Of course when I checked our little potato garden bag and found three huge sweet potatoes, I wasn’t thinking, “Dinner!” I was thinking yummy salty zesty sweet snack RIGHT NOW! Because that’s how I roll… I see something yummy, and I start creating… and usually I create whatever pops into my mind. So yes, Harvest Sweet Potato Chips were dancing around in my mind, and like any foodie artist, usually the image won’t stop until you’ve finally baked it!
I decided to try some sweet and zesty spices on these sweet potato chips. A little brown sugar for sweet, some chili powder, garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika and onion powder for the zesty part. These crispy chips provide lots of flavor in each bite, and they are a healthy snack to boot! We raised the sweet potatoes in our garden so these potato chips are all organic. They make a great lunchtime snack or a perfect side for fish and chips dinner. Your kids will love them and you’ll love that your kids are eating something all natural and healthy.
If you are looking for a fun gardening project to teach your kids about growing organic food, try growing sweet potatoes! All you need is a large pot or grow bag, some potting soil and then the next time you buy sweet potatoes for dinner, look for organic sweet potatoes and try to find a few with little roots or spuds on the outside. Cut the spud off the end, plant it in the soil and keep it moderately watered. Roots will form and then you will see a green vine. The magic is happening below the soil!
After a few months, you’ll start to notice the green vine may turn brown and appear to be dying… but really, this is your signal that the potatoes have formed under the soil. Some gardeners dig up the entire plant, I keep mine going and the green vine reappears. When the vine turns brown, you can dig out the soil and place it in a container nearby (to replace afterwards), and then keep digging until you’ve hit gold 😉 sweet potatoes! I always turn into a kid and get a little giddy when I find potatoes in my potato bag. This time, I found 3 HUGE sweet potatoes!
Of course after all that hard work, only one thing came to mind, CHIPS! And this chip recipe is super simple and delivered us enough chips for a couple days of snacking. You can’t go wrong with a healthy snack as your reward for all your hard work in the garden. I’m just sayin’.
There are a few tricks to making the perfect chip and because we are friends, I’m going to share them with you. First of all, you need to slice the potatoes super thin, so get a sharp knife or a mandolin chopper. Second step is to soak the sweet potatoes in water and a little cornstarch for a few minutes. This helps to remove excess starches and helps you achieve a crisper chip. Next, you’ll want to lay out the chips and dry them with paper towels. And line a baking sheet with foil and place an oven baking/cooling rack on top of the pan. This allows the excess oil to drop away from the chip. In this case, I placed the chips directly onto the foil lined pan because I knew I would be using some of these chips for sides to our dinners (so they are a little softer), but you can always crisp them up in the toaster oven whenever you want a snack (and they are sooooooo good warm!)
You’ll want to use a high burn point oil like grapeseed oil to bake these. And if you love seasonings for your chips, then go for it… any combination of sweet, zesty, or salty works! If you add a little cornstarch to your seasoning recipe this will make your sweet potato chips more crispy. Bake these yummy chips at 425 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, flipping them at the 10 minute mark and watching them carefully at the 20 minute mark. Because they are so thin, it’s easy for them to burn!
The final result is a healthy, organic perfectly crisp sweet potato chip. I get a hankering for these chips just writing about them! If you are in love with these chips and would like more recipes like this one, please follow me on Pinterest or Instagram!
Here’s the recipe:
Harvest Sweet Potato Chips Recipe
INGREDIENTS
(For the Chips)
2-3 Large Sweet Potatoes
1 Tbsp Corn Starch
1/4 cup Grapeseed Oil
(For the Seasoning)
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Chili Powder (try the Trader Joes Chili Lime Seasoning if you can)
1 Tsp Onion Powder
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/8 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Pepper
1 Tsp Sea Salt
2 Tsp Cornstarch
INSTRUCTIONS
Wash the sweet potatoes and cut them into very thin slices. Place the slices into a bowl and fill with warm water and the tablespoon of cornstarch. Let them soak for 15 minutes.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees and line two baking sheets with foil. If you want crispy chips, place an oven safe baking/cooling rack on top of each pan.
Prepare the seasoning by mixing together the brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, paprika, salt, pepper and cornstarch.
Remove the potatoes from the water and dry with paper towels. Place 1/4 grapeseed oil into a bowl and mix in the potato slices until they are covered in oil. Place each slice onto the rack. Sprinkle with seasoning.
Bake for 20-30 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, flip the slices. Bake another 10 minutes and start to watch the potatoes carefully at this point. Because they are thin, they can burn easily. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, but the chips are very yummy when they are warm! Enjoy!
-Mandy Gatlin
SWEETIE PIE AND CUPCAKES FAVORITE PRODUCTS
