Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil is just what you need to spice up your life and your Asian recipes.

You are just going to love this Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil as it takes only 10 minutes to prepare and tastes even better than the garlic chili oil in the restaurants.  This recipe is the perfect balance of Chinese red chili heat with tongue numbing Sichuan chili peppers and aromatic garlic.

We love drizzling Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil on eggs, stir fries, noodles,  dumplings and rice dishes. We also have an updated Chinese New Year recipe using Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil coming your way soon, so stay tuned. It is about to get hot and spicy here at Healthy World Cuisine (HWC) Magazine. Our family loves heat and they slather Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil on everything.

Chili, Sichuan peppers and garlic are both warm and heaty foods and are yang dominated according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. A balance of yin and yang are important to our health.  Yin/Yang are Two halves that together complete wholeness. Yin and yang are also the starting point for change. Both halves are chasing after each other as they seek a new balance with each other. Constant change…

During the cooler months, a little spice is welcome. If you would like to learn more about this concept, check out our article Introducing the Five Energies of Food. If you are cold all the time (yin). Cold fingers and toes then a little homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil might be just what you need to achieve balance. If you are heaty in nature and are always warm, red rashes and a red tongue then you need to minimize heaty foods.

There are also the Five Flavors of Food and they include pungent (acrid), sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil would be considered a pungent food and helps to promote circulation and increase appetite. Do you notice how you start to heat up when you eat spicy food and your face may even flush? This is the effect we are talking about. If you are cold all the time (yin), Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil might be just what you need.

Recipe Hints for Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil

• This recipe makes 2 cups total but 1 cup of it is the oil on top. You can eat the oil on top and the chili garlic mixture as well. It’s a sauce.
• As the oil has a chance to mingle with the chili flakes, the color will deepen in red color and flavor.
• It is best to use an oil with a high smoking point for this recipe such as Extra Light Olive oil that has a smoking point of 468 degrees F / or 242 degrees C. Peanut oil has a smoking point of 450 degrees F/ or 232 degrees C. In Asia, Peanut oil would be used but because of all the known and unknown peanut allergies we love using Extra Light Olive oil.
• We treat our vessels to hold the Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil just like you do a canning jar and boil them in water to sterilize and then let the canning jars air dry and use brand new lids. Better safe than sorry!
• How long will it keep? Well technically, in the refrigerator you may keep in for 4 days. Garlic is the reason behind this rule. You must be very careful, especially raw garlic can carry the potential of botulism so we advise 4 days and then pitch. Even cooked garlic we cannot guarantee so we advise 4 days. http://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/files/250352.pdf
• If you want to be able to keep your chili oil for a longer time frame, then just DO NOT add the garlic and you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
• Make sure you get your oil temperature up to at least 275 degrees by a candy thermometer before adding the chili flakes and Sichuan Peppercorns.
• Highly recommended to crack open a window or turn on a vent as chili peppers can be quite the nasal decongestant. Actually might be quite helpful if you have a stuffy nose. Trust me you will be breathing freely after you make this!
• You can add other aromatics to the oil as well such as star anise, ginger or bay leaves.