If you’re having ramen again, sometimes it’s nice to change the flavor up a bit. Enter chili oil. Easy to make, and you can use the ingredients for a lot of things. Here’s how you make it:

Time: 40-70 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups Oil (A neutral oil is ideal. Examples include canola oil, vegetable oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, etc. It does not include olive oil. It will still work, but you won’t get the ideal results).
• 1.5 Chili flakes (Like the red chili flakes you put on a pizza. Others will work just fine, but those seem to be some of the more accessible. Now, these flakes won’t produce the best tasting oil, but it will be fine. Personally, I think Sichuan Chili flakes are best.)
• Salt
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 star anise
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Bay leaves
• Sichuan peppercorns

Steps

• First, set the oil to a medium heat and add the aromatics and spices EXCLUDING THE CHILI FLAKES. Wait for it to slowly start bubbling. If you use a thermometer, it’ll be about 250 F.
• If your oil starts to turn black, or the spices start sizzling too much, turn the heat down. That’s a sign that your oil is starting to burn.
• This process will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. An hour will produce ideal results and impart the most flavor, but 30 minutes will also suffice. I do not recommend doing less than that.
• Once the garlic starts to brown, I recommend removing it. Failure to do so will cause it to burn. You can use them as a garnish of some sort; they are packed with flavor.
• For a basic chili oil, the last step is to pour you oil over your chili flakes in some bowl that is safe for high temperatures. Stir it in for about five minutes or so. You’ll want to go by smell for this one. Once you are done, use a strainer to strain the flakes and other aromatics out.