A few years ago a friend of mine taught me how to make potato chips in a microwave. I thought she was kidding because I couldn’t imagine a microwave producing crispy chips. After cooking them for 5 minutes they were done, crispy, and wonderful!
Ideally, a mandoline works best to cut the potatoes paper thin. If you don’t have one you can use a vegetable peeler or slice the potato very thinly with a knife. Cooking one batch doesn’t yield that many chips, but its a great snack-sized amount for 1 person. If you’re up for a fun project and have a potato lying around, why not make some homemade potato chips? Or if you’re like me and need to pack a snack for your kids lunch, voila! <– You’re the hero of the day! Enjoy!
Homemade Potato Chips
Ingredients:
1 russet potato
Non stick spray
Parchment paper or glass plate
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the inside of your microwave. Carefully slice1/3 of a potato into paper thin slices using a mandoline, vegetable peeler, or sharp knife. You don’t want to cut any more than this because any extra slices laying around waiting to be cooked will turn pink in color. Completely coat the parchment paper with non-stick spray and place the potato slices in a single layer. Spray the potato slices with non stick spray and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn off the rotating option on your microwave and cook for 4-5 minutes. Cooking times will vary based on the strength and power of your microwave. Some chips may turn very dark brown. Ideally you want them light and golden. Also in my microwave some of the chips on the outside layer didn’t cook as quick as the ones towards the middle, so you may need to remove the ones in the middle and cook the outer ones for an additional minute. Repeat the process until you’ve used your entire potato. Enjoy!
**WARNING** Some people have had their microwaves short cut, plates shatter, and potatoes go up in flames. I’ve never had this experience before, however, please use caution and make sure you use microwavable plates.
**UPDATE** I’ve made several batches of this over the weekend. If you don’t have parchment paper you can easily use a glass plate. If you don’t have non-stick spray you can brush the parchment paper or glass plate with vegetable oil.. lay the potatoes down, and give the potatoes a light brush over again with oil. Also, the less crowded your plate and parchment paper is, the less problem you will have with the outside chips not cooking as quick as the ones in the middle.
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Riot Gear:
i wouldnt know why but i have to ask, you had put oil on the plate or on both sides of the chips right? Because even if you did im sure they would stick anyways (past experience cooking). I’m using baking paper with a non-stick layer on one side.
Alice:
I’ll try those and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.
Why do you have to turn the rotation option off in the microwave?
John: If the plate whether it is glass or ceramic is microwave safe, than it really doesn’t matter which one you use.
Tim: If you’re using parchment paper to cover the entire surface of the microwave… by turning off the rotating option, your paper and chips will stay in one place. Otherwise it will turn and your paper and chips will fold onto each other.
Dave: No I don’t lather on the non-stick spray. I just spray an light even mist over the paper and then the potato slices.
Josh: Sorry to hear your plate exploded. As long as the plate is microwave safe, it should work fine since you’re not heating the potatoes for that long.
I tried this tonight. It would not work for me. The chips never cooked. The first batch was super thin. I cooked for 5 minutes. Nothing. 5 more minutes, nothing. 10 minutes more, a few chips got half crisp and half uncooked. I then tried thicker chips. Same result. I thought, “My microwave must be broken.” Nope. It boiled a cup of water in 1 minute. However, the potatoes were always cool to the touch.
Thoughts???
Patrick: I don’t know what happened. I’ve made several batches of these this weekend and didn’t have any problem. I did discover though.. if you don’t overcrowd the paper or plate with slices, more of them will get crispier in less time. Have you tried baking just a few slices (like 5) to see how your microwave handled them? Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you. Sorry
I gave it a go and it worked perfectly. I left the rotate on and it still worked fine. Thanks for the idea!
Thank you for this simple recipe! I made two batches this evening and they were delicious. I found that since I was slicing by hand, 6 minutes was perfect.
Also I just cut the parchment in a circle to fit the glass of my microwave since I couldn’t figure out how to keep it from turning. That worked perfectly. It turned and they still got brown and crisp.
The only problem I see is that they are so delicious I have to make sure I don’t make too much!
Thanks again!
Sounds fun and delicious!
I’m actually wondering what these would taste like if I used zucchini instead of potatoes. Definitely going to give it a try tomorrow.
Alice is right about oiling the plate. I tried to make a batch a bit lighter and wound up semi-permanently affixing the potato slices to a glass plate. Use the oil.
This is pretty amazing, I will have to try this and review them at my site!
Will this also work in an oven instead of a microwave?
I have a glass baking dish that fit into my microwave… The first batch that I made burned because I used cooking spray and was therefore not able to evenly coat the baking dish and potatoes. For the second batch, I used a brush to coat both the baking dish and potatoes. This batch turned out perfectly! The trick is to evenly apply the oil.
Hello Alice
I have a plate sitting next to me with a batch of these crispy chips, my bil’s authentic homemade polish sausage, steamed asparagus, a lightly toasted slice of 12 grain bread with Wisconsin butter and a slice of mild cheddar…Ok, that was delish, now I’ll share what I learned about the microwave chips…I used my largest Corelle plate sprayed with a PAM type cooking spray. I played with 6 batches (2 medium Red Potatoes), and shared with my husband. I swapped out between 2 plates, so while one plate cooled the other was being zapped. I also stopped spraying after the second time, they were fine. I noticed that the chips start to brown right around the 4 min. mark, so don’t get antsy and take them out too soon… although I did continue to zap one batch for another 40 seconds or so. I did not oil the tops and because the salt won’t stick I salted the chips before they went in to the microwave. I cut thinly but didn’t go too crazy making them paper thin. My Wolfgang Puck knives are the best, and they sliced as well as a mandolin would I imagine
Thank you, it was really fun and I’ll make them A LOT!
Blessings,
Pam
“I’m in shape…round is a shape.”
I am trying this as we speak. I’ve got hand blenders, the Foodsaver and some random stuff I forgot I even owned scattered across the kitchen floor in my frantic search for the mandolin. I cannot even WAIT to find out if it works.
HOLY CRAP!!! IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I’ve tried stuff from websites/magazines/tv shows that DO NOT WORK. (which I was entirely expecting to happen again) I am going to tell everyone I know about the genius of this website based solely on this single post. Good, good work.
So Alice, I tried the chips again with non-stick spray this time, and guess what, it didn’t stick this time. This recipe is fast and easy to make. Thanks!!!!
I have made microwave potato chips several times. To keep them from coming out so oily, and still keep them from sticking to the plate, I use one of these brilliant gadgets: http://bit.ly/silpat
Tried this and it worked, nice golden brown potato chips with a really nice potato flavor, but in the end, too much work and mess for only 12 potato chips
I love potato chips, but avoid them because of the fat and calories. The baked ones you buy in the store, but don’t taste good. I can’t wait to try these!
How about serve it with vanilla ice cream?
Brillant! I tried and adapted your method and blogged about it: http://www.girlinfogcity.com/home-made-microwave-potato-chips-crisps-my-way/
I found that if you dried the potato slices with a towel, the potatoes cooked faster and more evenly. Patrick – were your potato slices very wet? That might have contributed to them not cooking. I also tried different thicknesses of potato.
I just made these, hmmm…came out very crispy, but they did stick to parchment – i just peeled them off (might have eaten some parchment). They taste very different to bought potato crisps. But still very nice, thanks.
I don’t have a microwave but this kinda makes me want one ;P
I know we are all looking to save money but if you want ot eliminate ALL the hassel of sprays & paper buy on eof these Potato Chip makers for teh microwave. I use it & it is flauless & easy. Here is one of many links.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12872
Those were really good, and EASY! Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
I have had some of those but I never made them like that.
Great recipe! I’ve used baking paper and cooked slices for 3 minutes and 30 seconds at 900 Watts. Perfect! I’ve also wrote a post on my blog: http://www.ferrero.org/2010/03/patate.html (in italian).
I add another step and dry my potato slices on paper towel before placing them on the parchment paper. Dry items crisp better than wet ones. Also, I use popcorn salt which is finer than table salt. These things are wonderful!
What a great idea. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this before. Now I have a project to try out over the weekend!
I am thinking of trying this with Sweet Potatoes and Plaintains too.
Be careful here – this has just killed my mcrowave. Some microwaves don’t like running with nothing in, which causes arcing. In my case , a number of slivers of potato clearly don’t have enough mass to absorb the radiation. I would stand & watch for a while to check this isn’t happening. I put mine in & carried on with what I was doing. I’m hoping it’s a thermal cutout & that it will spring to life when it has cooled down, but it doesn’t smell too hopeful…
I just made these and they are wonderful… I can envision so many different flavors… thank you for the idea!
DO NOT TRY! i tried this i did everything she said i put the potatoes on a plate i oiled it first then oiled the potatoes about 2 mins into cooking 1 of them burst into flames and the plate shattered,chips are not worth my house burning down and a plate being destroyed.
Fantastic! Thank you for posting this, I will try it this weekend.
For years I have made what we call “crispy potatoes” . . . which are tangentially similar to your low-fat microwave chips recipe.
1. Spray microwave plate with Pam
2. Peel a medium-sized potato
3. Keep peeling the potato onto the Pam-prepped plate until the potato is in thin slices on your plate . . . Fiddle with it to get a fairly even covering of the whole plate. You’re looking for a RANDOM-like overlapped tiled effect.
4. Season with kosher salt (optional: pepper, good quality onion powder, and/or fresh rosemary.)
5. Put in microwave and zap at high for about 5-7 minutes
6. Remove from microwave and lift with a spatula to allow steam to escape.
7. Put back in microwave for another 2-3 minutes
8. Repeat step 6 and flip over the potato “leather”
9. Repeat step 7 and watch for over-doneness.
10. When your potato crisp is all or mostly crispy and your desired of brownness, it’s done.
11. Enjoy!
I am going to get a mandoline today!!!
wow! This is a simply genial idea.
I have just started exploring what my microwave can do.
So far, I successfully do scrambled eggs (so much healthier, because they don’t even need butter), fresh (real) pop-corn (seasoned with spices) and home assembled oatmeal (not the packaged sugary stuff).
I finally got around to trying this!
Considering my history of trying to make home made potato chips (one try involved more than a quart of oil boiling out of my dutch oven and onto my stove, counters, floor, etc.), I consider it a win any time I have even a small amount of success without horrific property damage or grievous bodily harm. So this recipe was a win for me.
The first thing I’d recommend is to study the photos that Alice posted with the recipe. I had copied the text and printed it so I’d have it while in the kitchen and I didn’t take enough note of the photos which would have helped in at least one major way – slicing the potatoes.
So get out your mandolin, slice off the thinnest “chip” that you can, and then slice the rest thinner. My first slices were way too thick. After the whole experience, when I came back to this post, I saw how paper thin Alice’s slices were and they were like what I finally settled on. If you can’t see through them, they’re not thin enough.
My microwave also needed 8-10 minutes but then again, I cut a piece of parchment to fit the entire floor of the microwave and filled it end to end with chips. I just noticed that in one of Alice’s updates, she indicates that using fewer chips and not filling the paper completely will reduce cooking time so I’ll try that next time.
Also, don’t over do it on the cooking spray – I did the first few tries and it kept the chips mushy. Where there was less oil, the chip crisped up nicely.
In the end, I had a nice little pile of thin, crispy, chips with great potato flavor. I just wish I had a microwave the size of my kitchen table because making chips 10 or 15 at a time in 8 minute batches is too painful considering their incredibly morish nature.
By the way, I also tried it with sweet potatoes with not much luck. I’m guessing the added starch in the russets has something to do with the viability of the microwave method and it just didn’t seem to work with the sweet potatoes.
These are how my homemade chips turned out: http://whiterabbitisme.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/homemade-potato-chips/
yummy!
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I’m a 16 year old guy almost absolutely clueless about cooking, but I did manage to make this.
Alright, I didn’t have the paper you mentioned, so I placed the potatoes on the rotating glass plate and they stuck to it. I managed to scratch out some pieces and they were awesome.
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