I tried a new recipe last night: Sweet Potato Chips. We’ve been having delightfully cool weather this week, so I wasn’t concerned about turning on the oven.
I sliced the potatoes using our mandoline (careful to not slice off the tips of my fingers. I don’t think Heather Finger Chips would taste good, no matter how much coconut oil and salt you put on them). For the first batch, I laid down parchment paper as the recipe instructs, laid out a single layer of sliced potatoes, brushed coconut oil on both sides and salted both sides. For the second batch, I put the potatoes directly on a cookie sheet and oiled and salted them. I put both pans in the oven at the same time.
The chips placed directly on the cookie sheet crisped up MUCH better than the chips on the parchment paper. However, they had a tendency to stick to the pan, making them difficult to flip over. So for the 3rd and 4th batches, I tossed the parchment paper, sprayed the pans with coconut oil cooking spray (which is really cheap at Trader Joes, FYI), and tossed them in the oven. These batches turned out MUCH better – very crispy and pretty easy to flip over during the cooking process.
After the chips crisped up in the oven, I slid them onto a wire rack to cool. The original batch that I made on the parchment paper seemed really under cooked once they cooled, so I put them back on a sheet and put them back in the oven. They crisped right up, and turned out fantastic.
For my last batch, I added some chili powder and garlic salt to the chips. Very good!
I had to cook each batch about 3-5 minutes longer than the recipe called for. You have to keep a pretty close eye on these suckers. The potatoes are sliced very thin, so they can go from perfect to burnt within a few seconds.
While this recipe is kind of a lot of work, we’ll definitely be making these again. And by we, I mean me. 🙂 I’m not sure they end up being that much cheaper than Terra chips once you consider the costs of the food and the time, but these are much better for you. Terra chips are cooked in canola oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil.
I stored the leftovers in a Pyrex dish, and they are a little chewy this morning. Maybe if I tossed them in the oven for a few minutes, they would firm up again? If anyone has suggestions for how to store these to keep them crispy, let me know!
