Crispy Beet Chips

Beets are one of those foods that you either love, or hate. I love ’em, Steve hates ’em.

I read somewhere that people who dislike that earthy smell that you get when it rains often also find beets to have an overly earthy taste, which is how Steve describes them. “They taste like dirt” says he. I guess I must love the taste of dirt because I happen to like their sweet earthy taste. Maybe it’s my Ukrainian heritage. Beets, garlic, cabbage. I like them all.

What never makes sense to me that Steve thinks beet greens are fine. Whaaat?? To me, they taste like beets! Whatevs. I’ve started some little beet micro greens in my continuing experiment.

Needless to say, the full grown veggies doesn’t make it to our table very often.

I had bought a small bag at the market a while back though and I found them lingering at the back of the crisper drawer. I can’t remember now what I thought I was going to do with them (it was probably a roasted beet salad), but decided that they needed to be used up, and fast.

I was already in the process of baking up my second batch of kale chips for the week so I decided to just keep on truckin’ on and turn my beets into chips. Don’t they look pretty beside each other?

After reading that baking your veggie chips in a warmer oven for a shorter time yields chips that retain more of their nutrients, I’ve begun to use that method. Win-win as far as I’m concerned because I’m famous lately for starting something in my oven and then going to check my emails or something. I NEVER used to burn stuff!

Anyway, quicker is better in my opinion.

The trick with turning beets into chips is to get the slices super thin. I use my little handheld ceramic mandoline from Kyocera which makes quick work of the job and produces super thin slices in seconds. It also means I can slice right into the bowl so less red beet staining. I also love this tool for creating super thin slices of vegetables to go into salads.

I tossed the raw, thinly sliced beets (peeling is optional IMO) with just a little bit of olive oil, maybe 2 tsp, laid them out on a couple of baking sheets covered with parchment paper so they did not overlap, and sprinkled a little salt over them. It’s a fine line between not salty enough and too salty and the quantity really depends on how many beets you have.

Using an oven temperature of 350° means you only have to watch the chips for about 15 minutes. You’ll want to flip them over at about 8 minutes and then start watching your chips after about another 8 minutes. If they are cut more thickly, you may need to experiment a bit with your timing. You want your chips to be fully crisp but not burnt so pay attention during the second half and take any smaller chips that are fully crisped off the baking sheet as they are done.

Beet chips are pretty, and tasty. As long as you don’t mind the sweet taste of dirt!

Quick tip: Dark red beets are more nutritious than yellow or striped beets. Buying them with their tops on not only allows you to determine their freshness (no wilted greens = fresher beets), but you can cut the tops off and sauté them with a little olive oil and garlic as a side dish. Another win-win.