My good friend Priya and I were chatting about mandolines the other day, and it made me think of a coworker who is always talking about the oven-made potato chips that she makes. Inspired, I went in search of a way to prepare this version of America's snacking staple. I rarely give my mandoline any attention and it is such a great tool, I felt the need to dust it off and show it some love.
I scoured the internet for a good way to prepare them and found something along the lines of:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Scrub potatoes and slice very thin with a mandoline. Spread them out in a single layer on the baking sheet and spray the potatoes with cooking spray. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with salt after removing from the oven.
I tried this recipe with two different types of potatoes to see which would work best: baking (aka russet, Idaho) and all-purpose. The baking potatoes were not good for this project at all. Their high starch content caused the chips to be either under-baked or extra-crispy with no happy medium. The all purpose potatoes worked much better. Keep an eye on them though; they cook unevenly and become brown very quickly.
It may not be worth doing instead of just buying the stinking things, but this project was fun to try and a healthier option than most store-bought chips. If you feel up for this job, I warn you that you may need to try this a few times; practice will probably make the finished product much better. Also, don't plan on saving any leftovers - I tried this and resulted with undesirable soggy potato slices.
Do you have any noteworthy experiences with your mandoline? Please share them with us!
I apologize for the lack of a picture- I am working on getting original photos of my projects on here. Stay tuned…
