Hot oil being poured from a small saucepan into a steel bowl of red chile flakes, foaming bright red, with a fried egg on toast and a spoonful of finished chile oil beside it

Poured Chile Oil, the First Recipe for Dried Chile Flakes

September 26, 2026

Hot oil poured over a bowl of chile flakes shows what the flakes are for better than any other recipe. The flakes turn glossy and brick red, and the jar goes on eggs, noodles, beans, soup, pizza and rice for months.

The method is how Sichuan red oil is made. A 2025 study in the journal Foods describes it as "heating vegetable oil to a specific temperature and pouring it over chili powder," and that study is why this recipe gives one number and asks you to measure it. At 150°C (300°F), the researchers found richer citrus, woody and grassy notes in the oil, the bright side of the chile. At 180°C, malty and fatty aromas came forward. A single pour at 210°C, and three descending pours starting there, gave a stronger nutty aroma.

Capsaicin is "practically insoluble in cold water," according to PubChem's compound record, which is one reason this recipe carries the chile's heat in oil rather than water. A New Mexico State University circular notes that capsaicinoids are made in glands on the fruit's placenta, the pale ribs inside, and that the seeds are "not the source of heat." So a flake cut with more rib is likely to be hotter than one that is mostly wall, and a batch of chile oil is the easiest way to taste the difference between one flake and the next. The full map of which flake does what is in the dried chiles and chile flakes guide.

Ingredients, for about 1 1/4 cups

240 ml (1 cup) neutral oil, such as peanut, rapeseed or sunflower
20 g (about 1/4 cup) chile flakes, such as Silk Chili (shop Silk Chili) or Red Jalapeño (shop Red Jalapeño)
1 to 2 teaspoons smoked chipotle chile flakes, optional (shop Smoked Chipotle)
1 tablespoon dried shallot slices (shop Purple Shallot Slices)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Equipment: a small saucepan, a heatproof glass or steel bowl at least four times the volume of the oil, and an instant-read or clip-on thermometer.

Method

Set up the bowl. Put the chile flakes, chipotle flakes, sesame seeds, salt and sugar in the bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the cool oil so every flake is wet. Set the bowl on a folded towel next to the stove.
Fry the shallots. Put the rest of the oil and the dried shallot slices in the saucepan over medium heat. Watch them closely, and as soon as they turn light gold, lift them out with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
Bring the oil to 150°C (300°F). Keep heating until the thermometer reads 150°C.
Pour in two stages. Pour about a third of the oil over the flakes. It will foam hard and turn brick red. Stir, wait ten seconds, then pour in the rest and stir again.
Cool and rest. Crumble in the fried shallots and let the oil cool uncovered to room temperature. Cover it and leave it overnight before the first spoonful. The traditional method described in the study also ends with a 24-hour infusion.
Store. Everything in this jar is dry, so it keeps in a cool, dark cupboard. The University of Maine's extension bulletin on flavored oils puts the limit at three months. Penn State Extension's guidance is to refrigerate oils made with dried herbs and use them within three months. Stir up from the bottom each time, because the flakes settle there.

The temperature dial

The same bowl of flakes tastes different depending on how hot the oil is when it lands. The Foods study compared single pours at 150°C, 180°C and 210°C against the traditional three-pour method, and its results give a simple dial for a second batch.

Pour	What the study found	Use it for
One pour at 150°C (300°F)	Richer citrus, woody and grassy notes	A bright flake, eggs, vegetables, a first batch
One pour at 180°C (355°F)	Malty and fatty aromas more prominent	Noodles, dumplings, anything with soy
One pour at 210°C (410°F), or three pours at 210°C, 180°C, then 150°C	Stronger nutty aroma	A deeper, nuttier jar; the three-pour version is what the study describes as traditional Sichuan practice

For the three-pour method, heat the oil to 210°C (410°F) and pour a third. Let the rest cool to 180°C and pour another third, then pour the last third at 150°C. Keep the flakes wet with that first tablespoon of cool oil, and use a bowl with plenty of room above the flakes.

Why it went wrong

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Flakes black, smell acrid	Oil far hotter than the dial	Measure the oil, and pour a third before the rest
Oil barely sizzled; tastes raw and dusty	Oil too cool	Next batch, wait for the thermometer to reach 150°C
Foam over the rim	Bowl too small	Use a bowl at least four times the volume of the oil
Hot but flat	No salt or sugar in the bowl	Salt and sugar go in the bowl before the oil
Bitter shallots	Fried past light gold	Lift them out as soon as they turn light gold

Notes and variations

Change the flake, keep the method. Cobanero (shop Cobanero) and Jimmy Nardello (shop Jimmy Nardello) flakes are worth a batch each, side by side, with nothing else changed. That comparison teaches more about chile than any tasting note.

Crunch. More fried shallot, crushed peanuts and a spoon of dried garlic move the jar toward the chili crisp family, covered in the chili crisp guide.

Fresh aromatics such as ginger slices, scallion whites or fresh garlic change the storage rule. Penn State Extension's guidance for oils infused with fresh herbs is to refrigerate them and use them within 2 to 4 days. Fresh garlic, ginger and scallion carry the same moisture risk, so skip them, or hold the batch to that rule even if the aromatics were fried and strained out.

Other oils. Blooming spices in oil follows the same logic, and the spice-blooming guide covers cumin, coriander and the rest. Vinegar-based heat is a different project, covered in the hot sauce guide.

In Denver. The numbers in this recipe are oil temperatures, and a thermometer reads them the same at 5,000 feet as at sea level. Elevation changes the boiling point of water: Colorado State University Extension puts it at 203°F at 5,000 feet, against 212°F at sea level. That affects the pasta or beans the oil goes on, not the oil. The rest of the altitude adjustments are in the Denver altitude guide.

Where it goes. A spoonful on a fried egg is the first test. After that, try it on white beans with a squeeze of lemon, over dumplings with black vinegar, stirred into mayonnaise, across a margherita, or as the chile in spaghetti aglio e olio (see the aglio e olio recipe).