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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
  • ¼ red onion
  • 2 inch carrots cut into slices
  • 1 stalk of cilantro
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 2 slices of ginger

Spice mix*

  • 1½ tsp Sichuan peppercorn
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 tbsp fennel seeds
  • ⅓ cinnamon stick

Chili

  • 2½ tbsp coarse Korean chili flakes
  • 2 tbsp fine Korean chili flakes
  • handful dry chili (10-15) optional
  • 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp Black Chinese vinegar
  • salt to season optional

Instructions

  • Cut all the vegetables into large pieces (green onions, onions, carrots, celery, cilantro)
  • Grind up all the spices into a powder
  • Crush dry chili either with blender or mortar and pestle.
  • Pour the oil into a pot and turn to medium. It's important to heat up the oil slowly. Add in ginger first and fry until it's crispy. Turn the heat off, wait 30s
  • Add in all the other vegetable, once the oil doesn't splatter, turn the heat to low. Fry until the vegetables are crispy. It should take 10 minutes
  • Take out the vegetables. Turn the heat off.
  • Add in sesame seed, wait for 30s
  • Add in the spice mix. There should be some bubbling.
  • Add in chili flakes, dry crushed chili. Let it simmer for 30s-1 minute. Take it off the heat, let it cool for a bit
  • Add in the vinegar by pouring on the side of the pot. It should bubble a bit.
  • 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.
  • Store in the fridge. It can last 1 year 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.