chili crisp review
Kwong Shop Chili Crisp
A tier: Strong picks we keep coming back to
"Hot, sweet, and smoky, built on grapeseed oil, chile de árbol, and gochugaru: a genuine Korean-Mexican fusion. More chewy than crunchy, and the oil itself really comes through. A hometown pick from LA, where we're from."
At a glance
- Category
- chili crisp
- Style
- Fusion: chile de árbol & gochugaru
- Brand based in
- Los Angeles, CA
- Oil base
- grapeseed oil
- Seed-oil free
- No
- Price
- $$
- Small batch
- Yes
This one’s from LA, where we’re from. Good one to support.
Kwong Shop’s chili crisp is the smallest bottle we own, genuinely hand-sized, and it’s an unusual one: grapeseed oil, chile de árbol, and gochugaru in the same jar. That’s Mexican and Korean chili traditions sharing a bottle, which we hadn’t seen paired quite like this before.
The taste test
The flavor profile is hot, sweet, and smoky, with visible sesame seeds and noticeably more oil than some of the other jars we lined it up against. It surprised us on heat (“the shocker,” as we called it on camera), running spicier than we expected from the look of it. Texture-wise, don’t go in expecting crunch: it’s more chewy than crispy, and the oil itself is really the star. Chew for a bit and the garlic and shallots come through underneath the chile.
Verdict
A tier. If you specifically want a very oily, chewy-rather-than-crunchy chili oil with real heat and a Korean-Mexican fusion angle, this is a genuinely distinct jar, and it’s made right here in LA, where we’re from.
Best on
- dumplings
- noodles
- rice
- anything that wants a really oily finish
Skip it if
- you want maximum crunch: this one is chewy and oil-forward, not crispy
Keep tasting
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