Oven dried potato crisps

My new favourite potato thing: oven-dried crisps

Fond though I am of a proper bag of crisps, I don’t mind telling you that I am more than a little excited by these.

Paper-thin slices of potato, soaked in salt and vinegar, then dried to a crisp in the oven.

Yep, that’s dried, not fried.

I’ll grant you that these are not likely to usurp their fried-in-oil cousins anytime soon, but they do make a good case for themselves as a light and crispy snack in their own right. And they’re positively healthy to boot.

There’s a lot to like.

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Oven-Dried Salt ‘N’ Vinegar Crisps

These crisps were the very happy combination of ideas from 2 different bloggers.

I was firstly intrigued by a recipe on 101 Cookbooks which involved grilling slices of potato that were first parboiled in vinegar. Then, over In Jennie’s Kitchen, I spotted some oven-dried slivers of potato and, hey presto, these crisps were born.

The idea couldn’t be simpler.

Take paper-thin slices of potato, soak in salted vinegar for 10 minutes and bake in a very low oven until crisp. If you don’t want vinegared crisps, just soak in salted water instead. If you like, you can bake the crisps without soaking and then sprinkle with some coarse salt, but I like the results better when they are soaked in salted liquid first.

The Summary:

  • Makes around 25g to 35g of crisps & takes approx. 30 min to prep + 45 min to bake

You’ll need:

  • approx. 200g potato (one medium to large spud)
  • 0.75 tsp fine salt
  • 150ml malt or cider vinegar (or use water for plain, salted crisps)

You’ll also need:

  • A mandoline for cutting paper-thin potato slices, plus a couple of large baking sheets (approx. 40cm x 30cm) and parchment paper to line them.

The Steps:

  • Preheat your oven to 120C and line your baking sheets with parchment paper (otherwise the crisps may stick to the baking sheets).
  • Mix the salt with the vinegar (if using) until dissolved or mix with an equivalent amount of water instead.
  • Scrub your potato(es) well and leave unpeeled. Cut into paper-thin slices using a mandoline or similar implement.
  • Place the potato slices in a bowl, pour over the liquid and leave to soak for 10 minutes. The liquid should just cover the slices. If you don’t have quite enough liquid, you can try weighting the slices down lightly using a plate or saucer
  • After soaking, drain the potato slices well and shake off any excess liquid. Lay the slices in a single layer on your baking sheets.
  • Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the baking sheets around, swap the shelves that they’re on and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes until crisp. Ovens, potatoes and slicing thicknesses vary, so check them periodically.
  • Eat on their own or with dips.

The Variations:

  • I have really only begun to experiment with these, so I suspect that the possibilities are endless. Do try varying the liquid you use and the length of time you soak the slices for. Slices soaked for 30 minutes in vinegar were, well, very vinegary, but you might like that. Who knows.
R☆5☆1

Alternatively…

If it’s real crisps you’re after, you could do worse that to seek out a new entrant to the Irish crisp market. I had the opportunity to sample some of Ed O’Donnell’s Tipperary Crisps during the week and, my, but they are worthy of your attention.

O'Donnells Tipperary Crisps

They are naturally appealing for the fact that they use fine, locally sourced ingredients, like Mount Callan cheddar and cider vinegar from Tipperary’s Apple Farm, but mostly they just taste good. The cider vinegar and sea salt flavour I thought an especially fine example of the genre. Here in Ireland, look for them in SuperValu or Centra.