Learn how to make authentic Chinese chili oil from whole dried red pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. This method produces a dark right color but the strongest aroma so it is extremely popular in Szechuan restaurants.
In different Chinese cuisine especially Sichuan cuisine, condiments and seasonings are quite important. Since chili pepper and Sichuan peppercorn are the most two important condiments in Sichuan cuisine. Besides, combined Szechuan style chili oil is also an important seasoning, not shining but indispensable to your kitchen.
I have made a similar version long time ago, using pepper flakes directly. Then when I was browsing a picture introducing Sichuan style fried dried pepper, suddenly I realized the types of pepper flakes might influence the taste a lot. The Sichuan style pepper flakes we bought here in China are all fried before ground. By following this recipe, you can approach the real Sichuan Restaurant flavor maximumly. But the oil is actually “dark red” instead of “bright red”.
We usually use at least two types of dried whole peppers for red oil because some of them have strong aroma, some with great red color while others are spicy enough. For me, I love to mix Er Jing Tiao (aroma and color), Bullet Head (aroma) and Facing heaven(hotness). If you are in US, you can go this shop and find those ingredients. Or use dried whole peppers from amazon.
You can use this chili oil in following Sichuan style hot dishes.
- Dan dan noodles
- Chongqing noodles
- Mouthwatering chicken
- Red oil wonton
- Cold sesame wonton
- Smashed cucumber salad
Ingredients
- 100g dried chili peppers (cut into small pieces)
- 1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorn
- 1 tbsp. white sesame seeds
- 2 cups oil (recommend colleseed oil)
- 2 green onion, white parts only
- 1 thumb ginger, sliced
- 2 star anises
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 small piece of Chinese cinnamon
- 1 tsaoko (optional)
- 1 fructus amomi, 砂仁 (optional)
Instructions
- Cut the dried whole chili peppers. If you want to reduce the hotness, discard part of the seeds to reduce the hotness.
- Fry the pepper sections over slow fire until they turn dark red (the purpose of this step is to stimulate the aroma).
- Transfer the dried chili peppers into a stone mortar and then crush roughly.
- Transfer the crushed chili flakes to a bowl, add Sichuan peppercorn and toasted sesame seeds.
- Add oil in wok and cut the spring onion into one inch sections and slice ginger. Fry over slow fire until they becomes brown.
- Transfer them out and then add dried spices. Continue fry over slow fire until aromatic. Move the spices out.
- Pour around 1/2 cup of hot oil into the chili fakes. Mix well. At this time, the oil should be quite hot.
- Wait for around half minutes until the oil is slightly cooled. Pour the remaining hot oil into the chili flakes.
- Pour to a air-tight container, wait for 1-2 days until the red color is formed.
- 100 g dried chili peppers ,cut into small pieces
- 1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorn
- 1 tbsp. white sesame seeds
- 2 cups oil ,recommend colleseed oil
- 2 green onion ,white parts only
- 1 thumb ginger ,sliced
- 2 star anises
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 small piece of Chinese cinnamon
- 1 tsaoko ,optional
- 2 fructus amomi ,砂仁 (optional)
-
Cut the dried whole chili peppers. If you want to reduce the hotness, discard part of the seeds.
-
Fry the pepper sections over slow fire until they turn dark red (the purpose of this step is to stimulate the aroma).
-
Transfer the dried chili peppers into a stone mortar and then crush roughly.
-
Transfer the crushed chili flakes to a bowl, add Sichuan peppercorn and toasted sesame seeds.
-
Add oil in wok and cut the spring onion into one inch sections and slice ginger. Fry over slow fire until they becomes brown.
-
Transfer them out and then add dried spices. Continue fry over slow fire until aromatic. Move the spices out.
-
Pour around 1/2 cup of hot oil into the chili fakes. Mix well.
-
Turn up the fire and heat the oil until almost smoky. Pour the remaining hot oil into the chili flakes.
-
Pour to a air-tight container, wait for 1-2 days until the red color is formed.
Please adjust the amount according to your needs. The chili oil can be kept up to a month in a sealed container.
This is no salt version, if you want your chili oil has some salty taste, add 1 teaspoon of salt with the chili powders.
I was drawn into the post by the lovely photo! Now, I’m intrigued at thought of making my own chili oil. I can’t wait to try this.
Rosanna
Thanks for stopping by and hope it work out well on your side. Homemade chili oil is healthier and economical.
Elaine, that red oil recipe tastes amazing. I had it again last night with fish broth noodle soup.
Thanks David for the feedback. I am happy that it comes out good for you.
By the way, the picture with the red oil in the spoon is amazing. This is the picture that made me discover your website.
Last time, I did the short version, but tonight I’ll do the full one.
Thanks David and hope you love it the same as me.
I made my first time and it got a little brown and not red like yours. I’m sad. Maybe next time will go better. I made the more difficult version. But you didn’t put the measures for that one.
Margarida,
If you are making the simple version, the color actually depends on the chili powder you are using since oil in poured directly. You can wait the oil to cool down a little bit before mixing with the powders, otherwise the powders might be burnt and thus bring a darker color. Besides the simple version usually cannot be pure red since the ingredients are not filtered.
For the more difficult version, I have added the measures for your convenience. And hope it works great this time.
Thank you Elaine 🙂
I am glad to help, Margarida. Hope you enjoy!
Can a darker color also not be the result of heating up the oil to high? Which in turn can burn the spices but I believe it makes the oil more brown as well? I got this the second time and I think it is because I let the oil heat up too long
Hi Elaine!
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
For the simple version, when you say a 10:2:2:4 what does that refer to and how much oil should I start out with?
Thanks!
Hi James,
Thanks for pointing that out. I think it might be a little bit confusing too. I have updated the recipe and listed the ingredients you will need for a small batch testing.
Thanks Elaine!
Hi Elsine to date I have tried quite a few of your recipes and they are fantastic
For quite a while now I have been looking for a really authentic dim sum pastry recipe but having tried a considerably amount off the net I just can’t seem to get that perfect texture and taste – I’m ok with fillings it the pastry recipe please
Is there any way you would have time to post a response with the exact ingredients and method please
Kind regards … Stuart
Hi Stuart,
Do you mean pastry for egg tart or other dim sum dessert? If it is egg tart pastry shell, I have just posted a recipe here https://chinasichuanfood.com/portuguese-egg-tart-recipe/. Please check it.
i have an 8 hectare chili farm in tarlac… do you have any suggestions about my product?
Wow That’s really so many chili Jun. Do you mean that you plan to make all of them to chili oil? Have you never heard of Chinese Lao Gan Ma. I think it might inspire you some way.
i mean, i plan to make chili oil in large quantities.. any suggestions on marketing?
hello. dear, i like to make very large qty if chilli oil, this might use in restruant if goes well with it, is there anything i should know more about it?? thanx
Hi Tseba,
The only suggestion I can give is to test with a small batch firstly to see how it goes and you can add more spices for restaurant dishes.
Hi Elaine-
Thanks for sharing the recipes. I tried the simple version a few months ago and it turned out great! I want to explore the more difficult version but have a quick question. How much oil am I adding to the spice mixture? 4 tablespoon seems like a very small amount. Just want to double check to make sure the oil comes out perfect! Thanks for all your help!
Alanna
Hi Alanna,
Thanks for your feedback about the simplified version and your correctness about the more complex version. Usually I did not measure the oil used in the recipe at that time. And yes, 4 tablespoons are too small and I have updated the recipe for a more appropriate amount, for 4 oz chili pepper, it should be around 2 cups. However if you want the chili oil to be less spicy, you can use 3 cups oil too.
Hi!
I’m really excited to try making this recipe, I can think of lots of great ways to use this oil. I was just wondering, how long does the oil keep? And should it be kept in the fridge or outside?
Hi Jordan,
Keep the oil in air-tighter and clean bottles either in fridge or just in room. I usually make one bottle and finish up within a month.
Thank you Elaine for both recipes. Very clear and detailed. Would you ever add any other ingredients to the chili oil?
What’s the other ingredients you prefer?
Hi Elaine,
I would like to clarify for some of your readers here the ingredient you list as ‘cassia bark.’ Here in the west, that translates to cinnamon bark. I just thought some readers may not know what you meant. Cinnamon is from the bark of a particular species of cassia, but most westerners are unaware of that.
Hello Elaine
Can you tell me how hot the oil should be when I heat it up?
Thank you!
I will post a version soon, about how to make restaurant style chili oil. Mostly they are made from whole peppers.
Can you replace the peanut oil with vegetable oil instead? And do you recommend some of the chili oil you can buy off the shelf or is it better to make it yourself?
Sure, you can use colleseed oil or other canola oil. If you do not want to make it at home, you can try product from Laoganma (老干妈).
Four years later now… and I’m still making that amazing tasting red oil…
Hi Elaine,
those “Facing Heaven” chilies look a lot like the “Bird’s eye chili” from Thailand which I can get here quite easily. Are they by any chance the same?
No, they are different types but very similar in appearance. Bird’s eye should be hotter than facing heaven in Chinese. I do not believe bird’s eye chili is a food ingredient for hot oil since it is too hot.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us … I always look forward to receiving them …..
Dear Elaine,
In the past, I have ordered Sichuan ingredients from The Mala Market referenced in your article. I like their products as it is very authentic. I have also ordered Sichuan ingredients from e-Commerce website, Spicy Element. They also carry authentic Sichuan products. I prefer Spicy Element because they ship for free.
Thank you for this updated recipe for Red Chili Oil.
Steve
Steve,
You are the most welcome! I know spicy element import Sichuan ingredients from Sichuan and I trust them. It is very glad to hear that the authentic ingredients are be accessed outside China. Happy cooking!
Thank you for sharing your scrumptious recipes. I am now in the mood to try out some of them. By the way, what is tsaoko,
fructus amomi, 砂仁 & what can I substitute with? Thank you.
Hi Jen,
Check here for tasoko. There is no good substitute for 砂仁. If you cannot find it, just skip this one.