Individual product reviews with FIL scoring.
Pono Hawaiian’s Premium Island Crunch delivers some of the best crispy bits in the chili crisp game — but aggressive sea salt masks the good flavors underneath. A GOOD jar with outstanding crunch and one clear weakness.
Trader Joe’s Chili Onion Crunch is the best olive oil chili crisp I’ve tested — crunchy bits, clean heat, no raw garlic aftertaste, and a red bell pepper sweetness that ties the jar together. GOOD tier.
Alessi Calabrian Chili Crisp brings olive oil, crunchy bits, and Calabrian heat to the Italian food lane. The raw garlic bite limits its range but works on pizza and pasta. A specialist jar that lands squarely average.
WUJU Original Heat has the best settlement ratio I’ve tested — bits packed to the cap. But the flavor is flat, the heat is nonexistent, and the crunch doesn’t deliver. A frustrating miss.
GUIZ Chili Crisp with Fermented Black Beans delivers layered umami from douchi and doubanjiang. Deep flavor, minimal oil, but the chewy texture misses the crunch that defines the category.
GUIZ Original Chili Crisp delivers Guizhou-inspired flavor with peanuts, Sichuan peppercorn, and broad bean paste. Detailed review with tasting notes, ingredients, and tier rating.
Momofuku’s Mild Garlic Chili Crunch earns a GOOD — grapeseed oil, seaweed, yeast extract, and coconut sugar build something genuinely interesting. Just don’t expect any heat.
Momofuku’s Extra Spicy Chili Crunch swaps the original’s front-loaded burn for a slow, center-of-tongue habanero build — and ends up feeling less spicy than the jar it’s trying to outdo. Phil’s verdict: Skip.
Momofuku’s Black Truffle Chili Crunch is GOOD — more bits than their standard jars, real truffle presence up front, and a heat that builds and lingers. The sweetness holds it back from being great, but that’s a Momofuku thing, not a this-jar thing.
Momofuku Chili Crunch leads with sweetness — coconut sugar and grape seed oil create a honey-butter opening that masks the chili underneath. Phil’s verdict: AVERAGE.