Learn how to make crispy potato chips at home with my simple recipe. While they technically take more time than opening a bag of chips from the grocery store, they taste so much better! Crispy, salty homemade potato chips are the perfect snack by themselves or with a tasty dip, or you can serve them as a crunchy side along with your favorite toasted sandwich.
If you want crispy chips, choose a floury spud — also called a starchy or mealy potato — like a russet potato (commonly known in the US as an Idaho potato). These potatoes have a high starch content and are low in moisture, both traits that help them crisp up. For more ways to cook potatoes, try my smashed potatoes, air fryer potato wedges, or sweet potato fries.
What You Need To Make This Recipe
Potatoes — the classic Russet potatoes (also known as Idaho potatoes), with their high starch content, are an ideal option for making chips. Russets produce crisp chips that easily snap without become too hard during frying.
Oil — use a neutral oil with a high smoke point, like vegetable oil or sunflower oil. If you like the flavor of olive oil, you can add a bit of cooking olive oil (not extra virgin) to the pot.
Salt — use as much or as little salt as you want to add flavor to the chips, and see below for more seasoning options.
How To Make Potato Chips
1. Thinly slice the potatoes using a mandoline or a very sharp knife, cutting them to a thickness between 1/8-inch and 1/16-inch.
2. Transfer the sliced potatoes to an ice bath (prepared by simply filling a large bowl with ice and water). Soak in the cold water for 10 minutes.
3. Drain the potato slices and arrange them on a paper towel-lined baking sheet in a single layer. Lay more paper towels on top and pat the potatoes well to dry them off.
4. Fill a large Dutch oven with 2 inches of vegetable oil and set over medium-high heat. Add a deep-fry thermometer and wait until the oil reaches 325°F. Fry the sliced potatoes in batches. Stir occasionally until the slices are light brown, which takes about 3 minutes.
If you’re confused about how much to fry per batch, I typically fry a generous handful of potatoes at a time and have a total of five batches.
5. Place a wire rack inside a baking sheet and line it with paper towels. Remove the chips from the oil with a slotted spoon and place them on the paper towels.
6. Immediately sprinkle the chips with salt to taste. Let them cool for 5 minutes before digging in.
Best Potatoes For Chips
Homemade potato chips are best with a dry, starchy potato like Russets or Idaho potatoes. Waxy potatoes like red potatoes, yukon golds, or yellow potatoes have more moisture and less starch, which means they don’t fry up as well and end up a bit tough or chewy rather than light and crispy. Sweet potatoes, however, do work well for this recipe!
How Thick To Cut Potato Chips
You want a slice that’s at most 1/8-inch thick. I like to go a little bit thinner, down to 1/16-inch thickness, for shatteringly crisp chips. A mandoline is the best tool for creating super thin and uniform slices. But safety first! If you are not used to using a mandoline, please wear a cut glove when slicing your potatoes to protect your hands.
Why Do I Need To Soak The Sliced Potatoes?
Soaking the potatoes removes excess starch from the outside of the slices. If you don’t do this, the chips are likely to burn in the hot oil as the starches coating the outside of the chips will overcook before the potatoes are fully crisp.
Keep The Oil At The Right Temperature
If you want to ensure you have crispy potato chips, use an accurate deep-fry thermometer or instant-read thermometer that you can leave in the oil during cooking. If the oil gets too cool, the chips will be soggy and very oily. If the oil gets too hot, they will burn. You will likely need to adjust the heat up and down as you add and remove batches. Keeping a thermometer submerged in the oil lets you keep the oil temperature as accurate as possible throughout the frying process.
Can I Bake The Chips Instead Of Frying Them?
Technically, yes, but the results will be less crispy and more brown. To bake, spray the dried potato slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Spread the potatoes out in a single layer across two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes. Flip and continue baking until browned and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes more.
How Do You Keep Homemade Chips Crispy?
Store completely cooled potato chips in an airtight container shortly after cooking. For added insurance, you can put a tablespoon of rice in a tea bag inside the container to absorb extra moisture and help them stay crisp for longer.
What To Serve With Potato Chips
I love digging into a bowl of homemade chips on their own with a little aperitivo, but they also pair perfectly as a side to a chicken burger or air fryer grilled cheese. They are great in a game-day spread with chicken wings, jalapeño poppers, or dipped into a bowl of slow cooker chili. You can also use any leftovers that may have gone a touch stale in kitchen sink cookies or potato chip cookies!
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
- Use a mandoline to slice the potatoes. A mandoline will slice the potatoes thinly and evenly. The slices should be thin enough to see through, about 1/8-inch to 1/16-inch in thickness.
- Soak the sliced potatoes in an ice bath. This removes the excess starch from the potatoes for crispy homemade potato chips.
- Pat the potatoes dry. Removing excess moisture is another key step for the crispiest chips.
- Use a deep-fry thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil. This is the most accurate way to get the oil to the perfect frying temperature of 325°F.
- Do not overcrowd chips while frying. If your chips are taking more than 4 minutes to turn golden brown, try frying in smaller batches.
- Lay the chips in a single layer to drain off excess oil. Piling up the chips just leads to soggy potato chips, and no one wants that!
- Season the chips immediately after removing them from the oil. This will help the salt stick to the chips.
Frequently Asked Questions
Homemade chips are best eaten the day you make them, but you can certainly keep leftovers for a few days! Let the chips cool completely before storing. You can place them in an airtight container or zip-top bag and keep them in your pantry for up to 7 days.
You may have not used a floury, or dry and starchy, potato. If you use a high-moisture, low-starch potato, the chips will not turn out crispy. Skipping the soaking step can also affect the outcome of this recipe.
Oil that is not hot enough is another reason for soggy chips, which is why I always recommend using a deep-fry thermometer to ensure that the oil is at the correct temperature before frying.
A nice crack of black pepper goes a long way to dressing up chips! You can also toss them in your favorite seasoning blend, like Cajun seasoning or a barbecue rub, or swap out regular salt for an herb or flavored salt.
A little bit of garlic powder or rach seasoning is also a delicious addition. For a fancier twist, sprinkle the warm chips with black pepper, garlic powder, grated parmesan cheese, and minced chives.
A neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point is a must for deep-fried homemade potato chips. I use vegetable oil in this recipe, but you can also use canola oil or peanut oil.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Homemade Potato Chip recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Homemade Potato Chips
Ingredients
- 2 russet potatoes (20 ounces/570g total)
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large bowl with ice water. Using a mandoline, thinly slice the potatoes crosswise. (The slices should be thin enough to see through, about 1/8-inch to 1/16-inch thick.) Transfer the potato slices to ice water and let soak for 10 minutes.
- Drain the potato slices and arrange them in a single layer on a paper towel lined baking sheet. Lay another layer of paper towels on top and pat the potatoes dry.
- Fill a large Dutch oven with enough oil to be 2-inches deep. Place over medium-high, add a deep-fry thermometer, and heat until the oil reaches 325°F. Place a wire rack inside a baking sheet and line with paper towels.
- Working in batches, fry the dried potatoes, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, about 3 minutes. (I fry a generous handful of potatoes at a time for a total of five batches.) Transfer the chips using a spider or slotted spoon to the paper towels, and immediately sprinkle with salt to taste. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Use a mandoline to slice the potatoes. A mandoline will slice the potatoes thinly and evenly. The slices should be thin enough to see through, about ¼-inch to ½-inch in thickness.
- Soak the sliced potatoes in an ice bath. This removes the excess starch from the potatoes for crispy homemade potato chips.
- Pat the potatoes dry. Removing excess moisture is another key step for the crispiest chips.
- Use a deep-fry thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil. This is the most accurate way to get the oil to the perfect frying temperature of 325°F.
- Do not overcrowd chips while frying. If your chips are taking more than 4 minutes to turn golden brown, try frying in smaller batches.
- Lay the chips in a single layer to drain off excess oil. Piling up the chips just leads to soggy potato chips, and no one wants that!
- Season the chips immediately after removing them from the oil. This will help the salt stick to the chips.
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