My secret is basically paying attention to different uses of chilis. Hot sauce, chili oil, chili powder, whole chilis, and chili flakes can all provide heat, but they do it in different ways.

Hot sauce also provides acid, which is good for some things. It’s obviously also water-based, so it dissolves into aqueous solutions.

Chili oil can incorporate other flavors that can’t be extracted in aqueous solutions, and it won’t affect any crispy or crunchy elements the way hot sauce would.

Chili power, when labeled “chili powder” is often underwhelming (this is highly dependent on region/culture as different peppers are used in different places). Cayenne is obviously good for heat, smoky paprika is really good for any time you want a little smoke flavor. Anything that actually calls out the specific pepper can be great.

Whole chilis are great. Specifically, I really like to use dried Mexican chilis in different blends. I’ll also use fresh peppers, but they provide different things to the food.

Chili flakes have a similar problem to the powder where if they dont tell you what type, it’s probably not great. I specifically like ancho chili flakes and Aleppo pepper flakes, both of which typically dont have the seeds, which I find unpleasant.