Home Made Oven Chips | Community Recipes | Nigella's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade oven chips soggy? ›

Starch on the surface of the chips locks in moisture and causes them to go soggy. Drain the chips and rinse under cold water, then dry thoroughly before cooking. 2. Using enough of the right oil.

Floury potatoes contain much less moisture but can fall apart if overcooked. For chips, we recommend using a maincrop floury potato, like a Maris Piper, which will give you a fluffy inside and crisp outer coating. They will absorb the oil when fried to give you the crunchy chip you're looking for.

Parboil the potato chips, skin on, for about 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, smash the garlic bulb and chuck in the cloves, then add the potato chips. Toss in the oil and season with pepper. Bake on the preheated tray for 15 to 20 minutes until crispy and golden.

Chip Tip: For golden, crispy fries, cook on an open wire rack instead of on a baking sheet. The outcome is a soft and fluffy interior with a crispy salty exterior. Delicious!

The trick to getting the chips to taste like they are straight from the chip shop is to fry them twice in the hot oil. The first fry is at a lower temperature and softens the potato; the second turn in the hot oil is at a higher temp and achieves that signature crispy exterior.

If the oven isn't hot enough to brown the chips on the 'air-side', or if there's not space for the heat to circulate around each chip, they'll be unevenly crisp. Deep-frying also means the oil can penetrate the craggy, broken edges on all sides to make an extra crisp surface.

Soak the potatoes in cold water after cutting for at least half an hour. This will remove a lot of the starch and result in crispier potatoes. It also prevents the sugars from browning before the potatoes are cooked. Dry them thoroughly after soaking them so they don't steam and get soft in the oven.

The difference lies in their starch content and structure. Waxy potatoes are amazing for boiling as they keep their shape, but floury potatoes fry up crisper. Use a floury (also called mealy) potato such as Russet or Shepody for your chips and you'll have better success.

Frying Oil: A high-temperature oil is necessary for making homemade potato chips so that the oil can get hot enough without smoking. Peanut oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil, and canola oil are a few options that will work great.

He demonstrates how the factory would blanch the potato to allow the starch in the potato to soak up the water and create a fluffy outside, which is then pre fried for a short time to crisp the outside before being frozen. This process enables oven chips to have a third less fat than ordinary chips.

What is the secret to the best chips? ›

The key to the perfect chip, is to use a floury potato like King Edward or Maris Piper, and ensure they're cut into evenly sized, uniform fries. This means you'll get evenly cooked chips at the end with a crispy outer shell, but a soft and fluffy centre, rather than the half frazzled, and half undercooked.

On oil, sunflower and sunseed are very efficient, and many people swear by using groundnut oil. But, if you're after flavour, cooking chips in beef tallow (rendered beef fat you can get from your butcher) gives you better flavour and colour – the choice is yours.

Deep-frying versus oven-baking versus air-frying

The way chips are prepared affects how much fat is in them. Both oven-baking and air-frying your chips limit the amount of oil you're using, so these are healthier ways to cook chips. ''

To begin with, Magda recommends cooling the leftover chips as soon as possible, putting them in the fridge with a "loose cover" to prevent bacteria growth. It is vital the chips are dry when you reheat them, this can be done by patting them with a kitchen towel or by using salt to draw out any excess moisture.

If your potato chips aren't crispy, it's likely because your potatoes were not completely dry before you started cooking, or you did not soak and rinse them long enough. Using too much oil could also make your potato chips less crispy.

How Do You Keep Homemade Chips Crispy? The key to keeping homemade potato chips crisp is to store them in an airtight container, which protects your chips from outside moisture. Just make sure the chips have thoroughly cooled off for at least 30 minutes at room temperature before sealing them.

Don't overfill your baking tray and rack

Frozen fries are full of water so you definitely don't want too much steam in the oven which makes your fries soggy and limpy. Too many trays on the oven racks decrease airflow essential for crispiness, too!