Baked Potato Chips

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This is an easy from-scratch snack recipe. Snacks are always on my grocery list, but don’t assume they are the packaged ones. I like to make some of them from scratch. Then I have full control over the ingredients to make them healthier and flavor them how I want.

The spice mixture on these chips is so tasty. Salt and pepper aren’t enough. I love to include other seasonings to make potato chips that have personality.

No air fryer is needed for these oven-baked potato chips. Unless I discover more space in my kitchen, I have no plans to add another small appliance. And you can get a batch of crisp chips from your oven.

The Best Potatoes for Chips

Picking the right potato is critical to getting crispy chips. You want potatoes that are high in starch and low in moisture. They will brown and give you that crunchy texture you crave and expect from a bowl of chips. The best potatoes are russets or yukon golds.

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Potatoes: As mentioned, use russet potatoes or yukon gold potatoes because they have more starch and less moisture than other varieties. This will help the potatoes crisp up as they bake in the oven.
• Spices: The raw potato slices are seasoned in a blend of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper before they bake.
• Oil: Along with the spices, I stir the potatoes in olive oil.
• Flaky sea salt: With their big flakes, Maldon or another sea salt is perfect to give that final sprinkle of something on the chips before you eat them.

Optional Additions

You can also season the potatoes with:

• Finely grated Parmesan cheese
• Truffle salt or another fancy flavored finishing salt (instead of standard flaky salt)
• Fresh herbs like minced chives or chopped parsley

How To Make Baked Potato Chips

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F with the racks positioned in the center. Grease 2 baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray.

1. Make the spice mixture. Stir together the paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.

2. Slice the potatoes. Since you need to cut them very thinly, a mandolin will come in handy to do this quickly. If not, you can use a sharp knife to slice the potatoes into rounds that are 1/16-inch thick. Pat the excess moisture off the potato slices with a kitchen towel.

3. Stir the spices and oil into the potatoes. I like to use my hands, so every surface is well seasoned.

4. Put the potatoes on the sheet pans. They can be close together, but they should not overlap. Bake them for 8-10 minutes one side. They should start to brown. Then flip them over and give them another 3-4 minutes.  Sprinkle the chips with flaky sea salt before serving.

Why Aren’t All the Chips Ready at Once?

You have to keep an eye on your oven. You may need to take some chips off the pans sooner than others. There are a few reasons why it is tricky to have them all ready at the same time:

• Potatoes have different amounts of moisture. No matter if you are using the same type of potato, no two are identical. The best you can do is dry them off as you are cutting them.
• Not all your chips will be the same thickness. No offense to your slicing skills, it is impossible for them to be the exact identical thickness. To a point, you need to embrace the rustic look of homemade chips. They will all be different.
• Your oven temperature is not consistent. There are always hot and cold spots in ovens. This means that some chips will be ready in less time and others take more. Again, as long as you hang around the oven with the light on, you will be good to go.

Serving Homemade Potato Chips

These chips taste best the day they are baked. And they are really good if you eat them warm. You can store leftovers in an airtight container for a couple days, but they won’t be as crisp as when they are freshly baked.

I love these chips as a snack, but you can also serve them as a side dish with Black Bean Burgers or even Roasted Tomato Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.