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Chili oil final

Homemade Chili Oil

Homemade chili oil that will spice up any dishes
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Prep Time:15 minutes
Cook Time:40 minutes
Total Time:50 minutes
Course: condiments
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Sauce
Cost: 3

Equipment

  • 1 heavy bottom pan

Ingredients

  • 1½ cup vegetable oil

Vegetables

  • 2 green onions cut into 2 in pieces
  • ¼ red onion
  • 2 inch carrots cut into slices
  • 1 stalk of cilantro
  • 1 stalk celery cut into 2 in pieces
  • 2 slices of ginger 1/4 in thick

Spice mix*

  • 1½ tsp Sichuan peppercorn
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 tbsp fennel seeds
  • ⅓ cinnamon stick
  • handful dry chili crushed (10-15) optional

Chili

  • 2½ tbsp coarse Korean chili flakes
  • 2 tbsp fine Korean chili flakes
  • 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp Black Chinese vinegar
  • salt to season optional

Instructions

Prepping spices and vegetable for chili oil

  • Cut all the vegetables into large pieces (green onions, onions, carrots, celery, cilantro)
  • Grind up all the spices into a powder.
  • In a bowl add in coarse chili flakes, fine chili flakes, and white sesame, add about 1 tbsp of black Chinese vinegar. Mix

Infusing oil

  • Pour the oil into a pot and turn to medium. Add in all the vegetables.
  • Fry until the vegetables are wilted and turn slightly yellow. It should take 15-20 minutes. You should be able to smell the vegetable flavour in the oil
  • Take out the vegetables. Turn the heat off.
  • Add in the spice mix. There should be some bubbling. Turn the heat to low for about 1 minute and then remove from heat.

Making the chili oil

  • Put a couple ladle of hot oil onto the chili flakes. Then pour rest of the oil into the chili flakes.
  • Add in the rest of vinegar.
  • Make sure it's fully cooled (this will also help with the infusing the oil) before storing in an air tight container or jar. This recipe is enough to fill 500ml jar with a bit extra.
  • Store in the fridge. It can last 6 months or more. Use a clean spoon to avoid contamination and spoiling the oil.

Notes

* If you don't have all the spices, substitute with 1.5 tbsp of five spice powder and grind up bay leaves to combine with it.
The most important thing about making chili oil is not to overheat the oil. The oil retains a lot of the heat so even if you turn off the heat, it will still fry your ingredients. That's why we turn the heat on and off to try to keep the oil temperature consistent.
You can salt the chili oil or leave it unsalted. I personally preferred unsalted
Depending on your spice tolerance, add or subtract the amount of chili flakes and dry chili you add in.