*Yep, I ate these. They were delish.
I had my mind blown today by an article in The Awl about using the microwave. The article also included a method for making sweet potato chips (and others, including beets) in the microwave.
In retrospect, I'm not sure why I was so surprised by how well this worked. After all, I used to make pita chips* all the time in almost exactly the same way. I guess I just never thought of it for vegetables before.
Anyway, my chips turned out extremely crispy and crunchy, which is exactly what you want in a sweet potato chip right!? Obviously, they're not quite the same as a fried chip, but I suspect these are a bit healthier (and, they had more sweet potato flavor, which I consider a bonus). I only prepared a sweet potato; it's up to you to read the original article if you want ideas for using other veggies.
What you need:
A sweet potato, or several, depending.
Olive or vegetable oil
Salt
Seasoning, if you're into that.
A mandoline slicer will help you immensely for this recipe. If you don't have one, you'll need to slice your sweet potato very evenly and super thin. I wouldn't recommend a knife; a vegetable peeler might be better.
You'll also need some paper towels, a microwave-safe plate or dish, and... duh... a microwave.
What you do:
Wash and dry your sweet potato. Leave the skin on, obvs.
Using your mandoline, slice the sweet potato into even, thin slices.
Place the slices in a single layer on a layer of paper towel. Place another layer of paper towel on top and press gently to dry your slices. You'll never get them totally dry, so don't try, just get as much as you can by blotting and move on.
Toss your slices in your oil or spritz the oil on if you've got a mister. You want to coat each slice but you don't want them dripping oil.
Place a fresh layer of paper towel over your microwave-safe plate.
Next, put a single layer of oiled sweet potato slices on top of the paper towel.
I recommend salting at this time, but you can play around with this. ((My first batch I salted after I finished cooking them and the salt didn't stick. The second batch I salted at the halfway mark, and they were a little saltier. Next time, I'd salt them right at the oiling stage.)
Put the plate in the microwave and cook on high for 2-3 minutes**.
Remove them from the microwave, flip each slice, and put back in for 2-3 minutes on high.
They're going to get a little brown in the middle. That's ok; just don't let them get too brown. Obviously, this means you have to watch them fairly closely while you make them.
Once cooked, take them out of the microwave and just let them rest*** for a few minutes. If you're using a seasoning, now's the time to add it.
Once they're cool, you can eat them right away. I have no idea how you'd want to store these yummies but I will update this recipe once I've tried a few methods. Feel free to leave suggestions below. :)
*To make pita chips: cut pita bread (the kind that is like a pocket) into pieces of the desired chip size. Place pieces on paper towel on a microwave-safe plate and nuke them for however long it takes for them to get crispy; I haven't done this in a while but I feel like I was doing 1-2 minutes on high per side in the past.
**As the original article says, all microwaves are different so you may need too experiment with cooking times. I did 3 minutes on high on one side, 2 minutes on high on the other. I tried 2:30 on the second batch and half of them burned... so play around and see what works for you.
**I actually used my wire baking rack to help cool them; I just lifted the paper towel and sweet potato slices right off the plate and set them on the rack. If you don't have a rack, you might consider putting another paper towel layer down on a cutting board or other flat surface and lifting your microwaved paper towel and sweet potato onto it.
