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If you haven’t tried chili crunch oil yet, you’re in for a serious treat! This spicy, savory, crispy Chinese condiment has gotten immensely popular all around the world, and for good reason. It’s delicious on everything from rice or noodles to simple chunks of sourdough bread to homemade pizza! It’s super versatile and fun to make at home, so you can have it just the way you want it.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy To Make – I can’t always find chili crunch oil at grocery stores near me, so the best way to get it regularly is to make my own! Many traditional chili crunch oils also contain spices that are hard for me to find where I live, so I’ve made a version that uses ingredients I can purchase easily.
Small Batch – This recipe makes one jar, which works perfectly for my family. This amount is quick to make as you’re not heating large amounts of oil and it goes really fast! If you want more for gifts (or you find you can’t stop eating it), it’s very easy to scale the recipe up and make a double or even triple batch.
Surprisingly Simple – There are endless recipes and variations of chili crunch oil and just as many methods of making it! After lots of tinkering, I’ve made a version that’s seriously delicious without too many steps. Plus, you know I hate chopping things – the food processor is a game changer for mincing the garlic and shallots!
Ingredients
- Chili flakes – These are sometimes called red pepper flakes and can range in spiciness but not typically as much as whole chilis. Start with less if you’re spice sensitive!
- Salt – Some people like their chili crunch salty, others don’t. I like it fairly salty but feel free to start with less.
- Chili Powder – I use a regular grocery store chili powder as it’s the easiest for me to find but there are so many different kinds of chili powder out there! Use what you have.
- Sugar – You might not expect it, but a bit of sugar really helps balance the taste of the chili crunch oil.
- Star Anise and Cinnamon Stick – I love adding whole spices for nuanced flavor.
- Vegetable Oil – You want a neutral oil for this chili crunch oil. You substitute any other neutral oil, like grapeseed, peanut, or avocado oil.
- Chopped shallots – I like using purple-tinged shallots for this recipe, but if you can’t find any you can just use onions.
- Chopped garlic – Fresh garlic gives this chili crunch oil tons of crunch and amazing flavor!
How To Make Chili Crunch Oil
Combine the chili flakes, salt, chili powder, sugar, star anise, and cinnamon stick in a medium heatproof bowl. Stir to combine thoroughly and set the bowl to the side of your stovetop.
Put the oil in a medium saucepan with plenty of extra room. Heat over medium-high heat to 350°F/180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can drop a piece of bread in the oil and it should turn golden-brown within 40 to 50 seconds if the oil is hot enough.
Carefully add the shallots to the hot oil – watch out as they will sizzle up! – and cook until the shallots are starting to brown. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
This will take about 4 minutes or so. Once the shallots start to brown, add the garlic and continue to stir. Cook about 5 minutes longer, until both the garlic and shallots are a fairly dark golden-brown.
You may see some uneven browning if some pieces of shallot or garlic are larger than others. If so, stop cooking once most of the pieces turn brown as you don’t want anything to burn.
Carefully pour the oil with the shallots and garlic over the spices in the bowl. The spices will sizzle and bubble for a bit, then will settle as the mixture cools.
Once it calms down, mix the chili crunch oil thoroughly. Let the mixture cool, then discard the star anise and cinnamon stick. Taste and add more salt or sugar as needed before transferring to an airtight container and storing in the refrigerator.
If you want, you can sterilize a jar by pouring boiling water inside and letting it sit for a few minutes before filling with chili crunch oil.
Kate’s Pro Tips
Recipe Tips
- You can use frozen chopped garlic or onions, just be sure to dry them off as much as possible with a paper towel or kitchen cloth before frying. You want to avoid adding very wet ingredients to hot oil, or the oil will spatter all over your stovetop!
- You’ll find that the various bits in the chili oil will settle as it sits, so give it a good stir before spooning it over your food.
- If you’re worried this chili crunch oil might be too spicy, you can always start with fewer chili flakes or less chili powder. I consider this version medium spicy, so it works for everyone in my family who likes spicy things!
How To Use Chili Crunch Oil
I’m obsessed with chili crunch oil on my sourdough pizza, as I’ve shown here in the photos. I typically make our pizza with this sourdough discard pizza dough. We’re big on pizza in my house and I love bringing out a jar of chili crunch on pizza night!
Chili crunch oil is really good as a bread dipping oil. You can just dip a piece of homemade sourdough bread straight in and eat! It’s a great addition to a charcuterie board. It’s also incredible served with sourdough potstickers.
I’ve found it’s also really good on anything cheesy, like my sourdough mac and cheese or a sourdough grilled cheese.
How To Store + Freeze
I keep my chili crunch oil in the fridge in an airtight container for about a week.
I don’t recommend freezing it, which is why I just make one jar at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are so many different names for this delicious condiment! Generally, people consider chili oil to be just a chili-infused oil, with all the spices and bits strained out. A chili crisp or a chili crunch would include lots of crunchy bits suspended in a smaller amount of oil. I like a bit of everything, so I consider this version a chili crunch oil, which is somewhere in between.
I’ve found it easier to use chili flakes both because they’re very easy for me to find, and because the spice level is just a bit easier to predict than when using whole chilis. There are so many different brands, sizes, and varieties of chili peppers that you could end up with a huge range in spiciness! I want everyone in my family to be able to eat this, so mine is medium spicy and the chili flakes work perfectly for me.
There are so many different recipes for chili crunch oil out there and an endless combination of possible spices! I’ve gone with the ones that are readily available near me, but feel free to adjust with whatever spices you want to include.
Chili Crunch Oil
Equipment
- Medium Heatproof Bowl
- Medium Saucepan
- Cooking Thermometer (not essential but super helpful)
Ingredients
- 15 g Chili Flakes
- 10 g Salt, plus more to taste
- 8 g Chili Powder
- 8 g Sugar
- 2 Star Anise
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 220 g Vegetable Oil, or peanut oil, or any neutral oil
- 80 g Shallots, chopped, about 1 large shallot
- 50 g garlic, chopped, about 12 cloves
Instructions
- Combine the red pepper flakes, salt, chili powder, sugar, star anise, and cinnamon stick in a medium heatproof bowl. Mix thoroughly and set the bowl to the side of your stovetop.
- Put the oil in a medium saucepan with plenty of extra room and heat over medium-high heat to 350°F/180°C (if you don’t have a thermometer, you can drop a piece of bread in the oil and it should turn golden-brown within 40 to 50 seconds if the oil is hot enough).
- Carefully add the shallots to the hot oil – watch out as they will sizzle up! – and cook until the shallots start to brown. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. This will take about 4 minutes or so.
- Once the shallots start to brown, add the garlic and continue to stir. Cook about 5 minutes longer, until both the garlic and shallots are a fairly dark golden-brown. You may see some uneven browning if some pieces of shallot or garlic are larger than others. If so, stop cooking once most of the pieces start to darken as you don’t want anything to burn.
- Carefully pour the oil with the shallots and garlic over the spices in the bowl. The spices will sizzle and bubble for a bit, then will settle as the mixture cools. Once it calms down, mix the chili crunch oil thoroughly.
- Let the mixture cool, then discard the star anise and cinnamon stick. Taste and add more salt or sugar as needed before transferring to an airtight container and storing in the refrigerator. If you want, you can sterilize a jar by pouring boiling water inside and letting it sit for a few minutes before filling with chili crunch oil.
Notes
- You can use frozen chopped garlic or onions, just be sure to dry them off as much as possible with a paper towel or kitchen cloth before frying. You want to avoid adding very wet ingredients to hot oil, or the oil will spatter all over your stovetop!
- You’ll find that the various bits in the chili oil will settle as it sits, so give it a good stir before spooning it over your food.
- If you’re worried this chili crunch oil might be too spicy, you can always start with fewer chili flakes or less chili powder. I consider this version medium spicy, so it works for everyone in my family who likes spicy things!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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