroHabanero, a variety of the chili pepper species Capsicum chinense, grown for its edible pungent fruit that is one of the hottest chili peppers in the world. Unripe habaneros are green.How Hot Are Habanero Peppers? Standard orange habanero peppers are hot, ranging from 100,000 to 350,000 SHUs on the Scoville scale.