Chinese Chili Oil

Chinese Chili Oil—bold, aromatic, and packed with heat. If there’s one condiment that can instantly elevate any dish, it’s this! I absolutely love Asian food—the balance of flavours is always spot on, and honestly, I could eat it every single day. Whether it’s Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, or Japanese cuisine, I’m all in.

One of my favourite sources of inspiration is @marionskitchen, and one of the first recipes I ever made from her was this homemade Chinese chili oil. It’s super easy to make, takes just minutes, and adds a deep, savoury, spicy kick to noodles, rice bowls, dumplings, stir-fries, and more.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe:

✔️ Quick & easy – Made in minutes with simple ingredients.
✔️ Packed with umami & spice – Adds instant flavour to any dish.
✔️ Versatile – Perfect for dumplings, noodles, stir-fries, and even eggs.
✔️ Better than store-bought – Fresher, more flavourful, and customisable to your heat preference.

The best part? You can adjust the spice level to your liking and tweak the aromatics to suit your taste. Once you make this homemade Chinese chili oil, you’ll never want to go back to the store-bought version!

This recipe is inspired by the lovely Marion Grasby. I use this oil om so many dishes, for example on grilled vegetables, or on soups, over stir fries and even in dips.

Let’s get into the recipe.

Print Recipe

Asian Spiced Chili Oil

(7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)

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Condiment – Asian

By Saffron & Marion Grasby – Serves: 1 jar

Cooking Time: 15 minutes – Total Time: 15 minutes

A flavourful homemade chili oil to spice up all your soups, stir-fries and curries.

Ingredients

• 2-3 bayleaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 star anise
• 2 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
• 8 cardamom pods
• 1 cup vegetable or peanut oil
• 1/2 cup mix of chili flakes & chili powder
• 3 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1

In a small pan slowly heat 1 cup of peanut or vegetable oil.

2

In the meantime, in a skillet roast the bayleaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, Szechuan pepper corns and the cardamom pods until starting to smoke slightly.

3

When smoking add to the warm oil and turn heat up slightly until lightly bubbling, bubble away for 4-5 minutes.

4

Don’t let it get too hot or it will burn.

5

After 5 minutes turn heat off and let steep and cool slightly, ± 5 minutes.

6

In a mason jar add the mixed red chili flakes and powder and the sea salt.

7

Drain the oil into the jar onto the chili and salt, watch out, it will bubble a bit, the oil is still hot!

8

Add a cinnamon stick, a bayleaf and a star anise into the jar for flavour (not to serve) and stir gently.

9

Let cool before closing.

10

Before scooping out a spoonful make make sure to mix the chili at the bottom with the oil

11

Use within a year.

Notes

I would really recommend using a mix of chili flakes and chili powder, you can buy bags of these at your Asian Supermarket, but if you can't find it, you can always mix and make it yourself. The powder and the flakes mix perfectly with the oil.