We love collaborating with chefs who bring something personal to the table, not just technically interesting but genuinely theirs. Chef Shuai Wang is that chef.
The James Beard-nominated chef and co-owner of Jackrabbit Filly and King BBQ in North Charleston has spent his career cooking at the intersection of Chinese culinary tradition and American Southern ingredients. When we started talking about what a collaboration could look like, one of the blends was clear from the start…
The Dry Chilli Crunch
This blend is personal in a different way than most.
It’s Shuai’s grandmother’s chilli oil recipe, passed down to his mother and then to him, and now into your pantry so you can make a fresh batch of chilli crunch at home whenever you want.
The build is simply beautiful: cayenne and Aleppo chillies, both red and green Sichuan peppercorns for that layered, numbing heat, toasted sesame seeds for a nutty, roasty foundation, fennel and garlic for aromatics, and a touch of sugar to keep everything balanced. A tin of this blend will make 2 cups (about 1 pint) of fresh chilli crunch that rivals anything you’d find on a restaurant table.
As Shuai put it: “This chilli crunch dry mix is a family recipe, passed down from my grandmother to my mom, to me. The reason behind the dry mix is so you can have delicious, freshly made chilli crunch with some of the freshest spices at home; it really makes a huge difference.”
Corrie Wang, who co-owns Jackrabbit Filly and King BBQ alongside Shuai, has been making this chilli crunch long enough to know it by smell. Here's what she said about this beloved chilli crisp when we sat down with her:
"It’s really good, not too spicy chilli crunch with lots of flavour. I feel like often you get the OG like Lao Gan Ma — it’s spicy, it’s got a very MSG-forward hit, different notes. I feel ours is very special. I don’t see a lot of chilli crunch that has fennel, coriander, and cumin, all these different spices. It just stood out in that way. When we were testing recipes together, you guys gave us the two batches, and we immediately knew it was the second one. We're like, "Oh, that's what ours tastes like." You know, like it is so distinctive. I can smell it - it’s one of those things I’ve been making for so long now."
What’s Inside and Why it Works
The Chilli Foundation: Cayenne & Aleppo
Most chilli oils lean on a single dried chilli. This one uses two, and the gap between them matters.
Cayenne is the firepower, immediate and direct. Aleppo chilli (named for the Syrian city where it originates) is an entirely different thing: fruity and raisiny, moderately hot, with an almost oily richness that gives the finished crunch its deep brick-red colour and a flavour that keeps you reaching back in.
Cayenne gives the heat; Aleppo gives it something to say.
The Numbing Layer: Red & Green Sichuan Peppercorns
Red Sichuan peppercorns carry the classic má, the tongue-numbing buzz that Sichuan cooking is famous for. Green Sichuan peppercorns have a brighter, more citrusy and floral character, with a quicker, almost sparkling tingle. Using both gives you the full range: the deep warm buzz of the red and the bright citrus tingle of the green, arriving at slightly different moments so the sensation keeps shifting.
Most jarred chilli crunches don’t bother with the green. This one does, and you’ll notice in the best ways!
The Nutty Foundation: Toasted Sesame Seeds
When hot oil hits toasted sesame seeds, something magical happens.
They release their oils and bloom into something nutty and roasty, and that’s the flavour that gives chilli crunch its warm, almost addictive baseline. Skip the toasting, and you’d have a thinner, flatter condiment.
The sesame is what makes it feel substantial rather than just spicy.
The Aromatic Backbone: Fennel & Garlic
Fennel seeds work quietly here, adding an anise-like warmth you’d notice immediately if it were gone but might not identify when it’s present. Garlic is a different story once it hits hot oil: the sharpness mellows out completely, and it becomes savory and fragrant in a way raw garlic never is. Pour your oil in, and you’ll smell exactly what we mean.
The Balance: Sugar
A touch of granulated sugar might seem like a small thing, but in a blend this complex, it’s doing real work.
It rounds off the sharp edges of the heat, keeps the bitterness of the dried chillies in check, and pulls everything together into something cohesive. You won’t taste sweetness; you’ll just taste a blend that doesn’t fight itself. It’s the kind of instinct that comes from making something for decades, which, through his grandmother and mother, Shuai essentially has.
This chilli crunch is a master class in flavour layering.
First, the nutty sesame, then the heat builds slowly, then the Sichuan peppercorns come on, and the tingle starts. Underneath all of it is something savory and fragrant and a little funky that ties everything together into a full sensory experience.
To make your own chilli crisp: heat 1.5 cups of neutral oil (vegetable or canola) until it just starts to shimmer. Pour it over the entire tin of Dry Chilli Crunch in a heatproof container (very carefully!!). Stir well. Let it cool, then store it in the fridge. It keeps for months, if it lasts that long.
Drizzle on dumplings, noodles, fried rice, and fried chicken. Mix it into Duke’s mayo, and you have a condiment that will permanently live in your fridge.
Try it in Shuai Wang’s Mapo Tofu!
A Recipe Worth Passing Down
Most chilli crunches come in a jar with someone else’s recipe inside. This one comes as a dry mix, specifically so you can make it fresh at home with your own hands, the way Shuai’s grandmother did. That’s the whole idea.
Food that carries a story, made in your kitchen, shared with the people around your table. That’s what we built Spicewalla to do, and we hope this blend earns a permanent spot in your pantry!
