Homemade Chilli Oil
Serves: 250 ml (1 cup)
A quick and delicious Chinese-style Chilli Oil with crispy chilli pieces to season your favourite Asian dishes. The oil is flavoured with Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, green cardamom and cinnamon for the perfect combination of spices.
Ingredients
- 250 ml (1 cup) vegetable oil or sunflower oil
- 3 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns
- 4 star anise
- 2 cinnamon stick
- 10 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 1/2 cup chilli flakes, preferably from an Asian grocer
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder, see Kitchen Notes
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a small saucepan over low heat until it is warm.
- Meanwhile, place the Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods into a dry pan (with no oil).
- Toast the spices over medium-high heat until the spices become aromatic and start to smoke slightly. Use a wooden spoon or chopsticks to move the spices constantly to prevent them from burning. This step should take about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the spices from the heat.
- Transfer all of the spices to the pan with the oil.
- Heat the pan with the oil and toasted spices over medium heat until the oil starts to simmer very gently. You just want gentle bubbles.
- Simmer the toasted spices in the oil for about 5 minutes.
- Take the pan of oil off the heat and set aside for about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, measure the chilli flakes, chilli powder and sea salt into a sterilised jar.
- Strain the pan of oil into a large measuring jug, preferably made from glass or ceramic as the oil will be hot.
- Pour the hot oil over the chilli and salt mixture.
- Stir the chilli oil gently.
- Add 1 or 2 star anise and a cinnamon stick from the strained mixture into the chilli oil to allow it to infuse the oil further.
- Leave the chilli oil to cool completely before sealing with a lid.
- Store the chilli oil in a cool and dark place, such as in the pantry. I don't recommend storing the chilli oil in the fridge.
- To serve, stir the chilli oil gently. For extra heat, serve the chilli oil with some of the chilli flakes in the oil.
Kitchen Notes
- CHILLI FLAKES
I prefer to buy chilli flakes from the Asian grocer for this recipe, which tend to be a lot more spicy. Look for those which are labelled Thai or Vietnamese. If you can only find regular, Italian-style chilli flakes, I would suggest increasing the amount of chilli powder. - CHILLI POWDER
The chilli powder you need for this recipe is pure ground red chillies. Some spices labelled as "chilli powder" are actually a spice blend which is generally not very spicy. - HOW LONG DOES CHILLI OIL KEEP?
This recipe makes a small amount of chilli oil which can keep for a good year, but you will probably finish it before then! There are no fresh ingredients in the chilli oil, which is why it can keep for a long time. I store my jars of chilli oil in my pantry (not in the fridge). - OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.