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!
- 1 russet potato
- Non stick spray
- Parchment paper or glass plate
- Salt and Pepper
- 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.
Erik says
Those were really good, and EASY! Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Steve Camp says
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
Sasa says
I don’t have a microwave but this kinda makes me want one ;P
Girl says
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.
Turtle says
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.
Ice Cream vanilla says
How about serve it with vanilla ice cream?
Kristi Rimkus says
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!
Michael says
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
Scott says
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
The Art of Doing Stuff says
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.
The Art of Doing Stuff says
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.
Riot Gear says
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!!!!
Pam says
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.”
Mike says
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.
Annabel says
Will this also work in an oven instead of a microwave?
David C says
This is pretty amazing, I will have to try this and review them at my site!
Zara says
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.
ShutterCat says
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.
Neece says
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!
Shawn says
I gave it a go and it worked perfectly. I left the rotate on and it still worked fine. Thanks for the idea!
Tim says
Why do you have to turn the rotation option off in the microwave?
alice says
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 🙁
Patrick says
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???
alice says
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.
papawow says
That’s amazing. I would have thought that a microwave would never have been able to brown a potato. Do you have to lather on the non-stick spray?