BEST AIR-FRIED ZUCCHINI CHIPS
These beautifully spiced air-fried zucchini/courgette chips are perfect to serve as a part of a mezze, along with other appetisers. They make fantastic vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and keto treats. Zucchini chips are a healthier alternative to potato crisps or chips and are equally tasty and addictive. They are a wonderful snack, best served with suitable dips.
VARIATIONS OF ZUCCHINI CHIPS RECIPES.
Zucchini/courgettes chips are popular authentic summer dishes in Greece and Bulgaria. Traditionally, they are prepared in batter and deep-fried.
In recent years, many are conscious of their well-being and are getting into healthy eating. You can prepare zucchini chips by baking them or frying them with a minimum amount of oil in the air fryer.
The most important element when making healthy versions of chips is spicing. My favourite spices to use are garlic powder, black pepper, savoury herb and paprika or chipotle. If you like a little heat, you can add a pinch of chilli powder as well.
Using a variety of spices will bring more flavour to your chips, but do not overdo it. Using 2 or 3 spices of your choice will be enough to make perfect chips.
MORE RECIPES WITH ZUCCHINI
- Oven-Baked Zucchini
- Keto Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Zucchini & Eggplant Savoury Cake
- Batter-Fried Zucchini Chips
HOW TO MAKE AIR-FRIED ZUCCHINI/COURGETTE CHIPS?
📋 INGREDIENTS IN THE RECIPE
You do not need much to make air-fried zucchini chips, just cooking oil, 2-3 good spices of your choice or the ones suggested in the recipe, and zucchini. You can use green or white long zucchini in this recipe. Make sure the zucchini aren’t too ripe to avoid having large seeds in the chips and, for good-size chips, choose zucchini that are not too thin.
📖 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Prepare the zucchini/courgette chips
In this recipe, we do not peel the zucchini skin because the skin brings extra crunchiness to the chips.
Soak the zucchini in a large bowl of water for 15-20 minutes to make sure all the dirt and pesticides on their skin get loose, then scrub the zucchini well under your kitchen tap.
Slice the zucchini with a mandoline or a sharp knife into round coins or into long thin slices. Well-uniformed zucchini slices will cook evenly.
How thin you slice the zucchini will affect how long they will take to cook and how crispy they will be. If sliced too thinly, the chips will burn easily. However, if the zucchini slices are too thick, the chips will not become crispy. The recommended thickness for air-fried chips is 0.6 cm.
Arrange a single layer of the zucchini slices on a tray or a large plate and sprinkle salt over them. Cover with plastic wrap and leave the zucchini to release their juices for 15 minutes. Then, transfer them to a colander and rinse the salt under running water.
Place the zucchini slices into a large bowl with ice-cold water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or cling film and leave the zucchini to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
When chilled, press the zucchini lightly with kitchen paper to remove excess moisture in them.
Step 2: Spice the sliced zucchini
Mix well the spices on a deep plate. Do not add salt to the spice mixture because salt can cause the zucchini to shrink. It is better to sprinkle salt over the zucchini after they are cooked.
Brush the zucchini with olive oil and toss them in the spices. Make sure they are well coated.
Step 3: Cook the zucchini chips in the air fryer
Try to work quickly and place the chips in the air-fryer while they are still chilled. That will ensure the crispiness of the chips.
Arrange a single layer of sliced zucchini in an air fryer basket and cook for 9-12 minutes at 370ºF/187ºC. If your zucchini chips are not crisp enough, leave them in the air fryer for longer but do check on them regularly and be careful not to burn them.
🍲 SERVE THESE ZUCCHINI CHIPS
Zucchini chips can be served as a side dish to meat and seafood.
They are a perfect appetiser, finger food and a fabulous mezze. Serve the chips with tzatziki, olives and other appetisers. As a vegan treat, serve with tomato salsa and hummus.
Bon Appétit! 👨🍳👨🍳👨🍳
FAQ
What is the best variety of zucchini for this recipe?
Normally, I would say white zucchini are best to use overall in cooking. They are tender, with thin skin and are great in almost any dish. However, I find the green zucchini work really well in this recipe, too. They have ticker skin which cooks to a beautiful crisp.
How to choose zucchini for this recipe?
When making this recipe, there are two important things that you must keep in mind. First, you need to choose young zucchini because they have smaller seeds. The seeds do not give a flattering appearance to the zucchini chips and make them soggy. The second one is, zucchini chips shrink when cooked and to have a good size chip you need a larger zucchini slice. Sourcing larger zucchini with smaller seeds can be a bit tricky because typically bigger zucchini have larger seeds. Choose zucchini are large but slim, rounded zucchini definitely have larger seeds.
What is the easiest way to slice the zucchini into chips?
Some say a mandoline. I really hate working with mandolines. When I am using one, I always have a fear that I will chop my fingers as I have nearly done on a couple of occasions. I cannot use the protective fork because the vegetables keep sliding off and I find it terribly difficult to work with. A few years ago, I invested in an electric slicing machine. I think they are great! I use them for slicing bread, salami, vegetables, and probably other things that I cannot think of right now. They cut wonderful even slices that make really nice chips.
How do I know if my zucchini chips are ready?
You will know for sure that your chips are cooked when they no longer stick to the metal frying basket. That is a good way to find out if your chips are ready. Be very careful when stirring the zucchini chips, because chips that still have moisture inside tear easily.
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Best Air-Fried Zucchini Chips
Ingredients
- 4 zucchini/courgettes
- 1 teaspoon paprika sweet or hot
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash the zucchinis well and remove the ends. You don't have to peel the skin. Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, slice the zucchini thinly into round or long thin slices, 6- 7mm thick. Arrange the sliced zucchini on a large plate or tray. Sprinkle salt and leave them for 15 minutes to release their bitterness. Rinse them from the salt after that.Transfer the zucchini to a bowl of ice-cold water, cover with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Press the zucchini slices lightly with a paper towel to remove excess moisture, then brush them with olive oil on both sides. Combine pepper, garlic powder and paprika on a plate. Do not add salt at that step. Toss the zucchini in the spice mixture on both sides.
- Arrange as many zucchini slices you can fit in the air frier in a single layer and fry them for 9-12 minutes at 370º F/187ºC.
- Sprinkle salt over the cooked zucchini/courgette chips and serve them with a variety of dips. Zucchini chips are wonderful in combination with tzatziki, hummus, tomato salsa and sour cream with chives.
