Sichuan Chili Oil

It’s time to level up ↑↑↑

Sichuan peppercorns are one of my all-time favorite spices. They’re floral, fragrant, savory, crunchy and numbingly spicy. Infusing oil with Sichuan peppercorns, hot chilies, garlic and ginger, creates a pantry staple that’ll elevate your cooking with minimal effort.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns

8-10 dried hot Chinese/Arbol chilies, stems removed

3 cloves garlic, sliced in half lengthwise

1/2 inch of ginger, sliced medium-thin

1 cup neutral oil (canola, vegetable, grapeseed)

pinch of salt

Method

Toast chilies and peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Once you can smell the strong fragrant aroma of the peppercorns, remove from heat. Crush peppercorns and chilies in either a mortar and pestle, food processor, or blender. The mixture should be about the same consistency as red pepper flakes.

Place crushed peppercorn/chili mixture, garlic, ginger and a pinch of salt in a completely heat proof container. I like to use treated glass (ie borosilicate) measuring cups, but a metal bowl works well too.

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it’s shimmering hot. When you hold your hand above the oil it should give off quite a bit of heat.

Pour hot oil over garlic/ginger/spice mixture in heat proof container. It will sizzle the spices and bubble up, so make sure whatever container you’re using is larger than 1 cup.

Let it cool for a few minutes before removing garlic and ginger pieces and transferring to a jar. I use chopsticks to pull out the garlic and ginger because they tend to get soggy and fall apart in the oil over time.

Store oil in the fridge and it’ll keep up to 6 months.

And that’s it! Put it on everything! Pizza, noodles, soups, popcorn, roast veggies, fried eggs…!