Thai Chili Peppers (also called Bird’s Eye Chilis or Prik Kee Noo in Thai) are tiny but mighty peppers essential to Southeast Asian cuisine. Rating 50,000-100,000 SHU, these small peppers pack intense heat with bright, clean spiciness and slight sweetness. The name ‘bird’s eye’ comes from their resemblance to bird’s eye and because birds eat and spread seeds. In Thailand, they’re used fresh in salads, ground into curry pastes, and floated whole in soups. The heat is immediate and sharp but doesn’t linger as long as some superhots. Very productive plants produce hundreds of upward-pointing peppers.

Sharp, immediate heat with slight sweetness

Thai curries, stir-fries, som tam, dipping sauces