When we were still living in the apartment, I saw a recipe about making microwave potato chips. They were awful. They were soggy, never crisped up, and all that time in the microwave made me feel like a plate was going to explode. I didn’t try making homemade potato chips again until these Air Fryer Potato Chips.

These Air Fryer Potato Chips are a blessing and a curse.

It’s amazing to be able to make fresh potato chips in a handful of minutes. And it’s even better to not need to think about frying them in a vat of oil.

But making potato chips quickly means I can always make potato chips. And, honestly, I probably shouldn’t eat potato chips all the time.

But, this recipe makes a small batch of potato chips, so it’s not too bad.

Thank goodness for the air fryer’s capacity limits, right?

Air Fryer Potato Chips Recipe

Air Fryer Potato Chips Ingredients:

• 1 medium potato
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

How To Make Air Fryer Potato Chips:

Wash the potato.

Use a mandoline slicer to thinly slice the potato into rounds.

Put the slices in a bowl of water (with an optional 1 teaspoon sugar) and let them sit for 30 minutes.

Gently squeeze the slices to remove most of the water, then, pat the slices dry.

Put them back in the bowl.

Drizzle the olive oil over the slices. Sprinkle the salt.

Put the slices in a single layer in the air fryer basket.

Air fry at 370 for 12 minutes, shaking the basket after 5 minutes and again after 10 minutes.

Let the Air Fryer Potato Chips cool before eating.

What kind of potatoes are used for Air Fryer Potato Chips?

We prefer Russet potatoes when we are making potato chips. You want to choose a potato that is firm to the touch, not soft.

A Russet potato is a dry, starchy potato, so it will hold up well as a chip. Plus, Russet potatoes are easily found in the supermarket and they’re budget friendly.

Why do you soak potatoes in water before frying?

Soaking the potatoes in water before slicing is a way to pull out the starch in the potato. This will help them crisp up in the air fryer.

The water pulling away the starch will also help the slices stay individual and not clump up, which is ideal for potato chips. You want them to be individual chips, not one big clump of potato.

The addition of the sugar in the water is optional, but we always opt to include the sugar. The sugar helps to pull out the starch, like the water does. But, the addition of sugar helps to repel some of the oil while the Air Fryer Potato Chips are cooking. If the chips absorb too much oil, they won’t crisp up the way you want.

We soak our homemade French fries in sugar water too, making them have a really crispy exterior and a soft inside.

Why are my Air Fryer Potato Chips soggy?

If your Air Fryer Potato Chips are soggy instead of crisp after 12 minutes, they’re not done air frying.

Shake the basket and put the chips back for another two minutes, checking and shaking every two minutes until the potato chips are crisp.

Can you make homemade ruffles potato chips?

To make ruffles, or wavy potato chips, you need to use a serrated blade on your mandoline slicer. Mine doesn’t have one, unfortunately, so I can’t make ruffles potato chips at home. But if your mandoline slicer has that attachment, you can just follow this recipe to make ruffles potato chips.

Do you have to use a mandoline to make homemade potato chips?

In theory, you can slice the potato by hand for potato chips. But, you really need to slice them paper thin, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t slice potatoes that thin with a knife.

If you do cut your potatoes with a knife, you may have to adjust the amount of time that the potatoes cook in the air fryer in order to crisp.

Can you multiply this recipe?

This recipe calls for one potato because it’s what fits in the basket of our air fryer. If you wanted, you could multiply this recipe and make as many potatoes as you want.

You just want to air fry the potatoes in batches. If you crowd the air fryer basket, or make multiple layers of potato rounds, they won’t cook through and crisp up as well as if you air fry these in a single layer.

What Air Fryer works best for this?

We have an air fryer with a basket, so that’s what we use to make all of our air fryer recipes. If you have an air fryer that’s more of a convection oven shape, that’s fine. This recipe will still work. But instead of shaking the air fryer basket, you’ll want to fly the chips at the five minute and then again at the ten minute mark.

Air Fryer Potato Chip Flavors:

This is a basic, lightly salted potato chip. But, as you know, there are tons of potato chip options in the grocery store. Of course, you can season these a ton of ways too. A few examples are below:

Salt and Pepper Potato Chips

In addition to salt, sprinkle some cracked black pepper onto the sliced potato rounds.

Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips

Use buttermilk powder, garlic powder, and onion powder on the sliced potato rounds.

Parmesan Ranch Potato Chips

Mix Parmesan cheese into a packet of ranch seasoning mix, then sprinkle that onto the sliced potato rounds.

Taco Potato Chips

Sprinkle a taco seasoning packet, plus a pinch of salt, onto the sliced potato rounds.

Are these gluten-free?

Yes. Potatoes are naturally gluten-free, so these are gluten-free potato chips.

Are these vegan?

Yes. Since the only ingredients we are using are potatoes, oil, and salt, these are vegan potato chips.

What dips are good for potato chips?

I can eat potato chips by the handful. Pete prefers to dip them. If you’re looking for a dip for these Air Fryer Potato Chips, a few good options are:

• Onion Dip
• Tzatziki Sauce
• Spicy Salsa