Root Veggie Kettle Chips ~ You know those expensive bags of specialty chips, the ones that are about 90% air when you open them up? Well, here’s your chance to even the score, these homemade veggie chips are fabulous, and you can make as many as you like!
So little effort, so much fun. So fabulous I can’t even tell you. While I was writing this post I had to keep getting up to grab another handful of these, the photos were driving me crazy.
I scrubbed (no need to peel) and thinly sliced some golden beet, turnip, carrot, parsnip and two shades of sweet potato on the 1/8 setting of my mandoline slicer. I really could have used some red beets and purple potatoes for a full spectrum of color, but in the spirit of Minimal Monday I went with what I had.
You’re looking for nice uniform ‘chip sized’ slices, so pick your vegetables accordingly—you’ll want slightly larger carrots and parsnips, but smaller sized beets and turnips. Look for slender, evenly shaped sweet potatoes.
I love my mandoline! I get a huge pile of slices in just a few seconds, and I was ready before my oil heated up.
I quickly fried them in a couple of inches of 325 degree vegetable oil, drained them and showered them with sea salt.
Fab u lous.
Tools you will need: The temperature of the oil is critical to crispy success, so you will need an inexpensive thermometer to clip on the side of your pot. You can find them at the grocery store, usually in the baking aisle. You will also need a mandoline slicer, which range in cost from inexpensive to moderate in price. You will not be able to slice the veggies thin enough with a regular knife, sorry!
Notes:
- I found that the beets and turnips took slightly longer to get crisp than the others, I think mine were slightly too large. The paler sweet potatoes turned brown when done, but they were beautifully crisp. All in all, I found that the sweet potatoes and the carrots were the easiest to fry and became the crispest chips. Next time I may try 1/4 inch veggies with a slightly higher temp oil to see what happens.
- Pick up oil when it’s on sale, and save the empty bottles, you can fill them with the used oil for easy disposal, as large amounts of cooking oil shouldn’t be put down the drain.
I highly recommend these!
Root Veggie Kettle Chips
Ingredients
- Assorted root vegetables, carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, beets, sweet potatoes
- Salt
- 1 quart vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
- Pour vegetable oil in a wide, heavy bottomed pot. Heat over medium heat until it reaches 325°F.
- Meanwhile, scrub your root vegetables and cut off the stem end. No need to peel, unless you want to.
- Using a mandoline slicer set on the 1/8 inch setting, slice your veggies. Keep the varieties separate, you will want to fry one variety at a time since they will vary slightly in their cooking times.
- Set up a station where you can drain the veggies when they come out of the oil. This can be a cooling rack set over a baking sheet, or a baking sheet lined with paper towels.
- When the oil is at temperature, drop slices of one kind at a time into the oil. Don't crowd the oil too much or the temperature will drop. Lightly stir them around for about 2 minutes, or until they become slightly browned and curl up a bit. Remove them to drain and start on the next batch. This is a learn as you go process, you will probably get some soggy chips along the way, but eventually you'll get the temperature and timing right. You can always crisp them in the oven later.
- Season with salt to taste
- Don't cover with plastic wrap or the chips will get soggy.
Nutrition
These homemade veggie look awesome!!! I love the expensie ones that come in an inflated bag. Do you have any advise on making them in an air fryer?
I haven’t tried the air fryer yet Karsi, if you have one, let me know how it goes! If it can do these, I may buy one 🙂
These look delicious!! Dumb question but how long would they keep – assuming you can keep everybody away from them? 🙂 Do you have advice for storing them, say, for a party in a few days?
These keep their crunch really well, just like regular potato chips. You can store them in an airtight container, or in a baggie, for instance. A paper bag will work, too.
Thanks for the mandoline slicer link! I want to use what the pros use.
Carole’s Chatter is collecting links using parsnip and/or pumpkin today. This is a nice one. I do hope you pop over and link in. This is the link . Cheers