August 15, 2011 | Popular, Vegetables
When zucchini plants start producing, they gain momentum and can take over your garden, your kitchen, and your diet. I’m always trying to think of something new to do with them, and frankly trying to think of ways I’ll enjoy eating them as I’m not much of a fan of plain zucchini. Last week it came to me – if I baked them into chips, I could eat them in place of potato chips – you get that crunchy, salty mouth-feel in a healthier snack.
The first time I went to cooking school Italy, in a little hilltown just north of Rome, we made a fabulous fresh zucchini salad with mint. The zucchini were little tiny things like this – tender with almost no visible seeds in the center. The flowers are still lovely enough to use for another dish as well, making it ideal to harvest at this size.
But every year, because I plant WAY too many zucchini plants, I can’t keep up and my zucchini grow overnight into these huge vegetables. Remember, if they are large, you need to cut out the spongy seeds from the center before cooking.
I selected the most slender long ones to thinly cut into slices for my baked zucchini chips. Since they were slender, the seeds were less of an issue. You’ll need either a very stead hand with your sharp knife or a mandoline to cut them thinly.
Spread them on a baking sheet lined with a silicone liner (or parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray). They can be very close together because they’ll shrink in the oven – just don’t let them overlap. Spray very lightly with olive oil or canola oil spray over the top and sprinkle with salt. You could season with other spices as well at this point, but I wanted a clean fresh chip.
Be careful not to over salt your baked zucchini chips – when they shrink down they’ll have a more concentrated taste. Bake at your oven’s lowest setting until crisp. I did mine at 175 F for a tad over 2 hours – they actually could have gone another 30 minutes for a totally crisp texture.
Remember, baked zucchini chips shrink so much in the drying process that one medium zucchini ends up being about 1 serving of chips, so plan accordingly. Store in a covered container – that is, if you can keep your hands off them and actually have any left to store!
| Baked Zucchini Chips |
|
Category: Appetizer
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 10 mins
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini (long and thin), sliced very thinly
- cooking spray
- sea salt
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Lay zucchini slices on baking sheets and spray top of slices very lightly with cooking spray; sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake at your oven’s lowest temperature (150-200 F is ideal) until completely crisp, about 2-3 hours. Let cool on baking sheet then store in a covered container at room temperature.
Notes
These chips are crispiest when eaten straight from the oven. Once they cool, and over time, they become slightly chewy again, so eat them warm!
WordPress Recipe Plugin and Microformatting by EasyRecipe
Love this idea!
Love this Idea! I love fried zucchini but these would be much healthier and you still get the crunch instead of fried breading! Thanks!!
OMG! These were soooooooooooo goood..Was eating them right out the oven!! Healthy and good is always a BIG plus!!
OMG! I made these today and they were delicious!
I’m so happy, I’m on a diet and this helped with the chip craving 
Totally making these again. THANKS!
I looked at several different recipes that said they were chips, but were actually just baked thick slices – not chips. Your recipe was actually “chips” and well worth the search! Thank you so much for sharing!
I accidentally overcooked mine, however what I could salvage was amazing! Why have I not heard of these before?! All the times I could have been eating this healthy and guilt free snack instead of having a packet of chips!!! I will definitely be making these more often, thank you for the recipe.
I can’t wait to try this, one thing i miss in my “healthy eating” is the crunch of chips. I will have to try it with salsa. Thanks foe the post.
[...] I started browsing the internet and came across a baked zucchini chips recipe. [...]