Our Easy Chilli Crisp
Recipe video above. This is the best Chilli Crisp I have ever had in my life. Proper crunchy bits with layers upon layers of savoury, aromatic flavour and a warm spiciness, it’s everything I dreamed a crispy chilli oil to be. I’m hopelessly addicted – and you will be too!!The most amazing thing is how easy it is to make using accessible ingredients. We take a massive shortcut by using store bought crispy friend shallots and garlic. Frying your own is tricky even for professional chefs. We thought using store bought would compromise the greatness of a truly from-scratch chilli crisp, but it didn't!
Ingredients
Spices:
- 1 dried bay leaf (substitute fresh)
- 1 star anise
- 1/2 cinnamon stick (just break by hand)
- 1/2 tsp green cardamom pods (~7 - 8 pods)
- 2 1/2 tsp red (or pink) sichuan peppercorns (whole not powder) (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp cloves (~8 pieces)
- 2 tsp water
For Oil Infusion:
- 1 green onion stem , cut into 15cm/6" lengths
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger , sliced 3mm/ 0.1" thick (slice then press into tablespoon to measure)
- 1 cup vegetable oil (or canola or peanut oil)
For Oil Sizzle:
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- 3 tsp dried chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika , sub regular/sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp light soy sauce or all-purpose soy (not dark soy)
- 1/2 tsp Chinese black vinegar (Note 3)
Seasoning and Crispy Bits:
- 1 tsp caster sugar / superfine sugar (Note 4)
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1 tsp Chinese chicken stock powder (bouillon powder), preferably Knorr Chinese/Asian or other Asian brand (Note 5)
- 1/2 cup crispy fried shallots , store bought (Note 6)
- 2 tbsp crispy fried garlic , store bought (Note 6)
Instructions
ABBREVIATED
- Soak Dried Spices with the water 30 minutes. Gently simmer with Oil Infusion 30 minutes. Strain into bowl over Oil Sizzle ingredients. Cool 30 minutes, mix in Seasoning & Crispy Bits. Fridge 24 hours. Mix very well before use!
FULL RECIPE
- Chop hard spices - Roughly cut the cinnamon, bayleaf and star anise into ~1cm / 0.4" pieces.
- Soak dried spices - Scrape into a bowl with the remaining Dried Herbs and Spices. Add the water and mix so everything is coated. Leave for 30 minutes so they absorb all the water. (This prevents burning when infusing hot oil and softens the surface for better flavour extraction).
- Oil infusion – Put the soaked spices into a 20cm/8" saucepan with the green onion, ginger and cold oil. Start on medium-low, then adjust the heat until you see small fizzy bubbles coming up from the base.
- 30 minute fizzy simmer - Maintain that gentle fizzy bubbling for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times, and ensure nothing burns. Towards the end, the bubbling will slow (a sign the water has evaporated from the spices, ginger etc) and the ginger and green onion should be dark golden, not burnt. (Note 7)
- Oil Sizzle ingredients - Just before the oil simmering finishes, put the Oil Sizzle ingredients in a metal bowl (or high heat-proof container that can sustain hot oil). ⚠️ Don't do this too far ahead of time else the sesame seeds may absorb too much of the liquids.
- Strain - When the infused oil is done, strain the hot oil into the bowl using a fine-mesh metal sieve. Then mix. Discard all the used spices etc caught in the strainer.
- Cool - Leave the oil to cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Seasoning and crispy bits - Mix all the Seasoning and Crunchy bits into the cooled oil.
- Infuse overnight - Pour into a jar or airtight container. Once fully cool, seal with a lid. Leave for at least 24 hours to let all the flavours meld. It just gets better with time, peaking on day 3 onwards. Keeps in the fridge for 6 to 8 weeks. Always mix well before using, being sure to agitate all the good stuff into the oil!
- Use on stir fries, noodles, fried rice, soups, eggs, in burgers, dipping sauce for dumplings, turn a boring plain poached chicken or fish into something exciting, serve with steak (I DO THIS ALL THE TIME!), dollop over Lebanese pizza or roast vegetables, smear in gyros and donor kebab wraps. Mix with mayo or sour cream to make an instant dip/sauce for wedges, fries or veggie sticks, or use it for tacos and burritos. The question is more - what can't you use it for??!! :)
Notes
1. Sichuan Peppercorns - Chinese peppercorns with a citrusy aroma and that signature tongue-tingling cold buzz rather than fiery hot! We use them whole for oil infusion so it doesn't add spice. Find in Asian stores, produce shops with a good range of spices, or even large grocery stores in multi-cultural areas (Coles, for Aussies!)
2. Chilli flakes / red pepper flakes - This is the spiciness in this chilli crisp. It might sound like a lot, but the spiciness is largely absorbed by the oil so the end result is on the low end of medium. It's less spicy than sriracha, if that helps as a benchmark!
Reduce spiciness by using less, but I wouldn't go less than 1 1/2 teaspoons because then you may as well drop the "Chilli" from the name. :)
3. Black vinegar is a Chinese vinegar the colour of balsamic. No need to get it especially, substitute with rice vinegar or any other clear vinegar.
4. Caster sugar - Better than regular / granulated sugar as the grains are finer and sugar does not dissolve in oil. If you only have regular sugar, stir extra well.
5. Chicken stock powder - Use a Chinese one if you can (I use Knorr which is very popular in the Asian community), else any chicken stock powder (bouillon powder). This is what gives chilli crisp the savoury flavour.
6. Crispy fried shallots and crispy fried garlic - Provides most of the crunch as well as a stack of flavour! Using store bought is a massive shortcut because it's actually really tricky to deep fry paper thin slices of shallots and garlic to make them crispy, let alone stay crispy in oil. Even professional chefs struggle to do it consistently.
Where to find them - Crispy fried shallots are very accessible these days, sold at regular grocery stores plus of course Asian stores. Crispy fried garlic bits are sold at Asian stores and large grocery stores in multi-cultural areas (Coles, for Aussies!).
Substitutes - There's no substitute for Crispy Fried Shallots but see FAQ for making this with dried garlic granules instead which are much more readily available.
7. Oil Infusion step - The goal here is to extract as much flavour as we can from the spices without letting anything burn which will taint all the oil with bitterness. Stronger simmer = more flavour extraction but watch carefully to avoid burning.
Storage - Keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for 6 to 8 weeks. The crispy bits stay crispy! Beyond this, the crispy bits start to soften a bit and the aromatic flavour starts to fade. Then well beyond this (3 months+), you may start tasting a bit of bitterness.