You can make a bootable installer for intel with your M1 Mac
Apple’s Support Article has the details, and you can watch Mac Geek Gab 893 For more information.
Check It Out: Create A Bootable Installer For Intel With M1 Mac
Create A Bootable Installer For Intel With M1 Mac
By any chance were you holding down the shift key when trying to boot into Recovery Mode?
Option-Shift-Command-R will give you the OS the machine shipped with but Option-Command-R will give you the latest OS the machine can use.
Thanks, @Kodac! We followed-up in the most recent episode with exactly those commands to help guide people in the right direction.