chili crisp · guide ·

Mild Chili Crisp: All the Crunch, Not Much Burn

Fried eggs and buttered toast topped with Super Magic Taste Yummy Crisp, the no-heat mushroom crisp, with the jar in the middle of a yellow table.

Yes, mild chili crisp exists, and a lot of chili crisp is milder than people expect. How hot a jar is comes down to which chili goes in and how much of it. Pick one built on a gentle chili, with plenty of garlic, onion and nuts, and you get all the savoury crunch with a warm glow instead of a fire alarm.

Ours is one of those. Super Magic Taste Chili Crisp is made with gochugaru, a sun-dried Korean chili with a soft, subtle heat. Enough to notice. Not enough to need a tissue.

Why some chili crisp is hot and some is not

Three things decide it.

  • The chili. Gochugaru is gentle. Bird's eye chilis are not. The label usually tells you which one you are getting.
  • How much of the jar is chili. A jar that is mostly chili flakes will be hotter than one that is mostly garlic, onion, nuts and sesame.
  • Sichuan peppercorn. It does not burn exactly. It makes your lips tingle and go a bit numb. Fun, but if you wanted mild, it will surprise you.

How to spot a mild one on the shelf

  • Look for the chili by name. Gochugaru is a good sign.
  • Look for the crunchy stuff in the ingredients: garlic, onion, shallot, almonds or peanuts, sesame. More of that means more crunch per bite and less heat.
  • Skip anything that says "extra spicy" or lists Sichuan pepper if you want no tingle.
  • Some brands now sell a jar labelled "mild". That helps too.

What mild chili crisp is good on

The same things as any chili crisp, except you can use more of it. Fried eggs, rice, noodles, dumplings, avocado toast, pizza, roast vegetables. A mild jar is the one that gets used every day, because nobody is bracing for it.

Want no heat at all?

Try Yummy Crisp, our mushroom crisp. It is chili crisp without the chili: garlic, onion, sesame, tamari and mushrooms. All the crunch, zero burn.

Want it hotter?

Add a few drops of your favourite hot sauce on top. Or buy a hotter jar. We would rather you liked what you bought.

Where to get ours

Super Magic Taste Chili Crisp is $14 for a 270mL jar. Vegan, gluten free, no MSG, made in Canada. Buy it online, or find it in a shop near you. Still deciding? Here is how to choose a chili crisp, or start at what chili crisp is.

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