Easy Chili Crisp Recipe (7 Minutes)

Name: 7-Minute Chili Crisp Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 12 min
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups grapeseed oil (or avocado oil or vegetable oil); 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots; 8 large cloves garlic (thinly sliced); 1 cinnamon stick; 1 tablespoon maple syrup; 1 tablespoon tamari (or soy sauce); 2 teaspoons grated or minced fresh ginger; 1 cup crushed red pepper ((red chili flakes)); 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

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This 7-minute homemade chili crisp is packed with flavor, incredibly versatile, and budget-friendly. Make this spicy, crunchy, fragrant chile condiment your own. This easy recipe comes together in minutes and delivers the perfect mix of heat, aromatics, and texture. It's a simple, versatile condiment you'll want to spoon over everything from vegetables to noodles, tofu, grains, and more.

Chili crisp with crushed red pepper, garlic, shallots and oil on a gold spoon in a glass jar.

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🤷🏽‍♀️ What is Chili Crisp?

Chili crisp is a flavorful chili oil infused with crispy bits of garlic, shallots, and spices. It delivers heat, texture, umami, and a touch of sweetness. You'll find versions from well-known brands like Lao Gan Ma, Fly By Jing, and Momofuku, but a homemade batch allows you to control heat, ingredients, allergens, and flavor.

🫙 Why Make This Recipe

Here are five reasons why you will love this recipe:

Ready in minutes, especially with the microwave method
More affordable than store-bought jars
Easy to customize the heat level and seasoning
Soy-free, nut-free, or sesame-free options
A simple way to elevate everyday meals

🌶️ The Three Key Components of Chili Crisp

Chili crisp recipes vary widely, but they all contain these core elements:

The Oil: A neutral, high-heat oil like grapeseed, refined avocado, rice bran, or vegetable oil works best.
The Crispy Bits: Thinly sliced garlic and shallots become golden, crunchy, and deeply flavorful. They're the signature texture of chili crisp.
The Seasonings: Crushed red pepper flakes bring the heat. Optional ingredients like cinnamon, tamari, ginger, or maple syrup add layers of flavor.

Jump to:

🤷🏽‍♀️ What is Chili Crisp?
🫙 Why Make This Recipe
🌶️ The Three Key Components of Chili Crisp
👩🏼‍🌾 Things to Know About Ingredients
🫚 Substitutions
🔥 Customize Your Heat Level
📝 Tips for Making Chili Crisp
7-Minute Chili Crisp Recipe
⚖️ Convert the Recipe to Metric (g & mL)
✔️ Storage and Safety
🫓 What to Serve with Chili Crisp
🙋🏽‍♀️ Recipe FAQs
🛍️ Shop Recipe Cookware and Ingredients
👩🏽‍🍳 Made this recipe?
🍽 Related Recipes
💬 Comments

👩🏼‍🌾 Things to Know About Ingredients

Below, I've included notes on the ingredients from the perspective of a nutrition expert and a trained chef. For a complete list of ingredients and quantities, please refer to the recipe card below.

Maple syrup, tamari, and oil in white bowls, plus one cinnamon stick, shallot, garlic, and piece of fresh ginger on a gray table.

Crushed red pepper: Made from dried, crushed chili peppers. Use more or less depending on your heat tolerance, or substitute other dried chilies. Hot peppers contain varying amounts of the phytochemicals responsible for their spiciness. These are known as capsaicinoids and may offer several related health benefits.
Garlic and shallots: Slice them evenly so they crisp at the same rate. They also contribute natural sweetness and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Ginger: Adds brightness and a slight kick.
Cinnamon stick, tamari, and maple syrup: Optional, but they round out the flavor.
Oil: Use a neutral, high-smoke-point oil. Olive oil is not ideal because it can become bitter when heated.

🫚 Substitutions

This recipe is versatile and easy to adapt. Below are some simple ingredient substitutions.

Crushed red pepper - Swap in dried chilies such as japones, guajillo, chiles de árbol, Kashmiri red chilies, or Thai chilies. Use mild chilies for a gentler chili crisp or hotter varieties for more intensity.
Shallots - Substitute thinly sliced onion.
Cinnamon - Leave it out or replace it with star anise, cumin (for a salsa macha vibe), mushroom powder, or seaweed flakes.
Oil - Use grapeseed, rice bran, avocado, vegetable oil, or peanut oil. Olive oil is not ideal because it has a lower smoke point and can get bitter as it's heated.
Maple syrup and tamari - Optional and adjustable based on taste.
Ginger - Optional; adds freshness and warmth.

🔥 Customize Your Heat Level

Milder: Use fewer red chili flakes or use sweet, mild dried chilies.

Medium: Use standard crushed red pepper.

Hot: Add extra crushed red pepper or mix in Thai chilies or chiles de árbol.

📝 Tips for Making Chili Crisp

These additional tips will help you get the best results from this recipe.

Slice shallots and garlic submerged in oil a glass bowl.

Slice garlic and shallots to the same thickness for even crisping. Watch closely - they should turn golden, not dark brown. The drier the crunchy bits are, the better from a food safety perspective because more moisture can make chili crisp more likely to develop bacteria and spoil.

Crispy sliced garlic, shallots, crushed red pepper, and a cinnamon stick in oil.

Let the crisp cool before transferring so the aromatics stay crunchy. Add the cinnamon stick, maple syrup, tamari, ginger, crushed red pepper, and salt. Mix well to combine.

⚖️ Convert the Recipe to Metric (g & mL)

Use these AI tools to do this:

✔️ Storage and Safety

Here are some tips for keeping Chili Crisp fresh and safe to eat:

Refrigerate chili crisp in an airtight jar for up to 2 weeks, or freeze immediately for longer storage.
For all homemade chili crisps containing garlic, onion, or shallots, the aromatics must be completely crispy to minimize the risk of botulism. Never store homemade chili crisp with soft or under-fried alliums at room temperature.

🫓 What to Serve with Chili Crisp

I enjoy a drizzle of chili crisp over this Easy Marinated Tofu Salad, or my Curried Chickpea Salad, on toast.

Marinated tofu salad with cubed baked tofu, chopped red onion, parsley, and celery on toasts with avocado and chili oil.

Curried chickpea salad with chopped red onion, celery, and scallions on two slices of whole wheat toast with a knife on the right side, plus a bowl of the remaining salad.

It's also delicious with this Oyster Mushroom Noodle Stir-Fry, my Caramelized Tofu & Onion Sandwich, and Korean Kimchi Fried Rice.

🙋🏽‍♀️ Recipe FAQs

What do you do with chili crisp?

You can use it as a marinade for tofu, tempeh, mushrooms, and beans. It's also a great flavor booster in spreads, dips, and dressings. Add some to dipping sauces, or serve with noodles, rice dishes, roasted vegetables, in sandwiches, mixed with mayonnaise, on avocado toast, or add a splash to fresh fruit, yogurt, or even ice cream. There are endless uses for this flavor-boosting oil.

What is Chinese Grandma chili crisp?

Tao Huabi is the woman behind Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp, a hot, crunchy sauce of chopped chillies. The name means "old godmother, " and the jar is known for its image of a stern-looking, short-haired woman.

What is Salsa Macha?

It is a Mexican condiment made with different varieties of dried chiles, garlic, and chopped nuts and seeds fried in oil. It is different from chili crisp mostly because of the wide variety of Mexican chilis it uses.