I tried 11 different chili crisps on eggs, noodles, and ice cream. These 4 belong in your pantry.

The perfect balance of spicy, crunchy, salty, and oily, Chinese chili crisp is one of the most popular and delicious condiments you can buy right now. With its versatile flavor profile that goes with just about anything and its satisfying texture that gives you a crunch with every bite, it’s no wonder everyone’s adding it to their lineup of pantry staples.

There are many different kinds of chili crisp out there (and you can even make your own at home) but we have to give some credit to the OG brand Lao Gan Ma for starting the craze. And even though Lao Gan Ma will always hold a special place in our hearts, we’d be remiss not to taste and report on the scores of new chili crisp brands now available to try.

For this guide, we tried 11 chili crisp brands and put them through various cooking and taste tests to determine the top four.

The best chili crisp in 2022
Best overall: Chef Chen’s Famous Chili Crisp, $12 on China Live
Chef Chen’s chili crisp consistently paired well with every dish we ate it with. It has a balanced flavor that’s not excessively salty or spicy, along with the perfect amount of crunch.

Best for crunch: Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp, $9.99 on Walmart
If lots of crunch and a variety of textures is important to you, you need to eat Lao Gan Ma, the most famous chili crisp on the scene.

Spiciest: Dong He Bullet Sesame Oil Chili Crisp, $10 on Yun Hai
At first bite, you might dismiss Dong He’s spice level, but the heat builds up slowly and surely. The main reason you won’t be able to stop eating it is the sweet garlicky flavor that cuts through the heat.

Best for desserts: Bowlcut Chili Crisp, $14 on Bowlcut
Bowlcut’s chili crisp is filled with nutty sesame seeds and has a rich flavor that’s both very spicy and slightly sweet, complementing desserts like ice cream and fruit.

Chef Chen’s chili crisp consistently paired well with every dish we ate it with. It has a balanced flavor that’s not excessively salty or spicy, along with the perfect amount of crunch.
You would think after trying 11 different chili crisps over and over again that they’d all start blending together. But Chef Chen’s, a product from San Francisco-based marketplace and dining hall China Live, managed to stand out on my tongue.

Chef Chen’s is strong on the bean flavor (it contains broad bean paste, fermented soybeans, and black beans), yet it’s somehow not too salty. It contains just the right amount of spice — enough to tickle the nerves and entice you for another spoonful, but never pushes you over the edge into inedible territory.

The large crunchy bits are fun to eat: whether I was frying an egg, topping a bowl of noodles, or eating ice cream with the chili crisp, the texture never got lost.

All in all, when I’m craving a hot, umami flavor bomb, I’m thinking of Chef Chen’s first. – Insider (07.14.22)