Apple Chili Crisp: The Perfect Recipe for Fall

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.

Enjoy!

~Kristen

Glass jar of apple chutney with pumpkin seeds and a hint of apple chili crisp, with a spoon next to a whole apple on a wooden surface, lit by sunlight.

Key Ingredients

A few quick notes on the ingredients that matter most. Find the full ingredient list and instructions in the recipe card below.

Freeze-dried apples: Look for plain freeze-dried apple slices with no added sugar, then crush or gently chop them yourself.
Neutral oil: Something with a high smoke point and mild flavor, like avocado or grapeseed oil, works best so the apple and chile flavors stay front and center.
Crushed red pepper flakes: Standard red pepper flakes work fine here, but if you want more depth, a mix of gochugaru and standard flakes adds complexity without extra heat.

Glass jar filled with shredded apple and seeds mixture on a wooden surface, with a spoon inside, a whole apple next to the jar, and a hint of apple chili crisp for an added kick.

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.