You won’t believe how easy it is to make this homemade chili oil from scratch! With just 5 ingredients, this will definitely become your new pantry staple!

*Note: I’ve since then updated this recipe on a separate blog post called Homemade Chili Oil, which includes a new cooking method with slightly more ingredients.

It’s that simple?

Yes, I’m a huge lover of spicy food and this chili oil has become my answer to almost everything.

Stir it in sauces, throw it in stir-fries, use it as a dip, the possibilities are endless. I’ve even seen some people use this on their ice cream.

Here are some of my favorites to use chili oil with:

Ingredients for chili oil

6-8 tbsp chili flakes (depending on your spice tolerance)
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1.5 cups oil
1/2 tsp salt, to taste

And that’s it! Because it’s so simple, it’s also super easy to double or even triple this batch for your needs.

You could even store this in mason jars and gift it to your friends who are also spice lovers.

As always, you’re definitely free to customize this chili oil however you see fit to your tastes! A couple of my favorite spices to mix in my chili oils include:

Ground peppercorns (white, black, or Sichuan)
5 spice powder
Cumin
Ginger

The chili flakes

As easy as this recipe is, choosing the right chili flakes is absolutely essential since it will majorly affect the final outcome of your oil.

Here are some of my recommendations:

Sichuan Chili Flakes: these are by-far one of the most common and recommended chili flakes to make chili oil with, especially if you’re trying to make the authentic Sichuan chili oil. The texture has a combination of both flaked and powdered chilies, which will give your oil that signature vibrant, rich red color.

Dried Whole Chinese Chilies: if you can’t get your hands on the Sichuan chili flakes, this would be your next best option. In some Asian grocery stores, they’ll usually have a generic bag of dried red chilies; and most often times these are usually Tianjin chilies (aka. “facing-heaven chilies).

Simply process the chilies in a spice grinder until they become chili flakes. I also like to process a portion of these chilies further into a powder in order to mix with the flakes; this is totally optional, but it helps to emulate that similar texture with the traditional Sichuan chili flakes.

Korean Chili flakes: aka. Gochugaru, this is another great chili to use for your chili oil. It has a slight smoky and sweet taste, and still provides your oil that vibrant red color.

The oil

Since we’re essentially heating up the oil to pour on top of our chilies, we’d ideally want an oil that’s both tasteless and has a high smoking point.

Neutral oils such as canola, vegetable, or peanut are great choices. They have very little taste (hilighting the flavor of our chilies and aromatics) and won’t burn as easily (causing a bitter taste).

Try to stay away from oils that will harden in your refrigerator, things like olive oil or coconut oil.

Instructions

In a heat-proof bowl, combine together the garlic, chili flakes, and soy sauce.

Heat your oil to around 250-300 F, or when a wooden chopstick/spoon sizzles when submerged in the oil.

Pour the hot oil over the aromatics and immediately stir to evenly distribute the oil and to avoid burning.

Season with salt to taste and stir to combine.

How to store chili oil

For a prolonged life, store your homemade chili oil in an air tight container in the fridge.

They can last for up to 2-3 months with proper handling! Always make sure to:

Keep the garlic and chilies submerged in oil
Use a clean utensil whenever you scoop out the oil

Before use, always stir the chili oil since the crisps and salt have a tendency to sink to the bottom after settling for a while. Enjoy!