Crispy Baked Potato Chips Recipe

Why is it that every baked potato chip recipe out there promises "chips", but what you get are sad, floppy potato slices, or hard discs that taste like what you find in a box of dry scalloped potatoes (you know you swiped one from the box when you were a kid when your mom wasn't looking, too), or even worse, a combination of the two?

In my quest to make everything from scratch, I knew there had to be a way to make real, crispy potato chips in the oven. And so, after a lot of thinking and a little trial and error, I found my perfect recipe.

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Crispy Baked Potato Chips Recipe
by Twirlerica

Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients
4 russet potatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
1⁄2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 ̊. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Meanwhile, peel potatoes, and carefully slice into 1/8” slices using a mandolin. Let sit in a bowl of cold water while water comes to a boil.

Drain potatoes and drop into boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Drain, and immediately place in a large bowl of ice water. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, then drain.

Lay out blanched potato slices on paper towels to dry for 5 minutes, blotting if necessary. Toss in oil and salt, then lay out in a single layer on prepared pan, using two pans if necessary (do not let edges overlap). Sprinkle with pepper.

Bake at 350 ̊ for 25 minutes, or until edges just start to brown. Turn off oven and let sit inside for 15-20 minutes, or until completely dried out. Finish with more salt to taste.

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The Details

Need a little more info? Let's break it down into detail.

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So, why does this recipe work?

Adding the blanching step serves two purposes: 1. It jump-starts the cooking process, and 2. it pulls excess starch. That starch is what hinders crispiness, and gives dry potatoes that weird, plastic-y hardness. You may even notice a gel-like substance in the bottom of the bowl of ice water after letting the potatoes soak - that's starch, and that's a good thing.

The other key here is significantly dropping the oven temperature from a typical baked potato chip recipe and extending the cooking time. 350˚ is plenty to finish cooking the chips all the way through (especially since we boiled them for a couple minutes to start), and it will help them cook more evenly. The 15-20 minute dry-out time inside the turned-off oven will pull any remaining moisture from the chips and give them a nice golden color.

For seasoning, salt is really all you need, but these are essentially a blank canvas for whatever flavors you like. Try tossing in a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs, black pepper, garlic powder, even grated parmesan cheese, or make your own barbecue seasoning with a blend of smoked paprika, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, salt and pepper.