(June crunching) (June coughing) (beep) - The year is 2022, and we are fascinated with
chili oil and chili crisp. It is starting to pop up everywhere, there are so many brands making it, and they are probably all delicious. But the question is,
can you make it at home? If you've watched at least
two episodes of "Budget Eats," you probably know the answer. Yes, you can make it at home. Yes, I've made chili oil before. Yes, there are different ways to make it, and today we're gonna explore exactly what those different ways are. Are y'all ready to get spicy? So the first thing you
might be wondering is what is chili oil? I think when it comes down to it, chili, plus oil, it's chili oil. But if you just take chili,
cut it up, add it to oil, that flavor won't really infuse. You won't really get
much of the spiciness, or the fragrance. Plus, the red color
that you're looking for just isn't gonna be there. Now, one way you can force
that infusion is through time. Just let it sit forever and ever until it kind of just leaks into the oil. But if you're in a rush,
grab a pot, apply some heat. So the first way to make chili oil, especially when you're using fresh, moisture laden ingredients
like fresh chilies is to simmer and low fry. By heating up the oil slowly
with these ingredients, you are basically
extracting that flavor out, intensifying the color into the oil, and marrying them together into chili oil. As the oil heats up, the
chilies get nice and toasty. The color should still be somewhat red, but it won't be as vibrant. If you're using fresh chilies and you want to make a chili crisp, you're gonna have to cook
them low and slow long enough to drive off all the moisture before they can crispify. I aim for a temperature of
250 to 275 degrees Fahrenheit so that we're not burning anything, so that it's cooking nice and slow. But if you don't have a thermometer, it might take a little
bit of trial and error. Instead, what you'll want
to be looking for is mild, gentle bubbling activity,
nothing too drastic, nothing too burning. As your chili cooks, you'll start to see it become translucent. This method tends to be
less colorful as a result, and the flavor isn't
quite spicy punchy either, so your mileage may vary
depending on your chilies and oil. When you're cooking with fresh
moisture-related ingredients, listen... (chilies sizzling) You should start to hear little sizzles, and once they start
dying down a little bit, that's when you know it's ready
to be pulled off the heat. Keep your heat super low. Keep an eye on the pot, and especially observe
the color of the seeds. Once they start turning
golden, be careful. Give it a nice, good stir
every once in a while to make sure everything's cooking evenly. Depending on your desired spice level, you can vary the amounts of chili to oil. Here, I have about a half cup of oil to about a quarter cup of
freshly chopped chilies. Depending on the amount of
chilies you have in your pot, your process may take anywhere
from 15 to 25 minutes. I don't hear much anymore,
and just like popcorn, it's time to come off the stove. I'm gonna let this pot
cool off a little bit, and we can pour it into a
jar and give it a taste. (liquid splashing) Now, really the only
difference between chili oil and chili crisp is the crispy
part and the oily part. They are basically
essentially the same recipe, just different portions of it. If you want more crisp, use more chilies. Now, I think we all
know I am not the spice head of the household, but for science, I will do this for you. (June crunching) (June coughs) (gentle music) (June slurping) (June sighing) - For sure, very spicy. (June chuckling) And it does have a very
nice toasty flavor to it, but I'm gonna add a little
bit of MSG and salt, because flavor. No need to be precious with it, just however much you think you need. (wood tool tapping) Remember that after all,
this is a condiment, so you do want it to have
some sort of saltiness. Just wanna make sure you
give it a nice, good stir, so that it starts melting in that hot oil. To taste test the chili
oil portion of this, I'm going to put it over rice, because the first taste was not pleasant. My 33 year old stomach
is gonna hate me today. As you can see, the oil is
not very vibrant on its own, barely colored, just
slightly golden hue, but... Smells good. Even with just salt and MSG, the chili, fire across my tongue. Starting to feel the heat. Absolutely deliciously
painful first trial. Let's move on to our
second method, shall we? The second method, which
might be the more popular one, is the pour over and shock fry method. This involves bringing your
oil close to its smoking point, letting it cool a little bit, and then pouring it over your spice mix, including your chilies. The process doesn't take very long, but it does require a
little bit of patience. Now, at this point, if you don't know if
your jar is heat proof, go ahead and just make this in a bowl. Either way, just be safe. For me, the best option
is a stainless steel bowl. (tapping on metal) Durable, unbreakable, perfect for the job. The second method is more suitable for mostly dry ingredients. So in a large jar, I'm gonna go ahead and
dump in my chili flakes. I'm gonna add in my salt and my MSG. To add a little pizzazz
to our second round, I'm gonna add in some sesame seeds, and then we're gonna heat up our oil. I pour the oil into the pot,
turn the heat onto a medium, and I let it heat, swirling ever so often. You don't have to reach all
the way to the smoke point, just right under it, around
375 or 400 is perfect. Pull it off the heat, let it cool for about three minutes or so so that it won't burn through everything. Now, what's the point of heating it up and then letting it cool down? Well, there is a purpose. In a way, you're essentially
toasting the oil. You're getting rid of any raw tastes, and you're giving it that
extra nuttiness layer. You don't wanna use it
right when it's super hot, because you will end up
burning your chili oil, however, heating it up and letting it cool will ensure that you have extra
nuttiness in your chili oil. This process can be as precise or imprecise as you want it to be. Just note that the more
things you have in your jar that you're pouring this oil into, the more they will decrease
that temperature immediately. So, more ingredients can
tolerate a higher temperature of oil going in, less ingredients, more likely to burn. At the end of the 3 minutes, your oil should be about 375 to 400. If it dips below 350, you won't see any
vigorous bubbling action, meaning your chilies didn't
really get fully toasted. Your flavors won't be fully extracted. So, really try to hit that golden spot, and then you are set to pour that straight into your heatproof jar or bowl, and let it sizzle on through. Go slow, go gradual, and do it in parts. Pouring the oil in one straight shot will lead to a lot of
uneven heating and cooking. Parts of your chili will burn. The other parts won't even
touch the oil at first, so I would pour in a little bit, let it cool off, swirl
it, pour in the rest. You want to make sure
you're using a vessel that is three to four times
as much as your oil is so that it has room to grow and foam. When the oil hits, you
should smell the fragrance coming out of that jar or bowl, and if you don't, oil wasn't hot enough. Which isn't to say you
won't make chili oil, this one's just a little
bit better with more action. Let this baby cool
completely before you use it, because one, you don't
wanna burn yourself, and two, the chilies won't
get completely crispy until this whole thing is cold. If your oil temperature is under, your chili oil will smell
more like oil than chili. I think you can tell right away that this method yields
a more colorful oil with a lot more fragrance in it. Time for a taste test. Gonna taste the crisp portion first. (June crunching) Yes. Yes. (June inhaling deeply) Still very spicy, like incredibly so. Building the flavor, building the heat. It's delicious. You ever feel so spiced, your entire body just goes down in chills? This, invigorating. For me, sesame seeds are
a must have in chili oil, and these, these definitely add... Wrecked. This is what it feels like
to be in your thirties. Just painfully delicious. Up next, variations on the pain. So, what are the best oils
to use when making chili oil? Go for neutral. You wanna go for oils that
have a higher smoking point, like vegetable or canola. My personal favorites include peanut, sunflower, and grape seed. And you really ought to stay away from ones that have
very low smoking points, like flax seed, nut
oils, and toasted sesame. Not only will they burn easily, they also have stronger flavors, which might interfere a little bit with what you're going for. That being said, one of the
best batches of chili oil I've ever made was on an
episode of "Budget Eats," where I used chicken schmaltz, so I'm not here to say
you can't experiment with things like olive
oil and coconut oil, but just know that the
more refined the oil, the safer you are in terms
of not burning stuff. So, what kind of chilies
can you use in chili oil? Well, that depends on
what you're going for. There are a ton of choices, especially if you go to an
Asian super grocery store. They have whole chilies, ground chilies. They have flake chilies. They have threaded chilies. If you want your end result
to be vibrant, red in color, you wanna go for a vibrant red pepper. I would recommend that you avoid using completely ground powdered chilies, because these will burn way faster. Likewise for any flavors you're
adding, if they're ground, they probably will burn. If you do plan on adding
spices beyond just chilies, I would recommend you start with whole, and then crush them down
to smaller sizes manually. And when it comes down to it, you can use whatever chilies
you want to make chili crisp. Is it gonna be authentic chili crisp? Probably not, but is it
gonna be chili crisp? Yeah. You got Mexican chilies,
you can probably use them. Never tried it before, but we can. Chinese chilies probably would work, and I just happened to have
a lot of bird's eye chilies, because I was working on a Thai recipe, and I have them left over. For a darker color and a roastier flavor, you can also dehydrate them in the oven. Once they're dried, crush them up by hand. I've also seen some pieces say you should not use crushed
red chili pepper flakes, and you know what? They're not that potent, but
you can still make chili crisp with just ubiquitous crushed
red chili pepper flakes. Won't be the best chili
oil you've ever had, but it's chili oil at the end of the day. I think we all know by now that
the seeds and the membranes inside chilies are what
give you the most heat, so if you're processing them by yourself, you can remove some of these. The outside is what gives
you flavor and color, and the inside is what gives you fire. When it comes to making
chili oil and chili crisp, you can add in so many different spices. It's all dependent on what you want. For me, I think Citron
peppercorn is a non-negotiable, so I always add a little bit of this. Salt and MSG, obviously to season it. Sesame and peanuts for nuttiness
and crunch and texture, as well as garlic and ginger. I like to give them
peel, a smash, and mince. The moisture inside this will
coat your dry ingredients and prevent that scorching, but if you have dehydrated
versions on hand, you're more than welcome to use them, just maybe stir them in toward the end of that heating process
so that they don't burn. A lot of variations exist, some people like to use
cinnamon, star anise, and even fermented black beans. For our next batch, I'm gonna cut up some
of these Mexican chilies that I have on hand. We're gonna add our salt. We're gonna add our MSG. We're also gonna go in
with peanuts and cumin, along with some dried
garlic and dried onions. We're gonna give them a mix,
and then we'll heat up our oil because we have way more
stuff in this jar this time, I'm not too afraid of using the oil right when it comes off the heat. Same rule as before still applies though, when we're pouring in the oil, go slow, go gradual, and give it a stir before you go in with the rest of the oil. I think you can really see
how the pepper's colors affect the final oil color. This one is a lot duller. Nowhere near as red. It has more of a bronzy brown color. Smells so good. Unfortunately, I do
believe some of our smaller garlic pieces burnt, which
means probably should have added them later after
the oil had cooled down in the jar a little bit
more, but mistakes were made. We learn, we move on. Because I'm a little sick of rice, I think for this one, I'm
going to butter a bun, and lay this on top. I don't think I've ever been as excited for buttered toast before. Holy... Oh my God. The natural sweetness of
the bun and the unctuousness of the butter sliding against
that textured chili crisp, this is the perfect bite. Everything kind of neutralizes. I'm not in pain. There is still flavor, taste
the crunchy onions and garlic, tasted cumin seeds, and the peanuts are perfectly toasted. If I were to make this oil again, I would say just toast the
bigger chilies with the peanuts, and then stir in the garlic,
onion, and other stuff once that oil's a little bit cooler. Lesson learned. I don't think this batch is
as spicy as the previous ones, but that makes sense,
because we were using Thai Birdseye chilies
in the previous ones. However, the flavor, unbeatable. super smoky, super smooth. There is different depths, 'cause we used three different peppers. All in all, a victory. For my classic chili oil, I like to mince up one
inch knob of ginger, along with three clothes of garlic. I use about a quarter
cup of ground chilies, or crushed, one tablespoon
of citron pepper corns, one tablespoon of white sesame seeds, or two if you're feeling nutty. Going in with half a teaspoon of MSG, half a teaspoon of salt. Although now that we put cumin
in our Mexican chili oil, I have a feeling that's
gonna be a new addition to my classic. You wanna make sure all the
wets and the dries are combined, that way, the little tiny bit of moisture can provide a buffer against that hot oil, and then I heat up my oil. Let it rest after I reach a smoking point for about one to two minutes, and then pour it straight into that jar. Now you can see that this
is our lightest batch of chili oil ever, mainly because we added so much moisture through the ginger and the garlic that the oil didn't get a chance to really diffuse into the chilies. Rest assured, this will
still taste quite good. Truly punchy on all
fronts, you get the chili, you get the citron pepper corn right away. You get hit with that nice
floral fragrance of garlic and ginger, sesame seeds, toasty, oil, fatty. The whole citron
peppercorn is very intense, so you might consider
grinding it down a little bit before putting it into your oil if you don't wanna paralyze
your mouth right away. If this oil color is
simply too light for you and you want a little more toastiness, just dump it back into your
pot and cook it over low heat until you start hearing
those sesame seeds pop. Once everything is golden,
you are good to go. While your oil is heating up again with all the chilies and garlic in it, you can fill your jar with
even more dry chili peppers. This will not only make
it spicier and toastier, but it will also give you a redder color when you pour that in here again. More chili crisps than oil, here we go. (June crunching) Holy crap, that's good. Everything is amazingly crispy and golden, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, trifecta. At the end of the day, you
really just have to go experiment and see what is your perfect chili oil. I can't tell you that, only you can. I hope this video was
useful to you somehow, and I hope you make your own
perfect chili oil in due time. And if you do, drop us
a comment down below, let us know what went into your mix. This stuff is potent. I hope you enjoy responsibly, and if you have any
magical food combinations with chili oil and crisp, let us know too. Until next time, stay fiery. (mouse clicking) (link chiming)
