Two things that rarely come together in the gluten-free snack world are deliciousness and simplicity. By simplicity, I mean limited ingredients that are non-GMO, easy to pronounce and able to be used in your own kitchen.
A quick look in the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store reveals food manufacturer’s love of cheap ingredients in the form of corn, soy, gums and fillers. Yes, these things are all gluten-free but are they good for you?
No. Just no.
Something as simple as a potato chip, made at home with only potatoes, oil and salt, from a food manufacturer is laden with GMO oils and flavorings a chemist would have trouble pronouncing. In our area of the U.S. we have MANY potato chip companies but only two or three that use non-GMO oil to fry them in.
That’s why I’m always looking for things to make for snacks. I’m especially happy when I can make a snack of something I wouldn’t otherwise eat. Like beets. Love beets as chips, not so much as a side dish. If you love them both ways, more power to ya.
Beets are great blood food, hence the dark red blood color and the shape of a heart. Beets provide us with antioxidants and offer protection from coronary artery disease, stroke and aging. You can’t completely stop that one but if eating beets slows it down, gimme some.
Beets are low calorie, they contain folates, B-complex vitamins, iron, manganese, copper, magnesium and potassium. While the golden beets don’t provide quite as much of the antioxidants, they’re still packed with nutrition compared to a potato chip.
I’ll be honest, making these at home takes a while. Mostly because the bigger they are, the less that fit on a pan. But, once you get a system of consolidating them and adding new ones to the pans, it’s kind of fun.
Here’s something I learned this time.
There’s always something to learn. That’s what I learned.
I’ve made beet chips a bunch of times. Sometimes, with the lighter colored beets I would get these ugly blackish spots on the beets while they were baking. I have no idea what these are called and they don’t affect the taste at all but they made them look bad. So, being the stylist that I am, wanting my food to look pretty and all, I made a little change in the recipe. After I sliced the beets with the madoline, I blanched the slices. By blanch, I mean I put them in the boiling water, stood there watching them for 15 seconds and pulled them out into a colander. That’s it.
{The ones on the right were blanched, the ones on the left were not.}
That one simple thing eliminated the spots on the chips.
So, if you want pretty chips, blanch them.
If you’re short on time and want edible chips that taste exactly like the pretty chips, don’t. Your choice.
Another note: Beet chips can be made with any size beet but they shrink about 50% so I’ve found it’s not really worth it unless your beets are at least 3” across.
Now, let’s get to the recipe. You’re going to laugh, it’s so simple.
- Four large golden beets
- Oil in a spritzer (I used olive oil)
- Good salt
- Preheat oven to 300˚. Use convection mode if you have it.
- Put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil.
- Peel your beets with a potato peeler and slice off the root end.
- Using a mandolin slice the beets as thin as you can keeping them intact.
- (You can also use a knife but your knife skills should be top notch. These need to be VERY thin.)
- Prepare your pans by coating thoroughly with the oil.
- Place your sliced beets in the boiling water for about 15 – 30 seconds.
- Remove from the water and drain. No need to dry them.
- Lay the beets on the pans in a single layer, not touching.
- Spray thoroughly with oil.
- Place beets in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.
- At 10 minutes, turn each of them over on the pan.
- Now, you will need to watch them since smaller slices will get done before larger slices. I check them about every 10 minutes and move them accordingly.
- When they begin to brown and get crispy, remove them from the pan.
- As you have space on the pans, add more beets and follow the same steps.
- When you remove the beets from the oven, sprinkle with salt while still hot.
- Once they are all done, cool thoroughly.
- Beet chips can be stored in a container for a few days although I doubt they’ll last that long!