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The Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy Sichuan Chili Crisp delivers exactly what it promises: more stuff, less oil. The jar is basically all solids — seeds, beans, shallots, chili bits — with the oil there mostly as a binder. Heat is mild to medium, Sichuan peppercorn is quiet, and the dominant experience is nutty-seedy crunch that borders on a paste as you chew. It does its job. It’s not a jar I reach for first. Tier: AVERAGE.
Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy Chili Crisp Review: A Different Product Philosophy
This is the fourth Fly By Jing I’ve worked through from the same Amazon 4-pack ($34.99), and at this point I have a decent read on where the whole lineup sits. The Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy is the one that feels most different from the others — not just a heat or flavor variant, but a different product philosophy. More solids. Way more solids. Enough solids that calling it a chili crisp feels a little generous. It’s essentially a chunky seed-and-bean condiment with some chili in it.
Whether that’s what you want is the whole question. Having already reviewed the Original, the Sweet and Spicy (a chili sauce, not a crisp), and the Xtra Spicy, the Xtra Crunchy is clearly solving for the complaint that’s followed Fly By Jing’s Original for years: not enough stuff in the jar.
Quick Facts
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Brand | Fly By Jing |
| Product | XTRA Crunchy Sichuan Chili Crisp |
| Category | Chili Crisp |
| Style | Sichuan / Chinese |
| Oil | Soybean, Sesame, Shallot |
| Heat | 2 / 5 |
| Price | $8.75 (as part of 4-pack, $34.99) |
| Size | 6 oz |
| Per oz | $1.46/oz (4-pack) |
| Made in | China |
| Buy | Amazon (4-pack variety), flybyjing.com |
| Tier | AVERAGE |
The Label
Full ingredients: non-GMO soybean oil, soybeans, fava beans, yellow split peas, dried chili pepper, pumpkin seeds, shallots, salt, garlic, sugar, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, Sichuan pepper, sesame oil, yeast extract, shallot oil, seaweed powder, mushroom powder, natural flavors. Contains soy and sesame.
The first thing to notice: soybean oil leads — not the rapeseed oil that the Original and Xtra Spicy use. Then soybeans, fava beans, and yellow split peas in positions two through four. At that concentration, the beans aren’t a texture accent — they’re the product. The Sichuan pepper and dried chili pepper, which drive the flavor character on the label, don’t show up until further down the list.
I’ve talked in other reviews about how soybeans in chili crisp are generally a filler move — you get volume without much flavor contribution, and they break down quickly on contact with moisture. That holds here. The fava beans add a little more flavor than the soybeans, and the pumpkin and sunflower seeds are the most honest textural contributors in the jar.
The allergen situation is worth mentioning: nut-free, as advertised. If someone in your household has a tree nut or peanut allergy, this is one of the few chili crisps with real crunch that they can safely use. That’s a legitimate differentiator — the market for nut-free crunchy condiments is thin.
Serving size is one teaspoon at 100 calories, which reflects how calorie-dense those beans and seeds are compared to an oil-based product. The Original is 30 calories per teaspoon. Not that anyone uses chili crisp by the teaspoon, but worth noting if you’re eating a lot of it. Vegan, woman-owned, Asian-owned, certified B Corp. Not sugar-free — sugar is listed at position ten.
Appearance
Settlement ratio is the first thing I check on any chili crisp, and the Xtra Crunchy answers that question immediately. This jar is Excellent on the five-level scale — the best I’ve seen. The bits are 100% of the jar. Oil is just around them, maybe 10–15% of the total volume. The rest is a dense pack of beans, seeds, and chili bits that gives the whole jar a heavy, almost opaque look.
What dominates visually are the fried soybeans and fava beans — you can pick them out easily, they’re the biggest individual pieces. Around them: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, visible bits of shallot, flecks of dried chili. It’s a lot going on. More than any other FBJ I’ve opened. The color reads dark brown with red accents from the chili, and the oil that’s present is a lighter amber — noticeably different from the deep, dark oil of the Original and Xtra Spicy.
Aroma
Open the jar and the smell is distinctly seedy and nutty. Not the roasted-chili, peppercorn-forward aroma you get from the FBJ Original or the Xtra Spicy. This smells closer to a toasted seed mix — pumpkin seeds, sesame, a little shallot — with chili oil underneath. It’s not a bad smell. It’s just not what your brain cues up when you hear “Sichuan chili crisp.”
There’s no Sichuan peppercorn presence on the nose. No sharp fermented note. The overall impression is warm, roasted, and mild.
Texture and Crunch
This is where the Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy does what it says. Fork into it and you get immediate, substantial crunch — multiple layers of it. The seeds crack cleanly. The beans give more resistance before breaking down. The shallot bits add a finer, papery crunch underneath everything else. For raw crunch volume, this is the highest of any FBJ I’ve tested. For raw crunch volume period, this is up there with anything in the category.
Here’s the thing, though: as you chew through it, the beans start to break down into a paste-like texture. The soybeans and fava beans don’t hold their crunch once they’ve been worked through — they soften, and because there are so many of them relative to everything else, the second half of every bite becomes thick and dense. Closer to chewing a nut butter than a crispy condiment. “Xtra Crunchy” is accurate only on the first half of the bite.
The seeds — pumpkin, sunflower, sesame — do stay crunchy throughout. They’re the best textural element in here by a fair margin. If the ratio were flipped — more seeds, fewer beans — the crunch story would hold all the way through.
Flavor
The flavor upfront is dominated by the beans and seeds. Toasted, slightly savory, faintly nutty — those are the first things that register. The chili oil in the background adds a mild warmth, but it’s playing a supporting role, not a lead.
Garlic is present but quiet. The yeast extract and mushroom powder are doing some umami work in the background — I can taste it when I’m looking for it, but it’s not assertive. There’s no noticeable sweetness despite sugar being in the ingredients. That tracks with its position at #10 on the list.
What I don’t get much of is Sichuan peppercorn. The málà tingle — the thing that defines the FBJ Original‘s heat character — is very faint here. Sichuan pepper shows up in the ingredients, but the quantity relative to the bulk of beans and seeds clearly isn’t enough to come through. You get some in the finish, a mild back-of-tongue warmth, but nothing building or lingering the way it does in the other FBJ products.
This is a bean-and-seed condiment with chili flavoring, not a chili crisp with bean crunch added. The ingredient list leads with soybean oil, soybeans, and fava beans in the top three positions. The Sichuan peppercorn and dried chili — the ingredients that make this a “Sichuan Chili Crisp” on the label — are outweighed by the bulk solids by a wide margin. That’s not a criticism, exactly — it’s just what it is. Know what you’re buying.
Heat
Mild to medium, and it arrives late. First bite registers almost no heat — the bean-and-seed flavor is too prominent up front. The warmth comes in at the back of the tongue after a few seconds, more of a cayenne-style burn than anything Sichuan. It fades quickly. No build, no numbing, no tingle from the peppercorn. For medium-heat tolerance, this is very comfortable — probably accessible to people who find most chili crisps too intense.
If heat is a priority, this isn’t the jar. The Xtra Spicy is what you want.
Use Cases
The size of the bits is the practical constraint. These pieces are big — big enough that on something like a fried egg, they’d sit on top and slide off. They need to be embedded in something, or the dish needs to be substantial enough that the chunk size doesn’t feel out of place.
Good fits: Fried rice or grain bowls where the solids can get lost in a good way. Plain white rice where the nutty flavor reads well against a neutral base. Soft noodle dishes — soba, udon — where the crunch contrast is the whole point. Tacos or wraps — because the flavor isn’t aggressively Sichuan, it doesn’t read as a cuisine collision. Sandwiches or grain-based dishes — anywhere you’d add toasted seeds for crunch, this works.
Where it falls flat: Eggs — too chunky, not enough oil to coat properly. Dipping — the oil-to-solids ratio is too low; you get a mouthful of dry bean paste. Anywhere you want the condiment to be the flavor lead — the muted heat and nutty-forward taste mean it adds texture more than flavor.
This is a strong mixing candidate — but in a different way than the Original. Where the Original contributes flavor complexity and oil quality to a blend, the Xtra Crunchy contributes pure crunch volume. The most natural pairing: mix this into the Original or the Xtra Spicy. Those jars have the flavor and the heat but not the texture. This jar has the texture but not much Sichuan character. Together you get something closer to what all of them are individually trying to be. The oils across the FBJ lineup are similar enough that the blend works without clashing.
Packaging and Value
Standard FBJ format — same jar, same label design, same lid. Easy to navigate with a fork or spoon given how dense the solids are. Refrigerate after opening. Part of the Amazon 4-pack at $34.99, which works out to $8.75 per jar and $1.46/oz. At standalone pricing, Fly By Jing typically runs $2.50–3.00/oz — the 4-pack is the obvious move if you want to try the range.
Final Verdict
The Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy does what it advertises: the jar is almost entirely solids, the crunch is real on entry, and the nut-free designation makes it genuinely useful for people who need that. But the bean-heavy composition mutes the Sichuan character that makes Fly By Jing’s lineup worth paying a premium for, and the heat barely registers. The crunch is front-loaded — the second half of every bite turns to paste as the beans break down.
It’s a specialty tool. Good for adding crunch texture to soft dishes. Less compelling as a standalone condiment. Not something I’d reach for first, but it has a clear role in the lineup — especially when mixed with the other FBJ jars that have the flavor but not the crunch.
Biggest strength: Solids volume. This jar is almost entirely stuff, not oil. The settlement ratio is the best I’ve tested. The nut-free designation is a genuine differentiator.
Biggest weakness: The beans. They dominate the flavor and they don’t hold their crunch through the bite. The Sichuan character that defines the rest of the FBJ lineup is barely present.
Would I buy it again? As part of the 4-pack, yes — it has a specific role as a crunch booster for the other jars. On its own, probably not.
For a side-by-side of every Fly By Jing variant, see the Fly By Jing Sample Pack comparison.
Is Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy actually spicy?
Not particularly. The heat is mild to medium — it arrives late, sits at the back of the tongue, and fades quickly. There’s Sichuan peppercorn in the ingredients but the mala numbing effect barely registers. If you want the tingly, building heat of the FBJ Original, this isn’t the jar.
What’s the difference between Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy and the Original?
The Original is oil-forward with concentrated fried aromatics (mushrooms, peppercorn, fermented black beans) as its solids. The Xtra Crunchy is solids-forward — beans, seeds, and shallots dominate the jar with minimal oil. More crunch volume, less chili crisp flavor intensity.
Is Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy nut-free?
Yes. It’s explicitly nut-free — no peanuts, no tree nuts. The crunch comes from soybeans, fava beans, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. It does contain soy and sesame, so check those allergens if relevant.
What should I put Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy on?
It works best on dishes where you want added texture without the condiment taking over — fried rice, grain bowls, plain noodles, tacos, wraps. The bits are large, so it does better embedded in a dish than sitting on top of something smooth like an egg.
How many calories are in Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy?
100 calories per one tablespoon (listed serving size is 1 teaspoon at 100 calories — the bean and seed composition makes it significantly more calorie-dense than oil-based chili crisps, which typically run 30-50 calories per teaspoon).
Is Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy vegan?
Yes. The full ingredient list is plant-based. It’s also woman-owned, Asian-owned, and certified B Corp.
Where can I buy Fly By Jing Xtra Crunchy?
Available on Amazon (individually and as part of a multi-pack) and directly through the Fly By Jing website. The 4-pack on Amazon typically runs around $32-33 and works out to a better per-jar price than buying singles.