Chili Oil Recipe with Crunchy Garlic & Onion
Buy our air fryer e-cookbooks today You can drizzle this on almost anything you air fry! Make our popular chili oil recipe and your air fryer dishes will be beyond amazing. This is one of our go-to sauces to have on hand anytime we’re air frying breakfast, lunch or dinner. You will love our savory best chili crisp recipe on air fried eggs, meats and vegetables.
What is Chili Oil? Aka Chili crisp or chili crunch?
People call this popular Chinese condiment by so many different names. We just call it delicious and a flavor bomb. There are different terms used to describe basically the same thing: a popular Chinese condiment with different spices infused in oil. Chili oil is essentially a crunchy, crispy, spicy condiment that you can put on anything. From noodles to vegetables, eggs and rice chili crunch is universally loved and it can be found in most Chinese restaurants. Here’s a great article about what is chili oil and its evolution to modern day cuisine.
Video: Chili Oil Recipe with Garlic, Onions
What Ingredients are in Chili Oil?
The most common ingredients are crushed dried chilies, dried onions or shallots, dried garlic and sometimes Sichuan peppercorns. Everyone has their own chili oil recipe with different aromatic combinations. Fresh chopped garlic and shallots are common now in more contemporary chili crisp recipes. Our chili oil or chili crunch version also uses fresh minced garlic, which gives this a ton of flavor and texture.
Chili Oil on Air Fryer Chicken Wings
We doused our air fryer chicken wings with this chili oil recipe and it’s crazy delicious. The crunch of chili oil on top of the crispy air fryer chicken wings. Give it a try, we know you’ll love this savory combination. Here’s our chili oil air fryer chicken wings recipe.
Tips on Making Homemade Chili Oil
- Our easy chili crisp recipe uses dried onion for that extra “crunch”. You can use fresh minced onion or shallots, but it doesn’t have the same crunch texture.
- Stir chili oil before eating. The oil part of the chili crisp floats to the top and the crunchy ingredients sink to the bottom. To make sure each spoonful has a good balance of oil and crunchies, give the jar a good stir.
- Customize to your personal taste. If you want it a little less spicy, start with about half the red chili flakes that we recommend in the recipe. Then you can always add more to make it spicy to your personal taste.
- Want your batch to be sweeter or more sticky? It’s easy. Just add a little honey to make the sauce more sticky. It’ll be a little more sweet but it’s a nice flavor balance.
- Spice level to your liking: the heat comes from red chili flakes. Our ratio in the recipe makes this batch Medium. So if you want to be a little more cautious on the heat, add about half. If you really love food extra spicy, double the amount of red chili flakes.
- If you’re still new to chili flavors and spice, don’t go crazy. Start with a small dollop of the chili oil.
- See the recipe box below for all the chili oil recipe details.
Chili Oil with Crispy Garlic
Ingredients
- 5-6 cloves fresh garlic
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil , or other clean tasting oil
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) dried minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) dried chopped onion
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) sugar
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) toasted sesame seeds , optional
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) kosher salt (use a little less if using table salt)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground cayenne , or to taste
Equipment
- 8 oz. Canning Jars optional
Instructions
- Cut or mince the garlic to your preference (can be anything from slices to a fine mince).
- In a small saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until slightly golden, about 1 minute.
- Immediately remove from heat. Don’t let it overcook and get burnt.
- Mix in the remaining ingredients (dried garlic, dried onion, crushed red pepper flakes, sugar, soy sauce, sesame seeds, smoked paprika, salt, and cayenne).
- Allow to cool completely then store in a mason jar or similar airtight container. For longer storage, keep stored in the fridge. Stir well before using.
If your air fryer is preheated or if you are cooking multiple batches, you may need to reduce timing by a few minutes (unless preheating is called for in the recipe).
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Love Chili Oil but don’t want to make your own?
Or maybe you just want to see what else is out there for inspiration on your own homemade batches. Here’s some of our favorite brands of chili oil (aka chili crisp or chili crunch):
Best Brands of Chili Crisp or Chili Crunch?
Over the last years a new generation of brands have come into the chili crunch crisp market. From more traditional brands to new brands with unique spices, there’s something for everyone. We love the S&B Crunchy Garlic with Chili Oil. Great texture and savory flavor. Just a touch of heat & sweet. If you want more heat, the others are fantastic options too!
What would you serve the Chili Oil with?
Oh there’s so many possibilities with this condiment. It’s not just for dumplings or noodles. Think beyond the traditional. Here’s some modern, maybe shocking to traditionalists, ways of serving this easy chili oil recipe or chili crisp recipe:
- On air fried meats if you want a little savory heat. We will add it after cooking the meats so the chili crisp doesn’t burn.
- Any type of vegetables can benefit with a drizzle of chili garlic crunch. Same as with adding it to the meats, add it after air frying so it doesn’t burn while cooking the vegetables.
- Put it on appetizers like deviled eggs, in hummus or even on guacamole.
- Pasta, rice, noodles, couscous or quinoa. Any type of starch or grains!
- Chili oil is so good on baked potato!
- Make nachos, tacos or quesadillas and drizzle this stuff on top. The flavors are amazing and it’s a great fusion combination of Mexican and Asian together.
- Add it to your homemade chex mix after air frying the mix.
Great Gift Giving
If you make big batches, then give them away as gifts! Folks love receiving homemade food gifts beyond jars of jam. Give away jars of homemade chili oil and your friends and family who love spice will appreciate this gift!
How to Store Homemade Chili Oil Crisp?
Store the condiment in an airtight jar in the fridge. You can keep it for up to about 3 months in the fridge. But try to eat it up sooner than later so it tastes more fresh. Don’t wait too long because the fresh garlic can go bad and the flavors will go dull. This chili oil recipe is best tasting when it’s eaten within the first few weeks.
1 Comment on “Chili Oil Recipe with Crunchy Garlic & Onion”
What a great recipe. I’ve been adding this to all your air fryer wings recipe.