Chilli Oil

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Extra virgin olive oil, deeply flavoured with whole dried chillis and chilli flakes, this Chilli Oil is your new ‘absolute must have’ condiment in the kitchen. It takes only five minutes to make, a couple of hours to steep and then, all you have to do is bottle it and voila, it’s ready.

I always have a bottle of Chilli Oil to hand in my kitchen, but this year I have been making up extraordinary amounts to include in Christmas hampers. If you have friends or family who love to cook and also eat spicy food, then this is the prefect gift.

How can I use Chilli Oil?

Quick and easy to make, Chilli Oil has many uses in the kitchen. Think:

• instead of using your normal cooking oil, you can cook with chilli oil to add heat to your favourite curries and stir fries such as Sesame Ginger Noodles with Chilli, Garlic and Coriander
• cooking with it to add heat to food not typically spicy. Last week I was making burgers in buns. It was too cold and wet to get the barbecue out, so I fried the burgers in Chilli Oil. OMG – so delicious. It really elevated the burgers by adding a hint of warmth which permeated through the burgers without being overpowering.
• use in a spicy salad dressing. Mix with some lime juice, salt and pepper and a hint of honey. Delicious with Mexican food.
• up your quick fix, speedy meal by drizzling Chilli Oil on to a shop bought pizza before cooking. The oil will ensure a lovely crispy base and the chilli adds the perfect level of spice – you know it’s there but it is not overpowering. I like to add some rocket to my cooked pizza and drizzle over a little more Chilli Oil or, if you have it, some Hot Chilli Honey. Sooooo good.
• drizzle over some potatoes before you bake them in the oven for a spicy, crispy skin.
• use to make Garlic Confit to add a hint of heat which cuts through the creamy, sweet garlic.
• cook cocktail sausages in Chilli Oil for Hot Honey Chilli Cocktail Sausages.

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Christmas Gifts:

If you are making jars of Chilli Oil as gifts this Christmas, I recommend:

• printing out the recipe at the bottom of this post to accompany the Chilli Oil. Simply click on the ‘print icon’ under the small photograph to the right of the recipe title. Not only does it share the recipe, in case they want to make some for themselves, it shares the ideas in these photographs as well as the link to the recipe in case they want to read some more about it.
• you may also want to print out the recipe for Sesame Ginger Noodles with Chilli, Garlic and Coriander

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How to make Chilli Oil

Collect all your ingredients together:

• extra virgin olive oil
• chilli flakes
• dried whole chillis

Now make it:

First you must sterilise the bottles –

1. Wash the bottles and lids in hot water and place them on a baking tray in a cold oven.
2. Turn the oven on to Fan Oven 140°C/160°C/325°F/Gas 3.
3. As soon as the oven reaches the required temperature, set a timer for 20 minutes.
4. At 20 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the jars in the oven to cool a little.

Meanwhile, make the oil –

1. Put everything together in a saucepan and heat for 5 minutes to infuse. Do not boil – keep temperature below 380ºF/193ºC.
2. Set on one side to cool and further infuse.
3. Use a sieve to strain the oil. Set on one side for around a hour to allow the oil to sufficiently drain through.
4. Use a funnel to decant the oil into the sterilised bottles.
5. I like to add 4 – 5 of the whole chillies into the bottle. Not only does it look pretty, this helps to ensure the oil keeps its chilli flavour.
6. Seal and store in a cool, dark place.
7. There is no need to store Chilli Oil in the fridge, unless you are using unsterilised bottles. If you follow the instructions above, your glass bottles will be sterilised.
8. Chilli Oil will keep for up to 2 – 3 months, at room temperature, or you can store it in the fridge and it will last for longer.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.