This Szechuan Red Chili Oil Wonton Sauce tastes just like the one at authentic Chinese restaurants.
Szechuan Red Chili Oil Wontons are one of my favorite foods when I see it on the menu at Chinese restaurants. Whenever I visit my parents in Maryland, we order these spicy wontons. My parents are very particular about their Chinese food, so I know we are always going to get high quality Chinese food where ever we go. Unfortunately, here in Connecticut, I’ve yet to find any decent Szechuan Red Chili Oil Wontons.
I’ve been trying to recreate the sauce for these Red Oil Wontons the last couple of years, but have never been able to quite get it right until now. A friend of mine who runs a fabulous Chinese restaurant outside of Philadelphia, called Hunan explained the cooking procedure and rattled off the ingredients over the phone the other day, so I started experimenting.
One of the key ingredients in this Szechuan Red Oil Wonton Sauce is the chili oil. Although you can buy chili oil in the Asian market, the homemade Szechwan hot chili oil I used has a lot more depth of flavor. The chili oil is infused with garlic, scallion, ginger, red pepper powder, red pepper chili flakes and Szechuan peppercorns.
You can wrap your own wontons, although these days, you can buy some pretty high quality frozen ones, which is what I used (I like the wontons labeled Shanghai wontons because the dumpling skin is nice and thin).
Note: The sauce recipe is gluten-free; however, wontons are not, so if you’re gluten-free, serve this sauce with gluten-free dumplings.
Szechuan Red Chili Oil Wonton Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Szechwan peppercorns
Sauce
- 1/4 cup Szechwan chili oil
- 2 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free oyster sauce
- 4 teaspoons organic sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Szechwan peppercorn powder
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 scallion minced
Instructions
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Toast Szechwan peppercorns in a small skillet until fragrant (this takes just a few minutes); let cool; grind in spice grinder or coffee grinder; sift and save powdered peppercorns.
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Place chili oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of the toasted Szechwan peppercorn powder, and sesame oil in a small saucepan and warm just to melt sugar.
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Toss with cooked wontons and sprinkle with scallions before serving.
Recipe Notes
If you're gluten-free, serve this sauce with gluten-free dumplings
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I have been looking for a good traditional chili oil! This looks wonderful! Could you suggest any substitutes for oyster sauce? I haven’t found an allergy friendly one yet… Thanks so much Jeanette!
I use Lee Kum Kee Green Label Oyster Sauce. I’m not sure which allergens you’re referring to. If you’re allergic to shellfish, there are also vegetarian oyster sauces made with mushrooms.
Lovely! So much spicy flavor! Making your own is always the best option!
Thanks Rebecca! I agree – homemade is always the best option.
I’m a sucker for szechuan peppercorns and how much they can transform a dish into something really playful (one of my favorites is dan dan noodles). This chili oil is being made and will be spooned on everything!