Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
No Salt, No Sugar, No Preservatives
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The jar you reach for over a pizza, a bowl of pasta, or a pan of sizzling garlic and oil: crushed red pepper flakes are the everyday warm heat that lifts a dish without taking it over. The heat here is mild to medium and balanced, more of a steady, rounded warmth than a sharp sting, which is exactly why it works sprinkled on so freely. Scatter it over pizza, pasta, and roasted vegetables, stir it into sauces, soups, and braises, bloom it in oil for a garlicky chili oil, or shake it onto eggs, popcorn, and grilled meats.
This is pure crushed red chile, a single ingredient with no anti-caking agents, salt, or fillers cut into it, so you taste clean pepper warmth rather than dusty filler. We pack the flakes fresh so the heat and the toasty, slightly fruity chile flavor stay lively instead of fading to flat dust.
Crushed flakes, packed fresh. Single ingredient. No salt, sugar, or fillers.
Common Questions
How hot is it?
How hot is it?
Mild to medium, and warm rather than sharp. It registers as a steady, building heat that spreads evenly through a dish, which is what makes it the friendly everyday choice for sprinkling on freely. If you want a sharper, more direct single-chile burn, a chile like arbol is hotter and more pointed; these flakes are built for balanced, all-purpose warmth.
Is it true the seeds are not the spicy part?
Is it true the seeds are not the spicy part?
Yes, that is a common myth. The heat in a chile comes from capsaicin, which is concentrated in the pale inner membrane (the placental tissue) that the seeds attach to, not the seeds themselves. The seeds in crushed flakes mostly come along for the ride; they carry a little heat from clinging to that membrane, but they are not the source. So picking seeds out does little to change the heat.
How do I get the most out of it?
How do I get the most out of it?
Bloom it in fat. Warming the flakes briefly in oil or butter at the start of cooking releases the capsaicin and chile flavor into the fat, which then carries that warmth evenly through the whole dish, the trick behind a good chili oil or an aglio e olio. Sprinkled on raw at the end, the heat stays more in concentrated bursts.
When do I add it, early or late?
When do I add it, early or late?
Either, depending on what you want. Added early and bloomed in oil, it spreads a smooth, even background heat. Added at the end as a finish, it gives brighter, more noticeable pops of heat and a fresher chile flavor. Many cooks do both: a little in the pan, a little at the table.
What dishes is it classic in?
What dishes is it classic in?
It is a staple of Italian and Italian-American cooking: pizza, pasta arrabbiata and aglio e olio, marinara, and sausage and peppers. Beyond that it is endlessly useful on roasted vegetables, in soups and beans, stirred into honey for hot honey, sprinkled on avocado toast and eggs, or worked into marinades and rubs anywhere a dish wants a lift of warmth.
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Ingredients:
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
$12.00