Salsa macha vs chile crisp

Side by side

Salsa macha: the Veracruz oil salsa

Salsa macha is a Mexican condiment typically made of vegetable oil, dried chiles, garlic and salt, and its origin is possibly Veracruz.¹ Rick Bayless says most people trace it to the state’s mountains, and calls it an outlier in Mexico’s salsa world: no tomatoes or tomatillos, no puree of dried chiles.² You won’t find chopped tomato or cilantro in it, and it won’t pile up on a chip.³

The name has two candidate stories. Macha may be the feminine of macho, “strong, brave,” because it was stronger than other salsas, or it may come from machacada, “mashed,” because it was first crushed in a mortar.¹ The chiles vary: árbol, serrano, chipotle, pequín or morita.¹ The nuts and seeds are where cooks get personal. Sesame, pumpkin seeds and peanuts are classic, and Bayless has tasted versions with cashews, black walnuts and almonds.²

Chile crisp: the Chinese crunch

Chili crisp is a condiment from Chinese cooking: fried chile and other aromatics infused in oil.⁴ It is a close relative of chili oil, and the terms get swapped, but the crisp has edible chunks in the oil.^4,5 That changes how you use it. It is usually not pourable like a chili oil or sauce; you spoon it over or stir it into a dish.⁴ Crisps made with Sichuan pepper add the intense heat and numbing sensation known as mala.⁴

Households and restaurants in China have long made their own. The jar most people know came later: in 1997 Tao Huabi began the first commercial production of chili crisp in Guizhou under the Lao Gan Ma brand. In the US it stayed mostly within Chinese American kitchens until the late 2010s, then took off during the pandemic.⁴

One more twist: both jars start with an American plant. Chiles reached Asia through the Columbian exchange,⁴ and Bayless notes the common view that salsa macha existed in Veracruz long before Mexico’s chiles made it to China.²

What’s in the jars

Salsa macha

• XILLI Salsa Macha: four ingredients, canola oil, chipotle morita, peanuts and sea salt. The maker’s notes: nutty, smoky, spicy.⁶
• XILLI Veracruz: chipotle meco and morita with roasted coffee, vanilla, allspice, piloncillo and banana vinegar, rated 8 of 10 on the maker’s own heat scale.⁷
• Tia Lupita Mexican Chili Crunch: morita chiles with seeds and peanuts. The maker warns heat varies batch to batch with the season’s moritas.⁸

Chile crisp

• Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp: made in Chengdu with erjingtiao chiles and tribute pepper, a Sichuan peppercorn, plus fermented soybean, garlic, shallots and ginger. The maker says hot, crispy, numbing and savory.⁹
• Momofuku Chili Crunch: three chiles (puya, árbol and japones) with garlic, shallots, sesame and coconut sugar in grapeseed oil.¹⁰
• S&B Crunchy Garlic with Chili Oil: chili oil, fried garlic and chili paste, which the maker rates mild.¹¹

The crossovers

The line blurs on the shelf. Momofuku says its Chili Crunch is inspired by both Chinese chili crisp and crunchy Mexican salsas like salsa macha and salsa seca,¹⁰ and it is built on puya, árbol and japones chiles.¹⁰ Puya is the chile behind Valentina; árbol is in the field guide. Tia Lupita goes the other way, selling its salsa macha as “Mexican Chili Crunch.”⁸ Read the ingredient list, not the name. Bayless counts the nuts and seeds as what separates macha from crisp,² while Sichuan pepper is a common chili crisp ingredient.⁴

How to use them

Both are finishing condiments. Salsa macha traditionally goes with pozole, tacos, carne asada, fish, quesadillas and botanas.¹ Makers push it further: XILLI suggests eggs, vegetables, dumplings, fried rice and pizza,⁶ and Tia Lupita adds burritos, tortas, enchiladas, crusty bread and salad.⁸

Chile crisp gets spooned on at the end rather than cooked with.⁴ Momofuku names dips, eggs, noodles and BBQ;¹⁰ S&B suggests chicken, sushi, pasta, salad, noodles and tofu.¹¹

Want to know the dried chiles behind the macha? Morita and meco are both covered in the dried chile field guide. Full profiles live on the salsa macha and chile crisp shelves.