9 Foods That Are Transformed by Using Sichuan Pepper

 For most people, Sichuan pepper exists in very specific dishes: the shimmering red broths of hot pot, the silk of málà tofu, the slick of chili oil–covered noodles.

And that isn’t wrong. 

Those dishes are perfect vehicles for huājiāo. Tofu absorbs aroma. Noodles carries citrus oils to your palate. Fatty broths bloom Sichuan pepper’s aroma and let the gentle buzz linger.

But the same logic that makes Sichuan pepper indispensable in málà applies far beyond Chinese cuisine. 

Anywhere there’s richness, starch, acid, or heat — pasta, dumplings, pizza, eggs, popcorn, seafood, dessert, and even cocktails — there’s room for that electric spark.

Here are nine foods that prove it.

1. Pasta: Creamy, Glossy, and Just a Little Electric

Great pasta is about restraint.

Salt enhances flavor. Fat carries aroma. Small changes shift the whole bowl.

Thomas Keller puts it plainly in The French Laundry Cookbook:

“Salt enhances flavor. Pepper actually adds flavor or changes flavor… Pepper… should be used only in certain cases for specific tastes.”

That distinction matters. Salt lifts what’s there. Pepper redirects the dish.

Which is exactly why Sichuan pepper belongs in pasta — not as a chili replacement, but as a deliberate aromatic.

At 50Hertz, we’ve explored that from multiple angles.

Image: Chef Tim Yu’s Mapo Tofu Pasta folds fermented bean paste, garlic, ginger, and red huājiāo into a glossy sauce finished with silken tofu cream and Asiago.

Image: Our Linguine Cacio e Pepe whips Sichuan pepper oil into pecorino foam alongside black pepper.

Image: Chef Doug Heilman’s vegan Tingly Tahini Pasta blooms The Tingly Blend in olive oil before loosening it with lemon and starch.

Different styles. Same logic.

Why it works: emulsified fats trap aroma, starch stretches flavor, and huājiāo adds lift without weight.

2. Dumplings: Steam, Juice, and a Citrus-Tingle Surprise

Dumplings are universal, and Chinese dumplings know how to push boundaries.

As Martin Yan told Food & Wine:

“Every cuisine across the world has a dumpling, but the Chinese fillings are the most adventurous.”

Sichuan pepper is a perfect example.

Wrappers trap steam. Fillings hold juice. Broths carry aroma.

In our Spicy and Tingly Sichuan Dumplings, meat is seasoned from the inside with red pepper oil, Shaoxing wine, ginger, and chives, then served in sharp black-vinegar broth and finished with green pepper oil so fragrance rises with the steam.

Comfort food — sharpened.

And if you need a dumpling dipping sauce, check out our Heydoh collaboration — built around Heydoh’s single-origin soy sauce for clean, layered umami that lets the má shine.

Why it works: juicy fillings release aroma while huājiāo keeps rich pork or chicken tasting bright.

3. Pizza: Mala Meets Melted Cheese

There’s a reason pizza is one of the world’s favorite foods — the interplay of salt, fat, acid, and texture makes it endlessly adaptable. 

That same foundation is exactly why Sichuan pepper pairs with pizza so well: it doesn’t compete with bold ingredients, it reframes them — brightening acid, lifting aroma, and adding a subtle tingle that keeps your palate engaged.

You’re already seeing this play out in the U.S. pizza scene. 

At Pizzeria Sei in Los Angeles, a mala-spiced lamb sausage pizza sits alongside traditional pies, blending chili heat, savory lamb, and aromatic spices in a format normally dominated by Italian toppings — a clear example of mala influence on pizza toppings stateside.

International chains have also flirted with the idea. 

Pizza Hut Singapore’s Sichuan Roasted Chicken Pizza leaned into “Chuan Chuan” street-food aromatics — cumin, peppercorn, and smoky chili sauce — showing how mala-inspired street-food flavor profiles can be adapted into familiar pizza formats.

Why It Works: Melted cheese and olive oil carry Sichuan pepper’s citrus-floral tingle, while tomato sauce keeps it bright, not heavy. Adding sensation rather than heat, it livens up classic pizzas without overpowering them.

4. Ramen: Turning Rich Broth Electric

Ramen thrives on richness — long-simmered broths, springy noodles, garlic, pork fat, and fermented depth.

That’s exactly why Sichuan pepper belongs in the bowl.

In Tokyo, cult favorite Kikanbo lets diners dial both chili heat (kara) and numbing buzz (shibi) from zero to the infamous “devil level,” turning porky, miso-rich bowls into the perfect stage for huājiāo’s citrus snap.

Across continents, the pattern holds: fat-rich stock magnifies aroma, finishing oils brighten flavor, and Sichuan pepper resets your palate between slurps.

Image: Toki Underground’s Tingly Garlic Tonkotsu — pork-rich broth, springy noodles, chashu, pickled ginger, greens, and an onsen egg, finished with a final drizzle of 50Hertz Red Sichuan Pepper Oil.

In Washington, D.C., Michelin-recognized Toki Underground crowns its Tingly Garlic Tonkotsu with 50Hertz Red Sichuan pepper oil, lifting garlic-heavy broth with a final aromatic drizzle.

Photos: Chef/Owner Mike Satinover’s Soupless Tantanmen at Akahoshi Ramen — perfectly tossed noodles coated in a bold Sichuan pepper-spiced sauce, topped with house-made chili oil and aromatic peppercorns.

And in Chicago, Chef Mike Satinover of Akahoshi Ramen bakes the tingle straight into his Soupless Tantanmen:

“We use the red and green peppercorns… in a house-made oil, for the pork topping, and ground into a spice blend — so it’s a major flavor in the final dish. The green ones in particular are difficult to find — and yours are excellent.”

Why it works: rich stock amplifies aroma, pepper oil adds lift, and huājiāo keeps comfort food from going flat. 

5. Eggs: Breakfast, Rewired

Photo: Breakfast… but make it málà. 🍳🔥 Cheesy eggs fried in Sichuan pepper oil = tingle with every bite.

Eggs are rich and forgiving — which makes them perfect for Sichuan pepper.

Some of our favorite evidence comes straight from customers’ kitchens.

One customer wrote after using 50Hertz on scrambled eggs for breakfast, then spinning those same eggs into a quick fried rice for lunch — blooming garlic, fermented bean paste, dried chilies, and finishing the pan with dark soy and a teaspoon of our Red Sichuan Pepper Oil.

Their verdict? “Utterly delicious.”

Another said they’d tested the oil on everything… but always returned to scrambled eggs. The sensation was “out of this world.” Even their five-year-old demanded it nightly, turning dinners into repeat “tongue-sticking moments.”

A third wrote that their taste buds were “vastly enhanced,” starting with soft scrambled eggs with chives — thanks to our Sichuan pepper oil.

That same logic drives our Mala Fried Cheesy Eggs: 50Hertz Red bloomed in the pan before cheese, eggs, mushroom chili sauce, and scallions melt together.

Breakfast, rewired.

Why it works: yolk and dairy trap aroma; heat releases fragrance; the tingle keeps every bite alive. 

6. Popcorn: Movie Night, Upgraded

In 2020, we at 50Hertz began experimenting with popcorn after customers kept telling us the same thing: drizzle Sichuan pepper oil over hot kernels and something special happens. 

Working with Double Cooked, we took that simple idea and split it into two complementary parts that come together for maximum flavor.

The first part is Lao Gan Ma Pepcorn Salt. Inspired by Brian David Gilbert’s viral Pepcorn concept, we asked: how do you get Lao Gan Ma chili crisp onto popcorn? 

The answer: dry it and grind it into a salty, umami-packed powder. This salt is packed with fermented-bean flavor and forms the base of our savory, crunchy seasoning.

The second part is assembling the Pepcorn. Pop the kernels in a wok with chili oil and neutral oil, shaking until popping slows. Transfer to a bowl and season with Pepcorn Salt, red chili powder, and a drizzle of 50Hertz Red Sichuan Pepper Oil. This is where the two parts come together — crunchy, savory salt meets hot, aromatic popcorn for a bold, tingly, and utterly addictive snack.

Why it works: Hot oil carries the aroma of chili and Sichuan pepper into every kernel, Pepcorn Salt enhances the corn’s natural sweetness, and a hit of Lao Gan Ma takes it to the next level with umami, crunch, and a tingly kick — simple popcorn becomes bold, layered, and utterly addictive

7. Fish but Also Seafood

Few dishes show what Sichuan pepper can do to seafood better than shuǐzhǔ yú 水煮鱼 — often blandly translated as “water-boiled fish,” a phrase that dramatically undersells what arrives at the table.

In The Food of Sichuan, Fuchsia Dunlop writes of the dish:

“This dish, perhaps more than any other, embodies the dramatic numbing-and-hot (mala) excesses of chiles, Sichuan pepper and oil with which Sichuanese cuisine has taken China and the world by storm.”

The classic version builds a pale broth from fish bones, ginger, garlic, scallion, and Shaoxing wine, slips in delicate slices of white fish, then finishes everything with dried chiles, hot oil, and whole peppercorns. Born in Chongqing in the 1990s as a riff on shuǐzhǔ niúròu (water-boiled beef), it quickly spread to Chengdu and beyond.

Photos: 青花椒鱼 (green Sichuan pepper fish) — a modern evolution of Sichuan boiled fish (shuǐzhǔ yú 水煮鱼), finished with fresh green peppercorns and sizzling oil for a brighter, citrus-forward tingle.

Traditionally, Sichuan boiled fish (shuǐzhǔ yú 水煮鱼) relied on red Sichuan pepper, valued for its deeper, warmer aroma and grounding numbness. But over the past decade, a green Sichuan pepper version of the dish (qīng huājiāo yú 青花椒鱼) has become one of the most fashionable interpretations in China.

Brighter, citrus-forward, and more piercingly tingly, green Sichuan pepper brings a cleaner, more electric sensation that has captured younger diners and reshaped a modern classic without abandoning its roots.

The same template travels easily to other seafood: mussels sautéed in Sichuan pepper oil, lobster brushed at the grill, shrimp or scallops folded into garlicky chile sauces, whole branzino, squid, or oysters finished with citrus and a final drizzle of tingly spice.

Why it works: seafood is naturally sweet; Sichuan pepper perfumes without smothering; hot oil spreads aroma; and a clean tingle sharpens every bite. That’s why it belongs with everything from shuǐzhǔ yú and today’s green-pepper fish to mussels, lobster, shrimp, scallops, branzino, squid, and oysters — wherever sweetness, fat, and fragrance meet.

8. Dessert: Where Sweet Meets Electric

Sichuan pepper doesn’t belong only in savory dishes.

In fact, desserts may be where its power becomes most surprising.

We first explored that through cookies — folding Sichuan pepper into chocolate chip dough, peanut crunch, and Filipino-inspired adobo flavors, where citrus-floral notes cut through butter and sugar and leave a cool hum behind.

Longtime customer Greg Blonder pushed the idea further with Tricky Dick Sichuan Pepper–Glazed Donuts, built around milk steeped with Sichuan pepper and finished with a glaze that grows more aromatic with every bite. The same approach works on yóutiáo or even ridged potato chips.

Another leap came from longtime customer Kevin, who adapted @daywithmei’s Sichuan Peppercorn Hot Honey Baklava using our red Sichuan peppercorns. He brought the tray to a family gathering — and the entire pan disappeared. Honey, nuts, butter, phyllo… then that sudden málà shimmer cutting through the sweetness. A classic pastry, quietly electrified.

Then came chocolate.

Our Tingly Chocolate Toffee Brittle, made with NeoCocoa’s Christine Doerr, infuses buttery toffee and cacao nibs with green Sichuan pepper before coating it in dark-milk chocolate.

And with Goodnow Farms, we paired single-origin Peruvian cacao with green Sichuan pepper’s pine-and-citrus lift — letting the tingle stretch chocolate’s natural bitterness into something brighter and cleaner.

Across cookies, donuts, brittle, and bars, the pattern repeats.

Why it works: sweetness softens spice. Fat carries aroma. And Sichuan pepper’s tingling compounds activate touch receptors on the tongue, creating contrast rather than heat — especially effective with chocolate, which is packed with aromatic molecules. Dessert, suddenly, has dimension.

9. Gin: The Spirit That Speaks Sichuan Pepper

If Sichuan pepper had a “default” spirit match, it might be gin.

Not because it’s spicy (it isn’t), but because gin is already built on fragrance: citrus peel, flowers, herbs, piney botanicals. Sichuan pepper slides right into that world. A drop (or a few whole berries) doesn’t make your drink hot — it makes it feel brighter, cleaner, and more awake.

We learned this the hard way in Hanoi.

At Workshop14 — a bar recognized by Asia’s 50 Best Bars as Campari’s One To Watch — we tried the drink that reframed Sichuan pepper behind the bar: the Hi-Ma Gin.

It starts with Sông Cái Floral Gin, then gets treated with green Sichuan pepper aroma (think: lifted, not fiery) and finished with a few drops of green Sichuan pepper oil. The result tastes like a martini that took a deep breath.

We’ve also explored extensively other cocktail pairings beyond gin, which you can read more here.

Photos: Má, not là. NYC's Sip & Guzzle’s Má Garita layers gin, tequila, mezcal, and Sichuan pepper for bright citrus, deeper agave, and a gentle electric hum. 

Why it works: Gin and Sichuan pepper share the same language — citrus peel, flowers, piney botanicals. In a G&T, bubbles push those aromas straight to your nose. And instead of heat, Sichuan pepper adds a soft electric tingle that makes every sip feel freshly poured.