Skip to main content

Chile Crisp

Image may contain Food Pizza Egg and Breakfast
Photo by Alex Lau

This all-purpose chile crisp—which is tangy, spicy, and crunchy—will give your other condiments an inferiority complex. You’ve been warned. Put it to good use on eggs, meat, seafood, and our Celery, Green Bean, and Tofu Salad.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

4 small shallots, thinly sliced
2 heads of garlic, separated into cloves, sliced
1½ cups vegetable oil
2 3" cinnamon sticks
6 star anise pods
1 2" piece ginger, peeled, very finely chopped
¼ cup crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sugar

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring shallots, garlic, oil, cinnamon, and star anise to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, reducing heat as needed to maintain a gentle simmer and swirling pot occasionally, until garlic and shallots are browned and crisp, 20–25 minutes. (Take your time—you want to drive all the moisture out before they brown.)

    Step 2

    Mix ginger, red pepper, soy sauce, and sugar in a medium bowl. Strain shallot mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over ginger mixture. Let garlic and shallot cool in sieve (this will allow them to crisp further) before stirring back into chile oil.

    Step 3

    Do Ahead: Crisp can be made 1 month ahead. Cover and chill.

    Photo by Alex Lau
Read More
An electrifying pesto that stays bright green for days on end. With the addition of ginger, and jalapeño, it’s a versatile condiment to have on hand.
This riff on the Laotian classic comes together in 20 minutes.
A homemade black bean sauce is better than anything you can find in the grocery store. Plus, the 15-minute dinner you can make with it.
Braising canned chickpeas in chicken stock and olive oil makes them unbelievably tender and buttery. This is worth the effort of peeling 40 cloves of garlic.
Aided by jarred bouillon paste and some spices, the flavor of this baked tofu is intriguingly complex, and good enough to eat on its own.
This oversized crème brûlée is far easier to make than individual ones. The crackly top is created from sugar caramelized with a blowtorch, not a broiler.
Store-bought dumplings, fresh tomatoes, butter, and soy sauce simmer away for dinner in a flash.
Silky Japanese eggplant and fiery serrano chile unite in this no-fuss frittata that’s brunch-ready, dinner-worthy, and wildly good.