11 Sichuan Peppercorn Recipes

By
Chichi Wang
Chichi Wang: Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Chichi Wang

Chichi Wang wrote a variety of columns for Serious Eats including The Butcher's Cuts, in addition to other stories. Born in Shanghai and raised in New Mexico, Chichi took her degree in philosophy but decided that writing about food would be more fun than writing about Plato.

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Updated May 15, 2019
Dry-Fried Chicken

When these little hunks of chicken mix with fiery dried red chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, and chili bean paste, something unleashes in your brain that's one part pleasure and one part glorious pain. Don't look for perfectly moist hunks of chicken here. They dry out a bit, but that's the point.

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We at SE are big fans of the Sichuan peppercorn. Real big. Though most commonly found in Sichuan cuisine, the spice has such depth and appeal that it really should have farther-reaching applications.

Though the uninitiated might find the taste of Sichuan peppercorns unpleasantly medicinal, the converts prize its unique taste and tongue-numbing sensation. It offers automatic complexity with minimal effort on your part.

Sichuan pepper (hua jiao) was used in Chinese cuisine well before black or white pepper was introduced by way of the spice route. They give off a tingly, fizzy feeling on the tongue and when used sparingly, are incomparably delicious. And infatuating. The peppercorns, which grow on trees, turn dark pink in color and split open to reveal black, shiny seeds.

sichuan peppercorns
Robyn Lee

The seeds themselves are tasteless; it's the fragrant pink husks of the peppercorn that are valuable. Like some other habit-forming items, Sichuan peppercorns are actually toxic when ingested in large quantities.

I like to keep a pepper grinder full of them handy, just as I would any other type of peppercorn. I also keep a jar of oil flavored with toasted and ground-up Sichuan peppercorns. The oil is fragrant enough to drizzle over roasted vegetables and meat.

Check out all 11 ways to use the compelling spice in the recipes below:

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