The Cult of the Chilli Oil

Chilli oil has gone from cult ingredient to kitchen essential in the space of a few years - and for good reason. A spoonful of the right one transforms eggs, noodles, dumplings, pizza, avocado toast, cold chicken, roasted vegetables, hummus and just about anything else you put it on. The question is no longer whether to have a jar in the cupboard. It's which one - and ideally, several at once.

We've brought together the best of both worlds: the small-batch British producers making chilli oils with genuine personality, and the storied Asian originals that started the obsession in the first place.

The British producers

Mama Yu's Original Chilli Oil 160ml - £6.95

Founded by mother and daughter duo Xien and Jolene, Mama Yu is a Malaysian Chinese chilli oil brand that draws on family recipes to create their must-have condiments.

Mama Yu's Curry Chilli Oil captures the essence of Malaysia's rich and bold flavors, reflecting the country’s diverse cultural heritage. It's a vibrant and aromatic condiment infused with a blend of aromatic curry spices and fiery chillies.

The original version is all about balance - fragrant, deeply savoury, with a warming heat that builds slowly rather than hitting you immediately. The kind of chilli oil that makes everything it touches taste more like itself, only better. Goes on everything. Eggs in the morning, noodles in the evening, straight onto a spoon at midnight.

Mama Yu's Garlic Chilli Oil - £6.95

The garlic version turns up the volume. More pungent, more complex, with the sweetness of slow-cooked garlic cutting through the heat. If the original is the everyday jar, this is the one you reach for when you want to make a real impression. Brilliant stirred through pasta, spooned over roasted cauliflower or used as a dumpling dipping sauce with a little soy.

Yep Sichuan Chilli Oil Crisp 160g - £7.30

Yep was started by Tom, a British-Chinese cook who wanted to bring proper Sichuan flavour to the UK without compromise. The Sichuan Chilli Oil Crisp is built around numbing umami - the distinctive combination of Sichuan peppercorn's mouth-tingling heat and the deep savoury richness of crispy chilli. It's crunchier in texture than a smooth chilli oil, which makes it as much a topping as a condiment. Pile it onto fried eggs, stir it through congee, or spoon it directly onto cold silken tofu with a little sesame oil and soy.

White Mausu Peanut Rayu 240g - £7.00

White Mausu is a female-founded London brand taking Japanese rayu - chilli oil with a lighter, more aromatic profile - and making it unmistakably their own by adding peanuts. The result is nutty, slightly smoky, with a gentler heat than the Sichuan-influenced oils. Think less of a punch and more of a hug. Exceptional on rice, ramen, or as a dipping sauce for gyoza. The peanuts give it a texture and richness that makes it closer to a condiment than an oil - a jar of it has a habit of disappearing faster than you'd expect.

Poons Extraordinary Chilli Oil 125g - £6.60

Poons has one of the great stories in London food. The original Poons restaurant opened in London's Chinatown in the 1970s and became a genuine institution - the place that introduced a generation of Londoners to proper Chinese cooking. This chilli oil carries that legacy into the modern kitchen: a Taste award-winning recipe, complex and deeply flavoured, with the kind of depth that comes from a formula refined over decades. It's extraordinary - the tin says so, and in this case it's not false modesty.

The originals

Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chilli Oil 210g - £3.50

Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chilli Oil 700g - £8.65

Lao Gan Ma - which translates as Old Godmother - is the chilli oil that started the global conversation. Founded in 1997 in Guizhou, China by Tao Huabi, it's now one of the best-selling condiments in the world, and the 700g jar is a familiar sight in the kitchens of anyone who takes chilli oil seriously. The crispy version is the classic: fermented black beans, dried chilli, sesame oil, a little garlic. It's savoury and addictive in a way that's genuinely hard to explain until you've tried it. Buy the big jar - you'll get through it faster than you think.

Which one should you buy?

If you're new to chilli oil: Lao Gan Ma 210g - the original, the benchmark, the one to start with. If you want something made in London with real character: Mama Yu's Original for everyday, Yep Sichuan Chilli Crisp when you want something with more texture and heat.
If you're after something more unusual: White Mausu Peanut Rayu - the gentlest and most versatile of the range, and the one that tends to surprise people most.
If you cook a lot and go through it fast: Lao Gan Ma 700g - better value per gram and you won't run out mid-recipe.

All available online here with UK-wide delivery or from our stores in Islington, Highbury and Walthamstow.