Breathe Magazine

As you begin to live a greener lifestyle, one thing that you’ll notice time and time again, is a reduced need for processed foods. Processed foods come with a bunch of packaging and it takes energy to make them in huge factories and then deliver them to a store near you. Learning to make your own snack foods like cookies, chips, and granola means that your grocery list is reduced significantly to include mostly whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains.

This recipe is simple and though not free of fat, every ingredient is organic and there are only a few ingredients to start. I like to make my own chips for the same reason that I like to make my own ice cream. Both foods are calorie dense and when we mindlessly indulge in them we tend to forget what goes into making them in the first place. If you take the time to mindfully make and eat foods, you’re less likely to overdo it.  Potato chips are deep fried. They should be considered a treat and eaten as such. Sitting down to eat a whole bag of potato chips is a lot harder to do when you made them yourself and you know the oil that’s involved. What’s more, these homemade chips are so delicious, crisp on the outside and warm and chewy on the inside.

The key to these chips is to bake them for a few minutes ahead of time. You can get away with just deep frying them, but if you bake them first they are more likely to be cooked all the way through and not burned on the outside. Use sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to really bring out the flavors. Mandolins are great for jobs like this but if you don’t have one, no worries, just take your time and cut them very thinly. You can save the remaining peanut oil afterwards and use it as many as five more times.

Homemade Potato Chips
2 large organic Yukon potatoes
2 cups organic peanut oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper seasoned to taste

Method

1. Use a mandolin to thinly slice the potatoes. Be careful not to sacrifice your fingers once you get down to the end of the potato.

2. Spread the potatoes out onto a cookie sheet. Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for about 7 minutes.

3. Heat up 2 inches of peanut oil in a deep pot to about 350 degrees.

4. Drop a few potatoes pieces in at a time. Be careful not to crowd the pot. Watch carefully and then flip the potatoes. It should only take two minutes or so on each side.

5. Place them on paper towels to drain the oil and season to taste immediately.