Mom’s Homemade Chili Oil Recipe
Easy, versatile chili oil you can make at home with just a few ingredients! Chili oil is a spicy, aromatic condiment that adds flavor any dish. Try this recipe with rice, noodles, dumplings, wontons, eggs, bread, and many more!
This post was updated on May 12, 2025.
In this post, I will share my mom’s chili oil recipe. My mom used to make a gallon of this chili oil per day at her restaurant! I have been making this chili oil for years now and I think it is the BEST chili oil. Her chili oil is packed with black vinegar and garlic, which makes this recipe unique. You can easily customize it to suit your own taste.
This recipe pairs well with SPICY PORK WONTONS, CHILI GARLIC SILKEN TOFU, EASY RAMEN WITH EGG, CHINESE STEAMED EGGS, CHICKEN AND CABBAGE DUMPLINGS, and SHRIMP AND CHIVES WONTONS.
What is Chili Oil
Chili Oil is a flavorful, spicy condiment made by infusing oil with dried chili pepper flakes and sometimes aromatics like garlic, star anise, or Sichuan peppercorns. It has the perfect balance of heat and rich, bold flavor that makes every bite more exciting. Chili oil is commonly used in Asian cuisines to add spice, flavor, and elevate the dishes. Whether you are adding to dumplings, wontons, rice, noodles, eggs, avocado toast, or even pizza, chili oil can bring a boost of flavor that make EVERYTHING taste better!
Why Make Your Own Chili Oil
While you certainly can buy chili oil in stores, I like making my own at home because it allows fresher ingredients and I can customize it however I like. By making it yourself, you can control the heat level and flavors, creating a perfect batch of chili oil that suits your tastes. It is super easy to make it home. You only need a handful of ingredients. Plus, homemade chili oil makes the BEST GIFT you can give to your friends and family. Once you start using chili oil, you will never stop!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- Bold, customizable flavor: you can control the spice level based on your preference
- Easy and Quick: it only takes less than 10 minutes to make your own chili oil, with just a few common pantry ingredients
- Versatile: chili oil goes well with everything from scrambled eggs to dumplings
- All-Natural: making your own chili oil means there are no preservatives added, just fresh real ingredients.
Ingredients
You’ll need a few ingredients to make the best chili oil:
- Garlic
- Green Onion
- Chinese Chili Flakes
- Chili Powder (gochugaru)
- Soy Sauce
- Black Vinegar
- Neutral Oil (vegetable, canola, peanut, or grapeseed oil)
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make Chili Oil
- Step 1: Finely chop the garlic and set it aside.
- Step 2: Chop green onions and set it aside.
- Prepare the Chili Base: In a heatproof bowl, combine soy sauce, black vinegar, chili flakes, chili powder, minced garlic, and chopped green onions.
- Mix with Hot Oil: In a small saucepan, add oil and heat over medium heat. Carefully pour the hot oil over the chili sauce mixture. Stir and mix until well combined. Taste and add more seasoning if desired.
What to Serve with Chili Oil
These are my favorite dishes to serve with chili oil:
- Chicken and Cabbage Dumplings
- Spicy Pork Wontons
- Shrimp and Chives Wontons
- Steamed Cabbage Rolls
- 10 Minute Chili Oil Ramen
- Shrimp Rice Paper Noodle Rolls (Chueng Fun)
- Pineapple Fried Rice
Substitutions
- Oil – you can use any neutral oil such as corn oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, or avocado oil. I do not recommend using olive oil.
- Chili Flakes– I recommend using Chinese chili flakes or Sichuan chili flakes. If you can’t find those, you can try red pepper flakes (note that the spicy level will be different).
- Black Vinegar– I highly recommend using Chinese black vinegar for the best result. If you can’t find Chinese black vinegar, you can use rice vinegar, malt vinegar, or Worcestershire sauce. Note that the flavor profile will be different. You can also use balsamic vinegar as a substitute, but note that it is a lot sweeter than Chinese black vinegar.
How to Store Chili Oil
Let the chili oil cool completely to room temperature. Once cooled, transfer the oil to a glass jar or airtight container with tight lid. Always use clean container and utensil for storage. You can store chili oil in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Top Tips for Success
- Use Neutral Oil: since you are cooking oil at high temperature, it is best to use neutral oil such as canola oil, vegetable oil, peanut oil, or avocado oil. These are neutral oil that will help enhance, not take away, the chili flavor.
- Heat Control: You want the oil to be hot enough to infuse the chili flakes, but not too hot that burns the spices. Keep the oil around 225-250F to prevent burning. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test the heat by submerging a wooden chopstick in the oil. The oil is ready when then wooden chopstick starts to sizzle and creates small bubbles.
- Use Heatproof Bowl: pouring hot oil into a non-heatproof glass or container can shatter the glass. Make sure the bowl you pour hot oil into is safe to handle high heat.
- Extra Flavor: Other optional add-ins are Sichuan peppercorn, Chinese five spice, sesame oil, and sesame seeds.
- Food Safety: There have been concerns about garlic leading to food-related illness. Please note that I am not an expert in food safety or a professional chef. You can exclude garlic and green onion if you have concerns about the risk of food-borne illness. Always inspect the chili oil and always use clean utensils before serving. If there is any abnormalities such as weird smell, discoloration, or other signs of spoilage, you should discard the chili oil right away.
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If you make this recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Make sure you also tag me @onehappybite on Instagram and hashtag it #onehappybite so I can see your creations!
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Mom’s Homemade Chili Oil Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 oz 1x
Description
Easy, versatile chili oil you can make at home with just a few ingredients! Chili oil is a spicy, aromatic condiments that adds flavor any dish. Try this recipe with rice, noodles, dumplings, wontons, eggs, bread, and many more! My mom’s chili oil is packed with black vinegar and garlic, which makes this recipe unique. You can easily customize it to suit your own taste.
Ingredients
- 10 clove garlic, minced
- 3 green onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup Chinese black vinegar
- 3 tbsp Chinese chili flakes
- 1 tbsp chili powder (gochugaru)
- 3/4 cup neutral oil (vegetable, canola, peanut, grapeseed or avocado oil)
Instructions
- Finely chop the garlic and green onion. Set them aside .
- In a heatproof bowl, combine soy sauce, black vinegar, chili flakes, chili powder, minced garlic, and chopped green onions.
- In a small saucepan, add oil and heat over medium heat. Oil should be ready when you start seeing small bubbles. You want the oil to be hot enough to infuse the chili flakes, but not too hot that burns the spices. Keep the oil around 225-250F to prevent burning. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test the heat by submerging a wooden chopstick in the oil. The oil is ready when then wooden chopstick starts to sizzle and creates small bubbles.
- Carefully pour the hot oil over the chili sauce mixture. Stir and mix until well combined. Taste and add more seasoning if desired.
- Serve immediately over dumplings, wontons, tofu, ramen, or other noodles.
- STORING: Let the chili oil cool to room temperature. Once cooled, transfer the oil to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. *See Note for Food Safety*
Notes
*FOOD SAFETY: There have been concerns about garlic leading to food-related illness. Please note that I am not an expert in food safety or a professional chef. You can exclude garlic and green onion if you have concerns about the risk of food-borne illness. Always inspect the chili oil and always use clean utensils before serving. If there is any abnormalities such as weird smell, discoloration, or other signs of spoilage, you should discard the chili oil right away.
Any recommended substitute for black vinegar? I don’t have it and don’t want to buy just to try this oul.
Looks great!
Black vinegar has a unique taste so it’s hard to find substitute. I have found that balsamic vinegar is the closest thing, just noted that balsamic is a little sweeter than black vinegar. You can also try coconut amino sauce or rice vinegar but the taste of chili oil will be slightly different! Hope it works out!
this is the first time i made chili oil, and this recipe was just amazing! thank yo so much for sharing! i can’t even think about using another recipe because this one checks all the boxes!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for trying my mom’s chili oil recipe! I love this recipe so much, I’m glad you love it too!
Hi question. If I want to send it to someone in mail do I need to make sure it’s with ice pack?
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, this needs to be refrigerated/chilled if you’re storing it.
This is such a simple recipe but Delicious, Thank you for the great video and recipe.
★★★★★
So glad to hear that you like my mom’s recipe. Thank you for leaving a review!