Recently at a trip to the grocery store I purchased a 5# bag of russet potatoes for $.69. Impressive right? I thought so, then realized I don’t do much with russets. I’ve been dying to use my mandoline slicer and happened to catch “The Pioneer Woman” making homemade potato chips on her show. Hello inspiration. They looked nice and addictive and I had all of the ingredients. (Thank you Mom for telling me to strain the oil I had used to fry my Sweet Corn Ravioli in the other night, otherwise I’d have had NO oil. Love you Mom.) I need to brush up on my frying skills and I can tell you why very soon.
Potatoes, oil, seasoned salt. That’s all that are in these chips. Feel free to mix up your seasonings ie: Ranch Dressing Mix, BBQ Seasoning, sea salt and a sprinkling of malt vinegar or pickle juice… you name it! (It has crossed my mind to fill my water-sprayer that I got for $1 at the Dollar Store, with pickle juice and mist the hot chips right out of the oil, that’d be insane!) These would be great for this weekend’s big game. Sure, you can buy one heck of a bag of potato chips at the grocery store but I bet the ingredient list is a bit longer and they are going to be much more costly. I can say I have served my children many things in my kitchen, most of them being much more complex and time consuming of course. I will tell you that they appreciated these chips just as much as anything I’ve ever made and for that, we’ll be making them again for sure.
Homemade Potato Chips
Makes roughly enough chips for a “Family Sized Bag”
5-6 large russet potatoes
Vegetable Oil for Frying
Seasoned salt or other seasonings that suit your liking
Give your potatoes a nice scrub. Go ahead and peel them if you want… but I like them to be ‘rustic’ and don’t waste my precious time peeling them.
Place 2 QT of vegetable oil into a large stock pot/dutch oven. Over medium heat bring the oil to 375 degrees. Use a candy thermometer or instant read thermometer to check the oil temperature.
Fill a bowl full of cold tap water to soak your potato slices. Let your kids play in it. (Really? It amazes me that a bowl full of water has mega allure and various toys in the house DO NOT.)
Slice potatoes thinly (1/8″) on mandoline slicer or with a chef’s knife by yourself (carefully!) The picture below shows the potatoes I sliced that were actually too thick. Once I adjusted the mandolin the slices were perfect. (*I did fry these thicker slices. My husband preferred them because their texture was a bit softer and chewier. The edges were somewhat crisp as well.)
Rinse them in water to remove some of the starch and delay browning.
Toss them around so all of the slices get to the water. Having a staff to do this is super helpful.
Place rinsed potato slices in a single layer on paper towels.
Get the next layer ready:
Press down on top of the paper towels to get the water out of the potatoes. This is crucial. Water and HOT oil are NOT friends!
Working in batches of about one potato’s worth of slices, fry in 375 degree oil for a few minutes.
Toss the potato slices around a bit to expose all of their parts to the hot oil.
Carefully remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
Sprinkle with your seasoning of choice immediately. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
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