Chile de Árbol

This refried-bean-slathered gordita with all the fixings is a Mazatlán specialty.

Inspired by salsa de cacahuate, this delightful sauce is spicy, rich, and velvety.

These lamb chops get their kick from two flavorful marinades, a butter-basting session on the grill, and a shower of spices during their rest.

This fiery red broth is a labor of love, but it’s worth it—your hot pot spread depends on a rich, flavorful base.

Tingly Sichuan peppercorns and tart black vinegar pack a one-two punch in Hetty McKinnon’s shredded stir-fried potatoes.

Eating your veggies has never tasted as good as when they’re beer-battered and fried until crispy. Sub the zucchini for any veg—from broccolini to mixed mushrooms.

Normally we’d cook meat or fish with the rice so the flavors mingle, but because shrimp cook so fast, we like to pan-fry them and toss with the rice at the very end. 

This pungent, spicy, and garlicky broth is inspired by rasam, a South Indian soup.

An easy, chile-spiked tomato salsa for all your taco needs. 

This kicky chile-and-peanut-laced dressing is ready to replace the ranch on your crudités platter. 

This Kung Pao recipe stays very close to the original but includes seasonal peppers.

Chaas, an Indian buttermilk drink, is reimagined here as a creamy salad dressing seasoned with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, and dried red chiles.

Think of this as a chile-laced peanut butter you’ll want to put on everything, from tacos to fried eggs. It’s delicious and not at all as intimidating as it sounds.

Serve this huge pot of flavorful stew as the centerpiece surrounded by fixings that guests can pick and choose to build their own bowls.

If you are a chile fan, you can sub in serranos or jalapeños for the chiles de árbol.

This savory, larb-esque pork mixture makes for the ultimate all-purpose grain bowl topper.

This isn’t the thick harissa that resembles a paste. Treat it like your favorite barbecue sauce and smother grilled steak and chicken with it.

This irresistibly smoky-spicy condiment lasts for a month and perks up everything from scrambled eggs to lamb chops.

For a salsa that won’t send smoke shooting from your ears, be thorough about removing the seeds from the chiles, and even scraping out the ribs, the hottest part.

This dead-simple walnuts recipe is sweet and savory, which means you can take it in either direction. It’s an amazing sundae topping and would transform an ordinary bowl of oatmeal into a thing of greatness, but you could also serve it on a cheese board or as a condiment for roast pork chops. Choices!

We modified Contramar’s whole-fish method with individual fillets, which are easier to handle—but the flavor is the same!

Translation: Garlic shrimp. Which explains why there’s a clove of garlic for every shrimp in this saucy dish.

This recipe makes more spice mix and chile paste than you’ll need for a single batch of mole. Keep the extras on hand for chili, stews, braises, or another batch of mole!

The tangy dipping sauce is great with pretty much any grilled meat. Keep it on heavy rotation this summer.