Thin, tasty, and crisp sweet potato chips are among the best homemade snacks and side dishes. We tested oven-baked with and without oil, air-fried, and deep-fried sweet potato chips.
The results? You guessed it! The deep-fried ones are the tastiest, but our oil-free baked sweet potato chips recipe comes very close with a loud crunch.
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Check out our Best Sweet Potato Recipes
Our sweet potato chips are crisp, light, and super easy to make, no matter how you decide to cook them.
The trick is to slice them with a mandoline slicer to get them as thin as possible. Then it’s all about oil temperature. And since they crisp up in less than a minute, you’ll be able to make a big batch for friends and family in no time.
But if you don’t want to fry, we have good news for you! We’ll show you how to make delicious and crisp sweet potato chips in the oven with and without oil. The ones without oil are our favorite!
Note about fried food
Yes, we all know it. Deep-fried foods are not the healthiest; to be honest with you; we limit the consumption of fried food quite a bit. I can’t remember when was the last time I ordered french fries!
The thing is, if you want to eat fried food, the best way to have it is if you cook it yourself at home. Restaurants reuse their frying oil several times and often fry at higher temperatures than recommended. That’s not good!
At home, you can use fresh oil and monitor the oil temperature with a kitchen thermometer to limit the production of harmful compounds in the fat.
For me (Nico), there’s nothing tastier than homemade fried vegetables. So once in a while (like every three months), I indulge in a generous serving of whatever veggie is in season – deep fried. And this month, was sweet potato chips.
Ingredients
For oven-baked and air-fried sweet potato chips: you’ll need sweet potatoes, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. You can add your favorite herbs and spices, such as paprika, garlic powder, rosemary, and thyme.
You can also make oven-baked sweet potato chips without oil, then serve them with a sprinkle of salt and your favorite dip.
For deep-fried sweet potato crisps: you’ll need sweet potatoes, salt, and frying oil. We recommend vegetable oil with a neutral flavor and a high smoke point for this recipe. You can get one that says “vegetable oil” or “frying oil” on the label. You can also use canola oil or peanut oil.
Equipment: to make chips, we recommend a mandoline slicer to cut the sweet potato thinly. We tried with a sharp knife, but it was too difficult to get thin slices.
Instructions
The first step for making sweet potato chips, no matter how you cook them, is to slice them thinly. We recommend cutting the sweet potato with the skin and using a mandolin slicer.
Scrub and wash the sweet potato, then slice it with a mandoline slicer. Set it to the second or third thinnest setting.
Oil-free sweet potato chips in the oven
Preheat the oven to 290°F (140°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Arrange the thin slices on the baking sheet on a single layer, each slice touching the next.
Bake in the oven at 290°F (140°C) for 15 to 20 minutes until they look all wrinkled up.
You can bake two baking sheets simultaneously if you have a fan-assisted oven.
Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and serve as a starter, snack, or side dish.
Sweet potato chips in the oven with a bit of oil
Preheat the oven to 290°F (140°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add the sweet potato slices to a bowl, and toss them with a drizzle of olive oil.
Arrange the chips on the baking sheet on a single layer, each slice touching the next.
Note: You can bake two baking sheets simultaneously if you have a fan-assisted oven.
Bake in the oven at 290°F (140°C) for 15 to 20 minutes until they look all wrinkled up.
Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and serve as a starter or side dish.
Variations
Deep-fried sweet potato chips
Disclaimer: deep-frying at home requires your full attention as the hot oil can be dangerous for you and the people around you.
Line a large platter with absorbent paper towel. In a large skillet or dutch oven, warm up about 1/3 gallon of vegetable oil.
The oil should be just above half the height of the pan and no more.
Also, the oil should reach a temperature of 320°F (160°C) and never go below 300°F (150°C) or above 340°F (170°C). Use a kitchen thermometer to monitor the temperature before and while you fry.
Note: a temperature below 300°F (150°C) will make your sweet potato chips soggy as they’ll absorb the oil. A temperature above 340°F (170°C) will burn the thin chips, making them look brown and taste bitter.
When the oil has reached temperature, gently add a couple of handfuls of the raw chips. Spread them around the pan with a fork and fry them for about one minute or less.
Try to separate them with a fork while they fry, and turn them around once if you can.
Note: the sweet potato chips should not turn brown. Also, they might seem soft when you take them out of the oil, but they’ll crisp up as they cool down. Finally, cook them in batches without overcrowding the pan.
After about a minute (it can be less than that if your oil is very hot), take the chips out of the oil with a spider or slotted spoon. Arrange them on the platter with kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.
Season the chips with a pinch of salt while they are still hot.
Note: it might take a batch or two of practice to get the right timing, but you’ll get there. As you put the fried chips onto the platter, you’ll see them turn bright orange and crisp in the air.
Transfer them onto a serving platter and enjoy as they are or with side dips such as ketchup, vegan mayo, chipotle sauce, or your favorite dipping sauce.
Air-fryer sweet potato chips
There are two types of air fryers: the ones with a bucket system and the ones with baking trays that look more like an oven.
If you have an oven-looking air-fryer, follow the same instructions as oven-baked sweet potato chips. The only difference is that the air-fryer cooks faster, about 7 to 10 minutes.
If you have an air-fryer with a bucket, we don’t recommend using it to make sweet potato chips. The air fryer can’t fit enough potato chips to justify its use because you need to arrange them on a single layer to crisp up properly.
If you don’t, and we tried, half of the chips will turn out soggy, and the other half will burn.
Serving suggestions
We recommend serving our crispy sweet potato chips as an appetizer, snack, or side dish.
If you serve them as a starter or snack, you can combine them with your favorite dips. For some ideas, check out our:
- 1-minute homemade vegan mayo – thick and creamy!
- Creamy-dreamy chickpea hummus
- Hot and smoky chipotle sauce
- Silky avocado spread – which you can use as a dip
If you serve them as a side dish, we recommend trying them with one of our delicious plant-based dinners. Our favorites with sweet potato chips are:
- Oven-baked vegan fish – super easy with olives, lemon, and tomatoes
- Italian-style tofu mushroom recipe
- Tofu scramble with mushrooms or avocado
- Vegan tuna sandwich
Storage
Sweet potato chips are not a good make-ahead recipe because they lose their crunch quickly after making them. We recommend serving them immediately while still warm.
Oven-baked and air-fried sweet potato chips: keep them in a paper bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Deep-fried sweet potato chips: eating them as you make them is best—store leftovers for max 24 hours in a paper bag at room temperature.
Questions
Homemade sweet potato chips baked in the oven with a little oil or without oil are healthy. Oven-baked sweet potato retains most of their nutrients, the lack of oil makes them a low-caloric snack, and they are definitely good for you.
Deep-fried sweet potato chips, on the other hand, are not the healthiest as they contain a larger amount of empty calories from the frying oil.
The best and easiest way to cut sweet potatoes into chips is to use a mandoline slicer with the second to third thinnest setting.
Brush and rinse the sweet potatoes with water, then pat them dry with a paper towel, and slice them with the skin on.
Sweet potatoes struggle to get crispy because they don’t contain enough starch, or better, the starch that they contain turns into sugar as they cook, making the chips soft and sweet.
To make sweet potato chips crispy, you need to bake them in the oven at a low temperature (280°F or 140°C) for about 20 minutes, or until they dehydrate and get crisp.
Alternatively, you can deep-fry them in hot oil for about one minute until they become crisp.
Sweet potatoes contain no gluten, and homemade sweet potato chips are gluten-free.
More sweet potato recipes
- The easiest and most delicious sweet potato gnocchi
- Easy sweet potato muffins
- Air fryer sweet potato (diced, hole, and fries)
- Roasted sweet potatoes and sweet potato wedges
- Mediterranean-inspired lentil sweet potato salad
- Sweet potato salad with mustard dressing or Mexican-inspired black bean salad
- Chickpea stew with sweet potatoes
- Microwave sweet potatoes – the easiest sweet potatoes ever!
Sweet Potato Chips
Equipment
- Mandoline slicer
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 290°F (140°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Optional: add the sweet potato slices to a bowl, and toss them with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Arrange the slices on the baking sheet on a single layer, each slice touching the next.
- Bake in the oven at 290°F (140°C) for 15 to 20 minutes until they look all wrinkled up and are well dehydrated.You can bake two baking sheets simultaneously if you have a fan-assisted oven.
- Serve on a platter with a pinch of salt and your favorite dipping sauce.
