Homemade Mexican Chile Oil (Salsa Macha)

5 from 2 votes

Addictively crispy chile oil with garlic, peanuts and sesame seeds to top your tacos, quesadillas, scrambled eggs, and, well... everything!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Course: condiment

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: tablespoons

Calories: 20kcal

Heat the olive oil in the frying pan over medium to medium-low heat. It shouldn't be really hot or smoking!
If you are using a cast iron skillet, know that it retains its heat once brought up to temp. It is easy to burn the ingredients so be careful of the temp and move quickly.
1 cup olive oil
Fry the garlic slices until golden brown (about 1 minute), and remove with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool off a bit.
5 cloves garlic
Fry the chile peppers for about a minute in the same oil, until their color darkens (about 1 minute). Remove and set aside.
20 chiles de árbol, 5 chiles moritas
Fry the peanuts in the skillet until they reach golden brown (about 1 minute). Remove and set aside to cool.
I found the peanuts difficult to remove with a slotted spoon so I poured the contents of the skillet though a sieve into a bowl. Reserve the oil in the bowl and set the peanuts aside to cool.
1/2 cup peanuts
Add the sesame seeds and the vinegar to the blender along with the garlic, peppers, and peanuts. Pulse until the desired consistency is reached. Leave some bits, you don't want to turn your chili oil into chili paste!
1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Pour into a bowl or jar and add the oil back in. Mix well and add salt to taste.
salt

You can really use any oil you like. Olive is popular, but grape seed, peanut, or sunflower would also work just fine.
You can remove the seeds from the chile peppers, but it's not a must. Just a matter of preference!
It's important not to burn the garlic and chile peppers, as it will turn them bitter and ruin the flavor of your salsa macha.
This recipe makes around 2 cups of salsa macha, which equates to 32 one-tablespoon servings.

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