Red & Golden Beet Chips
Ah chippy, chippy, chippies! My total weakness is potato chips. I would eat them as a meal if I didn’t know any better. Just as if I were still a kid, I get so much satisfaction out of the grand opening of my favourite packet of chips. My high school boyfriend used to call me ‘the Gobbledok’, which for those of you who are not Aussie or didn’t grow up in the 80’s, was a fictional character made up by Smith’s Chips who was obsessed with eating chips.
I made some beet chips last week after playing with beets to make a chocolate cake and I loved the idea of making them with the combination of red and golden beets.
After playing around with the raw beets before they hit the oven, the stain from the washed beets left an arty statement on my plate. I know I say this all the time, but beauty is everywhere and that’s one of the things I love about working with real food, is that it is so damn beautiful and surprising.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a mandolin or a dehydrator, if you have a good knife, a steady hand and a bit of time and patience – have a go at making some chippies at home, (as the Gobbledok would say).
Red & Golden Beet Chips
Ingredients
1 large red beet
1 bunch of small golden beets (approx. 5-6)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 ground paprika
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
Olive Oil
Handful of fresh dill, chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and get two large baking trays ready.
Wash and trim the beets. Use a peeler to remove the skin. Cut the beets into very thin slices. You can use a mandolin, or a sharp knife with a steady hand. Place the salt, paprika and chilli flakes into a small bowl and mix. Set aside. In two larger bowls, place the golden slices in one and the red slices the other. Add half of the spice mix to each bowl, (this will ensure the red doesn’t stain the golden beets). Toss each bowl to coat with spices. Add a lug of olive oil to each bowl and coat.
Lay out the golden slices onto one tray. Make sure the slices are not over lapping so they can crisp up. Do the same with the red beets on the other tray. Sprinkle a quarter of the dill onto the golden beets and a quarter onto the red beets. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 120 C (250 F) and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until nearly crisp. Remove the chips from the oven and place on a drying rack to crisp while they cool.
Place in a bowl ready to serve and sprinkle over the remaining fresh dill. Serve with BBQ sauce.
Notes
For best results, I watched the chips closely. Smaller chips will crisp up more quickly and if your oven has hot spots like mine, those in the hot spots will also crisp up more quickly. I removed the ones that I could see were ready and put them on the during rack. The stubborn ones that would not crisp in the oven, I left a little longer after the cooking time and bumped up the temperature to 140 C.
Two Loves Studio 
I’ve got to try your recipe since I’vre had success for making my own. Remember you cannot eat just one.
Yes, we have an ad here in Australia about the fact their called chips for a reason – cause you can’t eat just one!
I’d love to know how you go making these and if you have any pointers being a ‘well seasoned’ chip maker.
Since I’m addicted to potato chips, too and I do love beet, I’ll have to try it. And your photos are superb, as always. You are one of my favourite food photographers.
Have a lovely weekend. 😀
How very sweet of you! Enjoy.
Great pics, and those beets make for great colour! I’ve been trying for a year to find golden beets over here, but no luck. Not even specialty markets seem to even have heard of them :-(.
Really! I guess they are to come by. I can get them at the local farmers markets, but regular grocers don’t stock them. I hope you find them one day!
These look wonderful.
Very cool. I love the simplicity of ingredients in this recipe, and I’m big-time swooning over that top photo. Beautifully shot!
Yay! That’s great. It is such a cool shot. It’s my favourite also.
I love the idea, and these colours are just perfect together 😉
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What a wonderful idea … reminds me of the Pret a Manger veggie chips we have in the UK. Very tasty and much healthier than bagged, fried chips.
Love your blog, especially the drool-worthy photos of course. So creative!
Third time trying these out and here are my findings so far:
– Instead of peeling the beets, I used a steel wool scrubber to remove the outer layer (scrubbed the beets under running water; went quickly and left more intact for more chips!). Just used a knife to clean up any gouges and around the stem.
– Tried using my Tupperware Spiral Cutter instead of the mandolin, but they were too thin and burned within the first 30 minutes; Will only use my mandolin or knife going forward.
– Used a coarse salt, then added in dry spices and ground in my Magic Bullet so the chili flakes would be less intense.
– Mixed in the olive oil and laid out the chips, then sprinkled with the spice mix (flipped the chips and sprinkled the other side before baking).
– Line the trays with parchment to help prevent sticking.
– Only cook one tray at a time! Tried doing two trays at the same time, but the bottom one burned and the top one didn’t crisp.
– Tastes really nice dipped in mayo or ranch.
– Also, I haven’t had any dill (keep forgetting to buy some), but they still taste great.
The first time I made them, I was surprised at how much they crisped up. Makes for a really great treat!
It’s good to know these little tips – I’m sure others will find then helpful, so thanks for sharing!
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