Our Easy Chilli Crisp
Recipe video above. This is the best Chilli Crisp I have ever had in my life. Proper crunchy bits, excellent flavour (why are so many so bland??!), savoury (not just salty), has a stack of aromatic flavour, and a warm spiciness that won't blow your head off. Easy to make with accessible ingredients. Better than anything you can buy! 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!Recipe credit: Massive thanks to Chef Hannah from our food bank RecipeTin Meals, and her father Chef Haibing Huang back in China. Chilli Crisp Lovers of the world salute you!Makes ~1 1/4 cups (310 ml)
Servings: 310 ml (1 1/4 cups)
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 (Chinkiang) (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 or Vegeta for meat-free (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 ingredients 25 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 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 if browning to fast!!)
- 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. (Note 8 on oil temp)
- 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 (Asian or not!), eggs, in burgers, dipping sauce for dumplings, turn a boring plain poached chicken or fish into an exciting dinner, serve with steak (I DO THIS ALL THE TIME!), dollop over Lebanese pizza or roast vegetables, smear in this or this gyros and donor kebab wraps. Mix with mayo or sour cream to make an instant dip/sauce for fries, wedges or veggie sticks, or use it for tacos and burritos. The question really is - 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 spiciness. 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. End result is 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 (Chinkiang) 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.
Vegetarian - Vegeta would be my first pick. I love that stuff! :)
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*/eschalots (Australia) 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 (we use so much) but see FAQ for making this with dried garlic granules/dehydrated flakes instead which are much more readily available (not to be confused with garlic powder).
* Eschalots (Australia) = shallots (US / Canada) = French onions ie those small onions. I've never seen fried packets labelled eschalots.
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.
If your ginger & green onion becomes deep golden before the 25 minute mark and you're worried they will burn, take the oil OFF the stove and set aside for the remaining time, the residual heat will continue extracting flavour out of everything.
8. Oil temp should not be higher than 160°C/320°F else it will burn the sesame seeds etc in the bowl. If you maintained the specified "fizzy simmer" then you're unlikely to be above ~140°C/284°C but if you think your oil is hot, check the temp and if needed let it cool to 160°C/320°F.
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.