How hot are your chile peppers? As you have probably figured out, the heat level depends up the variety of the chile. Scotch bonnet chiles (pictured above) rate a 9 on the Scoville scale, which is pretty hot for most folks. The Scotch bonnet is a must in most Caribbean dishes. With the wide variety of chile peppers available in most markets these days, it is essential to know how hot each one is in order to select the right chile for your recipe.