This homemade spicy garlic chili crisp oil is the ultimate condiment that you’ll need to make ASAP. It’s spicy, crunchy, and packed with savory umami flavors! It’s made with shallots, garlic, and chili flakes infused in hot oil. Drizzle over dumplings, eggs, salads, roasted vegetables, soups, and more. You may like these spicy garlic chili oil noodles.
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Chili oil crunch is simply hot oil infused with warm spices that is savory, smoky, and packed with crunchy garlic and shallots with crunchy chili flakes. It has a lovely balance of flavors and textures. The ultimate condiment that you can drizzle absolutely on everything, and the best part is that it’s made in 30 minutes.
Forget store-bought chili oil crunch, make it at home at a budget price. Feel free to customize it to suit your taste preference.
Why you’ll love this chili oil
- Quite easy to make.
- Uses basic pantry ingredients.
- Crunchy garlic and shallots add wonderful crunch to the infused oil.
- Packed with savory umami flavors.
- Needs under 30 minutes to make; browning the shallot & garlic is the only time-consuming task; the rest of the recipe comes together in under 10 minutes.
- Store for weeks in the refrigerator.
- The ultimate condiment you can drizzle on absolutely everything!
Ingredients
Neutral oil – I used canola oil. You may use sunflower oil, vegetable oil, or peanut oil.
Shallot – dice it as fine as possible. Fresh shallots, after being browned adds flavorful crunch to the oil.
Garlic – mince it. Adds wonderful crunch to infused oil.
Red chili flakes – I used 2 types of chili flakes for added flavor and more taste. Regular red chili flakes add heat.
Gochugaru – also called Korean chili flakes. It’s milder, slightly sweet, and adds earthy flavors.
Whole spices – Warm whole spices such as star anise, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf will add fragrance to oil.
Sugar – a hint of sweetness to balance the kick from red chili flakes.
Light soy sauce – for salty, savory, umami flavor. Using light soy sauce ensures the infused oil color does not turn dark.
Salt (optional) – add a small amount if needed.
Sesame seeds – add an earthy, crunchy bite.
Additions and Substitution
Sichuan peppercorns – Chinese peppercorns have a tongue-tingling buzz when you get a bite, it has citrusy aroma as well. If you like to change the flavors and make a chili crisp oil that leans more towards a Chinese profile, substitute gochugaru with Sichuan peppercorns coarsely crushed.
Crunchy fried shallots and fried garlic – gentle, “fizzy” simmering shallot and garlic mince in oil until golden brown takes a little bit of extra time to infuse oil with flavor bombs, but it’s so worth it. If you are looking for a shortcut, use store-bought crispy fried shallots and crispy fried garlic and mix them with hot oil with the rest of the ingredients.
The seasonings. For flavoring, you can use any seasoning of your choice. Include green cardamom, fennel seeds, ginger, and green onions in the infused oil for more flavors and aroma.
Step-by-step Instructions
Step 1: In a heat-resistant wide bowl, add red chili flakes, gochugaru, salt, sugar, and sesame seeds. Keep aside.
Step 2: In a medium-sized saucepan pour oil. Keep it on the stove at the lowest heat. If you feel the oil is turning very hot, remove the pan from the stove for a while to reduce the temperature. It’s crucial to maintain a low temperature so nothing burns.
Add minced shallots, minced garlic, along with whole spices – star anise, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf to the pan. Shallot-garlic and spices should slowly simmer like a fizz in the oil. Keep stirring at regular intervals. Ensure oil temperature does not increase.
Step 3: Once garlic and shallots are browned, remove the pan from the heat.
Remove whole spices – star anise, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf.
Step 4: Pour hot oil into the heat-resistant bowl with chili flakes.
Add the light soy sauce too.
Mix well. Allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
Pour into a jar with an airtight container once fully cooled.
Seal it airtight with the lid and allow it to infuse for at least 24 hours, preferably overnight.
The flavor and taste get better with time; it tastes best on day 3.
Keeps well for 6 to 8 weeks in the refrigerator.
Always mix well first before using.
Storage
The flavor and taste get better with time; it tastes best on day 3. Keeps well for 6 to 8 weeks in a sealed airtight container in the refrigerator. You can use it beyond this time too, just that the aromatic flavors in the oil tend to fade away, but does taste good, in fact, better than store-bought ones.
Ways to use chili oil crunch
Drizzle over dumplings, scrambled eggs, salads such as cucumber dill salad, roasted vegetables, soups, over shrimp fried rice, and more.
You can use it as a marinade for tofu and vegetables.
It can be a great dipping sauce for spring rolls, fried chicken, and dumplings.
Tips to make the best chili oil crisps
- Use fresh shallots and garlic, and make use of them to dice/mince it fine to get the best crispy texture.
- The key to infusing more flavor into the oil is to heat the oil at a very low heat, ensuring the temperature is maintained between 140°C and 160°C. You want to brown the shallots and garlic slowly by simmering them and giving them enough time for the whole spices to infuse their aroma into the oil. Ensure shallots and garlic do not turn dark brown.
- Use good-quality neutral oil for best results.
Recipe FAQs
Chili oil is oil infused with all the seasonings and flavoring agents. Chili crunch has all the crispy bits of shallot, garlic, and chili flakes in it.
Based on the chili flakes used, it can be spicy or mildly spicy. To reduce the intensity of heat, reduce the red chili flakes or use milder chili.
Olive oil has a strong flavor and interferes with the flavors of the seasoning. I highly recommend you avoid olive oil and use neutral oil such as canola oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil, or peanut oil.
Hot oil helps bloom the spices and releases their aroma and flavor.
Keeps well for 6 to 8 weeks in a sealed airtight container in the refrigerator.
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📋Easy Garlic Chili Crisp Oil
Ingredients
- 1 cup neutral oil canola oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil
- 1 small shallot diced fine
- 1 head garlic minced fine
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons red chili flakes
- 1 tablespoon gochugaru Korean pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Instructions
- In an heat resistant wide bowl add red chili flakes, gochugaru, salt, sugar and sesame seeds. Keep aside.
- In a medium-size sauce pan pour oil. Keep on stove at the lowest heat. If you feel oil is turning very hot, remove the pan from stove for a while to reduce the temperature. It’s crucial to maintain low temperature so nothing burns.
- Add minced shallots, minced garlic along with whole spices – star anise, cinnamon stick and bay leaf to the pan. Shallot-garlic and spices should slowly simmer like a fizz in the oil. Keep stirring at regular intervals. Ensure oil temperature does not increase.
- Once garlic and shallots are browned, remove pan from heat.
- Remove whole spices – star anise, cinnamon stick and bay leaf.
- Pour hot oil to the heat resistant bowl with chili flakes.
- Add the light soy sauce too.
- Mix well. Allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
- Pour into a jar with airtight container once fully cooled.
- Seal it airtight with lid and allow it to infused minimum overnight best 24 hours.
- The flavor and taste gets better with time, it tastes best on day 3.
- Keeps well for 6 to 8 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Always mix well first before using.
Notes
- Use fresh shallot and garlic and make use to dice/mince it fine to get the best crispy texture.
- The key to infuse more flavor to the oil is to heat oil in very low heat, ensuring the temperature is maintained between 140 to 160 C. You want to brown the shallots and garlic slowly by simmering it and giving it enough time for the whole spices to infuse it’s aroma into the oil. Ensure shallot and garlic does not turn dark brown.
- Use good quality neutral oil for best results.
Nutrition
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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I’m Jyothi Rajesh (Jo for short) and I’m the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail where I share my culinary Adventures. I live in Bangalore, India. I’m a mom of two beautiful kids. My passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. I have been blogging since 2014 and many of my recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
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