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

FAQs

What is the secret to the best chips? ›

The secret to a crunchy outside layer and a soft, fluffy centre is cooking your chips three times. “Boil the potato sticks in boiling water till tender, then cool and dry on paper towel,” Camillo says. “Next step is to fry them in a fryer at 150°C until lightly browned and allow to cool again.

Only once your oil is smoking should you pour your chips onto the tray. Having hot oil is key to getting the potatoes not to stick to the tray and getting a perfect crisp skin. Toss the chips in the hot oil, salt, and place back into the oven. Cook for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Give your chips an ice bath, and leave for 15-20 minutes if you have the time. This will wash off some of the starch – you'll see as the water goes cloudy. 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.

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.

What is the secret that keeps potato chips fresh and crisp? If you guessed nitrogen, you are right. Nitrogen in chip bags ensures that food processing and packaging companies can protect the quality and integrity of everyone's favorite hearty snack.

The Double-Fry Method

When it comes to the actual cooking, you want to fry the french fries twice. The first round is at a lower temperature to cook the inside of the potato and the second time you'll use a higher temperature to make the fries golden brown and crispy.

If they're not quite as crispy as you'd like, this is almost always because they need more time to cook or they are overcrowded on the oven tray.

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.

Starch can make the surface of the potato sticky - which can make the chips stick together on the baking tray. However! We're coating the chips in a little oil - which will stop them sticking together.

Put oven chips on a large baking tray. Drizzle over vegetable oil and sprinkle over smoked paprika, smoked or regular sea sealt flakes, dried rosemary, a small pinch of cayenne pepper and garlic granules; toss well to coat. Bake the chips to pack instructions until golden and crisp.

Why won't my oven chips brown? ›

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.

Remove chips from packaging and spread evenly on a baking tray. Make sure that there is enough space for the chips to cook. Place your tray of chips in the centre of the oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes. After about 12 minutes, toss and turn your chips to ensure an even crispness.

Picking the perfect variety. We use varieties such as Pentland Dell, Russet Burbank, Ivory Russet, Innovator and Shepody potatoes which all make our world-famous fries. And as they're bigger spuds, it means the fries we cut from them are long enough for you to nibble and dip.

In a survey conducted by Morning Consult in 2020, Lay's "Classic" was voted as most popular chip flavor in America. In 2020, about 50.73 million people consumed Herr's. Utz' market share reached over 2 percent in the U.S. potato chips market in 2017.

Lay's doesn't just use any potato; they use a specific variety developed by Frito Lay scientists. This unique spud, known as the FC5, is the cornerstone of the brand's chip production. Sourced from various locations across the United States, these potatoes are remarkably consistent, thanks to their proprietary nature.

The best chips have a certain potatoey-ness to them and taste of more than just oil and salt. A good potato chip should not have any overcooked/burnt flavor, and it needs to have enough (but not too much) salt. By rinsing the chips well, we can eliminate surface sugars that will brown too quickly, or even burn.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and preheat your oil for 10-15 minutes prior to adding the chips. Don't salt the oil, and don't overcrowd the pan, or the oven. Steam is the arch nemesis of the crispy chip. Cook the chips at a high temperature, and turn them halfway through.