My apple chili crisp combines crispy onions, garlic, and pepitas with crushed red pepper flakes and freeze-dried apple pieces for a sweet-spicy crunch in every scoop. Everything blooms in warm oil, then gets mixed with brown sugar, smoked paprika, and sesame seeds for layers of flavor. It comes together in just under 20 minutes!
Why I Added Apples to My Chili Crisp
It’s no secret I love a bit of spice (I’ve got a whole hot sauce category on the blog to prove it), and my chili oil stays in constant rotation in my fridge. So when apple season rolled around again, I started wondering how to give my favorite chili crisp a seasonal spin.
Adding a little natural sweetness with apples sounded good, but I knew fresh, raw apples weren’t the way to go here. They’d add moisture and lose their texture fast in hot oil. That’s what got me wondering how freeze-dried apples would hold up instead.
They turned out great. The little freeze-dried apple pieces keep their crunch even after sitting in the warm oil, and they add a pop of sweet apple flavor that balances out the heat perfectly. This has become my go-to rice bowl topping, and I have a feeling it’s about to become yours too.
Key Ingredients
A few quick notes on the ingredients that matter most. Find the full ingredient list and instructions in the recipe card below.
Tips for the Crispiest Apple Chili Crisp
- Keep the heat at medium-low the entire time. Onions and garlic can go from golden to burnt in under a minute once they start browning, and burnt garlic will make the whole batch bitter.
- Strain the oil off the aromatics before it fully cools. If you let it sit too long in the pan, the residual heat keeps cooking the garlic and shallot past where you want them.
- Add the freeze-dried apples only after both mixtures have cooled. Stirring them in while the oil is still hot will soften them and you’ll lose that crunch.
- Store in a clean, dry jar. Any leftover moisture in the jar will soften the crispy bits over time.
Ways to Use Apple Chili Crisp
- Spoon it over a garlic fried rice bowl with a fried egg on top.
- Stir it into noodles for an instant sauce upgrade.
- Serve alongside my apple grilled cheese for dipping.
- Drizzle over roasted vegetables right before serving.
- Mix into softened cream cheese for a quick spicy-sweet spread.
More Delicious Apple Recipes You Might Enjoy
Apple Chili Crisp with Crispy Freeze-Dried Apples
Ingredients
- 1 cup neutral oil I like to use avocado oil
- 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup freeze-dried apples roughly crushed into ¼-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Method
- Add the oil and onion to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook for 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is starting to turn golden.
- Add the garlic and pumpkin seeds. Cook for another 2–3 minutes, watching carefully, until the garlic is golden and everything is crisp.
- Meanwhile, combine the red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, smoked paprika, sugar, and salt in a heatproof bowl.
- Strain the hot oil over the chile mixture, reserving the fried onion, garlic, and pumpkin seeds separately. Let both mixtures cool.
- Once cooled, stir the crispy onion mixture and all of the crushed freeze-dried apples into the chile oil.
- Allow it to cool completely before transferring it to a jar. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated using a third-party calculator and is an estimate only.
