How To Make Your Own Chili Oil In Minutes

What is Chili Oil?

Chili oil holds a significant place in Chinese culinary traditions, serving as an essential pantry ingredient. It combines the harmonious blend of oil infused with aromatic spices and fiery chili flakes, providing both a flavorful essence and a satisfying crunch. You have the freedom to select any variety of chili pepper, ranging from gentle and mild to intensely fiery and superhot depending on how you take the heat.

Homemade Chili Oil Ingredients

• Oil: Ideally, a neutral flavored oil, such as vegetable, canola, peanut, soybean, or grape seed oil.
• Spices: Some essential spices you'll need are star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns.
• Salt: Very important as it helps bring out the flavor of all the spices and aromatics.
• Chili flakes or crushed dried chili peppers
• Optional spices and add-ins: Whether or not you want to add anything further is up to your personal preference. If you prefer a bit more flavor, you can incorporate spices such as black cardamom, cloves, fresh garlic, or soy sauce.

How To Make Chili Oil Recipe Instructions

1. Collect all the aromatic ingredients you intend to incorporate. Combine the chosen oil and aromatics in a pot. If you opt for using just the essential spices, approximately 1 ½ cups of oil will suffice. You may increase the oil quantity to up to 3 cups if you decide to go a bit more complex on the ingredients.
2. Begin by placing the pot over medium heat and gradually reduce it to medium-low or low heat as the oil heats up. The goal is to reach an oil temperature of approximately 110-120°C, at which point you should observe small bubbles gently emerging from the aromatics. Allow the aromatics to infuse for a duration of at least 30 minutes up to 1 hour.
3. Remove the spices first with a fine-meshed strainer, then heat the oil as it needs to be between 110-120° C when poured over the chili flakes.
4. Prepare your chili flakes in a bowl that can withstand heat. You can experiment within the oil-flakes range, but usually, 1½ cups of oil to ¾ cup of chili flakes should work.
5. With caution, slowly pour the hot oil through a strainer, allowing it to pass onto the Sichuan chili flakes. Give it a gentle stir to ensure the even distribution of the oil's heat.
6. Incorporate the salt into the chili oil while giving it a gentle stir, and then let the mixture cool down. For safe storage, transfer the chili oil to airtight containers and keep them refrigerated. Remember to use clean utensils whenever handling the oil.