Homemade Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips

Apr 21, 2014 · 38 Comments

Hi its me Samantha!

Do you like potato chips? If you do, keep reading this.

Today, I wanted to tell you about making your own potato chips! I wondered about how to do it since I really like them so much and asked my mom about it. She said that we could make them together over spring break, so that's just what we did.

Guess what the first thing you need is? Yup...a potato!

But first you have to decide what flavor you want to make. I think everyone loves potato chips (right?) my favorite is Sour Cream and Onion! My mom doesn't let me get them very much because she says that they have too many ingredients she can't pronounce on the bag. So I knew I wanted to make them first and eat as many as I could!

You can try to slice your potatoes very thin when you want to make chips but using a mandolin makes it SO much easier!! Have you ever used a mandoline before? When you use a mandoline, slicing is easy and fast...so fast you just can't believe it!

I learned about using a mandoline because my mom is in charge of doing the father-daughter dance at school each year and this year she decided to do a Luau theme. I helped her make 62 pounds of her Pulled Pork and then we made 25 pounds of her Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers (they are SO yummy). We started slicing the cucumbers and it was taking FOREVER when all of a sudden my mom said "oh wait, let me get my mandoline"! After that it went super-fast. She taught me how to use it and taught me how to use it safely but she really didn't like me using it since it was old and not that good for kids.

When we decided to make potato chips, she told her friends at OXO this story and they were really awesome and sent me one of their hand-held mandolines to try and it was really easy to use and my mom said she felt safer with me using that one. It was way easy, all I had to do was slide, slide, slide a potato over it and ba-bam, there were the slices I needed for the chips! OXO also send me a 3 quart mixing bowl for soaking the potatoes and these easy to use tongs for getting them in and out of the pan. Thank you OXO!

Guess what?? OXO is going to give one of you the same thing! YEAH! One of you will get this set to help you make your own potato chips (and many other things too).

Come back tomorrow and see something else I used my mandoline for...Hint - its SO pretty and its good for you too!

After we sliced the potatoes, we soaked them in water for 30 minutes to help get the starch out (which mom says makes them more crisp). Then we dried them. We got a pan ready with oil and a thermometer. Once the thermometer got to 350 degrees, we put them in and 2 and ½ minutes later we had potato chips!!! My mom also wanted to make a flavor, she decided she wanted something sweet and spicy (she LOVES sweet and spicy), we also made Sweet & Spicy Potato Chips using only 2 ingredients - Cajun seasoning and brown sugar.

I went a little crazy with seasoning the Sour Cream and Onion Chips in the first batch (but I still liked them -a lot!). The second batch of chips burned a little bit (because we let the oil get to hot), but the 3rd, 4th and 5th batches were perfect! My mom, dad and brother went crazy for the Sweet & Spicy Chips!

I think kids can be a big help when you want to make potato chips BUT they need to stay away from the pan when the potatoes go in and are cooking - it is dangerous.

Do you want to try and make your own potato chips?

What flavor would it be?

Next time I make them I want to make a salt and vinegar chip for my cousin..that's her favorite!
See you next time!

Here is my mom!

Samantha did such a great job listening to what we were going to do. As you know, she helps a lot in the kitchen and prepares a number of dishes on her own. Chips however are not something she can yet do on her own (at the age of 9) the oil is just to dangerous for little helpers. However watching what happens at a safe viewing spot is a delicious science lesson! We almost always use our deep fryer for frying anything, but for this I wanted her to "see" the process and transformation.

Here are ways kids can help make Homemade Potato Chips:

Washing the potatoes
Help slice the potatoes, teach them how to use an easy and effective hand-held mandoline like this one from OXO. You lay out the safety rules and they will follow.
Come up with flavor combination ideas
Keep a watch on the temperature
Fill the bowl to soak the potatoes with water and a bit of salt
Blot the potatoes dry
Season the chips once they are out
And the 2 best....Taste testing and proudly handing out the finished chips!

And of course clean up...getting kids in the kitchen show's them planning and follow through. Once they are finished the pride they have on a task accomplished and the creation of something they can enjoy and even better - share or gift is - priceless and a life-skill they will never forget!

Oh and "Dear Lay's Potato Chip People...I KNEW I was right when I said you needed a Sweet & Spicy Potato Chip last year! The Sweet & Spicy Chips were ridiculously good!!

Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post. Samantha and I are huge fans of OXO and use their products in our cooking every day. OXO was generous to provide Samantha with a 3 piece set for her potato chip making experience as well as provide another set for a giveaway.

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Homemade Potato Chips

Water
1 TBS salt
2 Russet Potatoes
2-3 cups canola oil
Seasoning of choice (see below for Sour Cream & Onion and Sweet & Spice Recipes)

Fill a large bowl with cold water and add in 1 TBS salt, stir the water. Decide if you want the peel on or off for your chips (we chose to keep it on). Slice your chips thin (if you happen to have amazing knife skills) or use a mandoline. We tried all 3 settings on the OXO mandoline and decided that we liked setting 2 the best for our chips. Place your potato slices into the water and allow them to sit for 30 minutes.

Remove potato slices from the water and place them on to paper towel lined baking sheets. Blot them dry with additional paper towels.

Place 2 inches of oil into your chosen pan - make sure the pan has enough room and additional space on the sides to carefully fry the chips. If you are using your deep fryer fill it to manufacturers recommendation. Once the oil reaches 350 degrees, carefully place your potato slices into the oil (I carefully slid them in from a small colander). The oil will immediately bubble. Carefully move the potato slices around with tongs so they don't stick together and they brown evenly. Once chips are done to your liking about 2 ½ to 3 minutes (depends on size, thickness and oil temperature) remove them and place them on a paper towel lined baking sheet or cooling rack. Season immediately. These are best enjoyed the day you make them.

Tip: Watch your oil temperature between batches. We burned our second batch because the oil was too hot. Allow the oil to cool down a bit then bring it right back up to where you need it.

Homemade Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips Seasoning
-adapted from Jeff Mauro aka The Sandwich King

1 TBS dried buttermilk
2 teaspoons onion salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried chives

Combine above ingredients and blend with a mortar and pestle or place them in a small bowl and let the kids blend it well with their fingers. Sprinkle seasoning over your chips as soon as you remove them from the oil.

Tip: For less salt only use 1 teaspoon onion salt and add 1 teaspoon onion powder.

Homemade Sweet & Spicy Potato Chip Seasoning
-Colleen Kennedy/Souffle Bombay

2 TBS Cajun seasoning
2 ½ TBS brown sugar

Combine above ingredients and blend with a mortar and pestle or place them in a small bowl and let the kids blend it well with their fingers. Sprinkle seasoning liberally over your chips as soon as you remove them from the oil.

Enjoy and happy crunching!!

& Samantha