Homemade Spicy Potato Chips
There’s a certain potato chip company that touts their product as saying that it’s impossible to eat just one. I’m going to up the ante a bit with these Homemade Spicy Chips and say that, for these chips, it’s impossible to not eat the whole bowl.
That’s why I call them my Whole Bowl Chips. However many chips are in the bowl… that’s how many you will eat! Leftovers are almost impossible to imagine.
Read on and bust out the fryer (or just a large pot) and make some delicious homemade chips for your next party!
Table of contents
How to Slice Potatoes for Chips
I’ll try to break this too you as gently as possible. If you really want to make homemade chips, you need to pick up a mandolin slicer.
Can you slice hundreds of paper-thin slices of potatoes with a good knife? Maybe. But you will hate your life and unless you have sick knife skills, you’ll probably screw it up.
With a slicer though, you can slice a few pounds of potatoes in about a minute.
Just remember to use the safety guard so you don’t give yourself a mandolin manicure.
Possibly more important than how you slice the chips is what you do right after you slice them. Potatoes, especially Russet potatoes, have a lot of starch on them and for best chips you need to rinse the starch off. It’s an annoying step, but important!
I rinse them in cold water. I think this is important because it washes some of the starch off the potatoes which will help them not stick together when they are frying.
Of course, now your potatoes are wet so you also need to dry them a bit before frying.
They don’t have to be perfect, but I just work in batches and pull a few handfuls out of the water and let them drain on a paper towel before moving them to the fryer.
If they are too wet, your oil will splatter all over the place and it will take longer to get them crispy. Also, it’s dangerous to put something super wet into HOT oil.
Can’t Stop Spicy Seasoning
Anything fried is pretty addictive, especially potatoes.
But this seasoning moves them out of the realm of addictive and moves them into the realm of narcotic.
The seasoning mix has the perfect mix of spicy and sweet that will make you want the whole bowl and don’t be surprised if you want to actually lick the bowl.
You might not need all the seasoning for one batch of chips, but you can just keep the extra in a plastic bag. It’s great on popcorn also. If you don’t have dried thyme, you can use Italian seasoning. The key parts are the brown sugar and the paprika. You can use spicy paprika or add a pinch of cayenne for even more kick.
How to Fry the Chips
Once you have your taters sliced, rinsed, and dried, there’s only one thing left to do: Fry them!
Here are my chip frying tips:
- Make sure you have a large pot and at least two quarts of oil. If you use less than that, your oil will lose a lot of its heat and it’ll take forever to re-heat it in between batches.
- Please, use a deep fry thermometer. Ideally your oil will hover around 350 degrees. More ideally, you won’t burn your kitchen down.
- Work in small batches. You want kind of a single layer of chips on the oil.
- The chips will be done when they are no longer bubbling. That means the water is mostly evaporated and they will be pretty crispy once they cool. This will take around 6-8 minutes, but could take as long as 10 minutes depending on how many chips you are frying.
Once the chips are done, scoop them out and let them drain in a bowl with a paper towel.
Season them immediately with a few big pinches of the seasoning.
A Word on Air Fryers
Okay. So can you use an air fryer for these chips? Yes. Sure. But it’s going to take a long time. You will have to lay them out in an even layer in the tiny air fryer basket and fry them in a million batches, spraying them with oil so they get crispy.
Frankly, even though I have an air fryer, I find that frying chips traditionally is the way to go here.
How to Store the Chips
This was my first of many chips.
If you aren’t serving these right away, it’s best to store them at room temperature, uncovered. If you put them in a bag or something they will make condensation and get a bit soggy. Eat them within a day or two of frying them, which I guarantee you will not be a problem.
Seasoning Alternatives for Potato Chips
If for some reason you don’t want to try my amazing seasoning, there are other options!
- Try my bacon dust recipe on the chips.
- Keep it simple with salt and pepper or a dash of vinegar (vinegar powder is best).
- Use powdered ranch seasoning for a ranch version
- Use some taco seasoning for a Tex-Mex potato chip
“Whole Bowl” Spicy Potato Chips Recipe
Homemade Spicy Chips
- Serves:
- Serves 4.
- Prep Time:
-
15 mins
- Cook Time:
-
45 mins
- Total Time:
- 1 hr
Helpful Equipment:
These homemade chips are so crispy and addictive thanks to a spicy-sweet coating. They remind me of Zapps chips! I call them my Whole Bowl Chips because you’ll want to eat the whole bowl!
Ingredients
Spicy-Sweet Seasoning:
Show Directions
1) Mix together spice mixture.
2) Wash potatoes well and slice them thinly with a mandoline slicer. Add sliced potatoes to a big bowl of cold water to rinse off starch.
3) Heat oil to 350 degrees. Use a thermometer to make sure it is the right temperature.
4) Working in small batches, remove a handful of slices and dry them on a few paper towels. Then carefully add them to the fryer, sliding in one potato chip at a time to avoid sticking.
5) Fry chips for about 6 minutes until they are slightly brown and not bubbling. That means all the water is evaporated!
6) Scoop out chips and let them drain on a paper towel. Season immediately with seasoning mix.
7) Repeat until all the chips are fried.
The chips will get more crispy as they cool.