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The Best Oven Chips

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When it comes to comfort food you can’t beat oven chips. This recipe for my best oven chips is salty, crispy and just delicious. These chips are so good you’ll find you’ve eaten half of them before they’ve gotten to the plate.

the best oven chips

There’s something nostalgic about chowing down on some piping hot oven chips. These sticks of starch, salt and fat are sure to warm you up, even on the coldest of evenings. Nothing beats that crunchy golden brown exterior twined with fluffy white center. Oven chips, in my mind, are the holy grail of comfort food.

oven chips holding

How to make perfect homemade oven chips

When it comes to oven chips, most people these days seem to buy the pre made varieties. Don’t get me wrong, I too love the simplicity of the humble frozen oven chip. However, once you try these homemade chips you’ll wonder why you ever needed preprepared ones.

There seems to be a common misconception that homemade oven chips will never be as crunchy, crispy or tasty as the preprepared variety. Some sort of bizarre mental block that seems to make people believe they can’t make delicious junk food at home. Let me tell you, it’s all wrong – these homemade chips are super easy to make and taste better than frozen chips. Here’s my simple tricks to make perfect homemade chips:

holding potato slices

First you need to prepare you potatoes by slicing them into around 1/2 inch sticks. It’s important not to make these chips too thick but still have enough volume for a decent fluffy center.

After prepping these potatoes you’ll need to par boil them. This means precooking them in salter water for about a minute. Par boiling them will help soften the chips before you cook them in the oven. This means you’ll get a perfectly golden brown exterior and a soft center. Neglecting to par boil them means you run the risk of burning the exterior and having an undercooked center.

chips in colander

Once par boiled, you need to drain the chips into a colander and cover with flour. Then we’re going to rough them up against the side of the colander by shaking them. Do this until the flour has evenly coated the potatoes. The flour will help give the potatoes an extra crispy skin. It’s key to getting that all important oven chip crunch.

The final important step for the oven chips is to preheat not only your oven but the roasting tray you’re going to cook the chips on. Turn your oven to the hottest setting and allow to warm up. Then fetch an oven tray large enough to hold all your oven chips and pour your vegetable oil onto the tray. Place the tray into the oven an heat until the oil is smoking.

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.

That’s it – there isn’t anything more to it. Follow this simple method and you’ll get perfect oven chips every time!

Liked this recipe? You’ll love:

The Best Oven Chips

When it comes to comfort food you can't beat oven chips. This recipe for my best oven chips is salty, crispy and just delicious.
oven chips close
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4
Course Side Dish

This meal is around 97% less polluting than the average UK meal.

Eating this recipe will save around 2.86 KG CO2e per person.

That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 23.60 KM in a modern car.

How do I calculate this?

Ingredients

  • 1.2 kg Floury Potatoes (maris piper or desirée work best)
  • 2 Tablespoons Plain Flour
  • 2 Tablespoons Sunflower Oil

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to the highest setting that it will go to, in my case this was 250˚c (fan oven).
  • Chop the 1.2kg of potatoes into 1/2 inch chips.
  • Place the chopped potatoes into a large saucepan. Cover the potatoes with water and salt heavily. Cover and bring the pan to the boil, then cook the potatoes for 1 minute.
  • Drain the potatoes into a colander and cover with the 2 tablespoons of flour. Vigorously shake and toss the potatoes in the colander until the flour has evenly coated the chips and the potatoes have a slightly "fluffy" exterior.
  • Pour the 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil onto a large baking tray and place into the oven for 5 minutes or until the oil is smoking hot.
  • Remove the tray from the oven and tip the prepared potato slices onto the hot oil. Turn the potatoes to coat them in the oil, season with a generous amount of salt and place the tray back into the oven. Roast for 20 – 25 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden brown and crispy.

Hi i'm Hugo

I started Lowly to help more people discover sustainable food. Planet-friendly food doesn’t have to be bland and boring. My recipes celebrate how diverse and flavourful it truly is.

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4 Comments

GWYNETH

February 15, 2022 at 1:55 pm

Those oven chips look delicious, I’m certainly going to try those, thank you for your recipe.

    hugo

    February 15, 2022 at 1:55 pm

    Thanks Gwyneth, I hope you enjoy them!

Char

February 21, 2022 at 8:32 am

These look great. I’m wondering whether they might freeze well after being parboiled and coated if they were frozen flat on a sheet first? Would be great to have on standby rather than the ones in a plastic bag!

    hugo

    February 21, 2022 at 3:17 pm

    Hi Char, I haven’t tried freezing them, but it sounds like a great idea – I’m sure it would work fine. I’d potentially recommend seasoning them a little before freezing.