How to Make Chili Oil

The aroma of sizzling homemade chili oil has a heavenly smell. Well-made chili oil has the power to transform almost any dish, including eggs, tofu, dumplings, and sautéed vegetables. Here we will show you how to make chili oil at home that is better than anything you can buy in the grocery store.

Jump to:

• Background
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 📖 Variations / Substitutions
• Equipment
• Storage
• 📖 Recipe
• Food safety
• 💬 Comments

Background

Sichuan chili oil is the first thing I look for as my steaming bowl of stretch noodles arrives at the table. I add a large dollop of chili oil and watch as the lush red oil travels down the noodles and infuses throughout. This is the memory I have of sitting in a small family-owned restaurant upon our first trip back to China in over a year.

Chili oil has different names in different regions of China - yóu pō là zǐ (油泼辣子, chili pepper splashed with oil) in Shaanxi Province and hóng yóu (紅油, red oil) in Sichuan. Chili oil pairs perfectly with steamed bread, dumpling dipping sauces, noodles, and sautéed vegetables, and it's an essential ingredient in many sauces. It’s also great on tacos, avocado toast, and just about everything!

Fragrant red peppers (er jing tiao) from Sichuan Province are used to make our favorite variety of chili oil. If you've visited the Fragrant Wok before, you know that many of the dishes we cook are influenced by west and southwest Chinese cuisines, which tend to use a lot of Chili peppers (contrary to popular belief this is not the only flavor featured in Sichuan cuisine).

In China, most eateries have a secret chili oil recipe that consist of anywhere between two and up to a dozen or more ingredients. Chili oil is an essential ingredient in many Sichuan sauces (liang pi sauce). Lucky for people living outside of China, Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou cuisine have started to become popular in the U.S. and chili oil is now common in authentic Chinese restaurants.

Chili oil can be found in Chinese grocery stores, but store-bought versions lack depth of flavor and have unnecessary additives. We promise, you can make much better at home!

What is Sichuan chili oil?

In its simplest form, Sichuan chili oil contains two ingredients – cooking oil and ground Sichuan chilis. Oil is heated in a pan and then poured over ground chilis that have been placed in a bowl. The chilis sizzle vigorously and release a fragrant aroma that arouses your senses – the product is a ruby red oil bursting with flavor. There are numerous variations of this simple recipe that involve simmering aromatics (star anise, bay leaves, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns) in the cooking oil before pouring it over the group chilis.  

While it may seem simple to pour hot oil over ground chilis, the trick is heating the oil to the optimal temperature and knowing what to do when your plan goes awry. With a little practice you will perfect your chili oil and create an ingredient combination that will knock your friends’ and family’s socks off.

🥘 Ingredients

What exactly do you need to make homemade chili oil?

• Oil – vegetable oil with a high smoke point is best. In Sichuan, chili oil is traditionally made with caiziyou. Caiziyou is a rapeseed oil that is minimally processed and has a dark amber color and a distinct toasty aroma. Caiziyou is extremely difficult to find at local markets outside of China, but you can order it online from the Mala Market. You can use rapeseed (Canola oil), peanut, or any other oil with a high smoke point. We do not use olive oil since it does not have a high smoke point, and it does not produce an authentic Sichuan flavor – but feel free to experiment and let us know how it goes.  
• Ground red chili pepper – Sichuan varieties, such as er jing tiao, Xiao mi la, Chao tian jiao are the best choice. Sichuan chili peppers have more depth of flavor while providing medium to high heat depending on the variety. The xiao mi la chili is on the hotter side while er jing tiao provides medium heat. These varieties can be found online at the Mala Market. Your local Asian market will stock dried Sichuan chilis, but usually the one’s they import to the US are not the most recent harvest and are starting to reflect this in their faded appearance. Before finding the Mala Market though we used them for many years and produced flavorful Chinese dishes. You can also buy Sichuan chilis on Amazon. Dried red Sichuan chili peppers are not to be confused with Sichuan peppercorns (hua jiao) below.
• Sesame seeds – untoasted, white sesame seeds
• Ground Sichuan pepper (hua jiao) – Hua jiao is a spice (a berry to be exact) commonly used in Sichuan cuisine. It grows on spiky shrubs which can shred the hands of those who pick it. It is grown in other regions as well, but the varieties that come out of Sichuan are renowned. For novices, one of the first things you will notice when eating hua jiao is a pleasant tingling numbing effect. This is due to a molecule called sanshool. Like many of the dry ingredients in our recipes, these can be purchased on Amazon, or for the best quality, order from The Mala Market.
• Star anise – this spice has a wonderful licorice-like aroma that pairs perfectly with ground chilis
• Bay leaf
• Green onion – use the white base
• Ginger – fresh

See recipe card for quantities.

🔪 Instructions

Gather all the ingredients, cut the base of one green onion into half inch sections, and cut three slices of ginger (approx. 8 grams). There is no need to peel the ginger.

Place the ground chilis and sesame seeds into a heat safe bowl that is large enough to safely accommodate the cooking oil and the chilis.

Pour the cooking oil into a small cooking pot and add the remaining ingredients (Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, bay leaf, and green onion).

Turn the pot on medium to medium-high heat and cook the aromatics in the oil for approximately 7-minutes. The oil should be approximately 300 – 350 degrees°F/150 – 175°C. If the aromatics start to burn remove them from the oil immediately. The whites of the green onion should start to turn lightly caramel in color.  

Use a mesh skimmer to remove the aromatics from the oil – discard the cooked aromatics. Use a cooking thermometer to check the temperature of the oil. The oil should be around 350°F/175°C. If the oil temperature is too low, then continue to heat until the oil reaches 350°F/175°C. If the temperature is too high, wait until the temperature drops to 350°F/175°C.

Slowly (and very carefully) pour the hot oil in a circular fashion over the ground chilis and sesames seeds. The ground chilis should sizzle energetically. The aroma will be fragrant and slightly nutty – it should not smell like burned popcorn. Give yourself a high five because you just made authentic Sichuan chili oil!!!

Let the chili oil completely cool and then cover with an airtight lid. Let the oil sit for 24 hours for the most intense flavor. And don't forget, it pairs perfectly on top of our stir-fried celery and spiced pressed tofu. With a little practice you will be making chili oil better than lao gan ma chili crisp!

Hints for oil that is too hot or too cool

• If the oil appears to be too hot when pouring the oil over the chilis, add 2 ounces (60 milliliters) of cold cooking oil to arrest the cooking process.
• If the ground chilis do not sizzle energetically when pouring the oil over the chilis, and you feel the oil was not hot enough to properly cook and infuse with the chilis, transfer the oil and chili mixture into your cooking pot and cook on medium heat until the chili oil is wonderfully fragrant and deep red. This happened to us and the chili oil produced was one of our favorites! Fuchsia Dunlop gives an alternate cooking method in her book The Food of Sichuan which is very similar.

📖 Variations / Substitutions

• Ingredient combinations – chili oil can be made with an infinite number of spice combinations. The only required ingredients are - you guessed it - ground chilis and oil. For us, the must haves are ground Sichuan chili pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, and sesame seeds. After these three basic spices, we like to change up the ingredients every time we make it. Aromatics we use include, cinnamon bark, black cardamom, bay leaf, star anise, green onion (whites), garlic, ginger, fermented black beans, and Chinese black vinegar. When making chili oil, have some fun! Change up your ingredients and find a combination that makes your taste buds sing!

Equipment

• Small cooking pot
• Heat proof bowl
• Mesh skimmer
• Chinese cleaver
• Cutting board

Storage

Store chili oil in an airtight container for up to one month.

📖 Recipe

Food safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods (less than 2 hours is recommended by the CDC).
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.

See more guidelines at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention website.

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.