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These easy oven-baked zucchini chips are thin, crispy, and perfect for pairing with all your favorite dips!
There is so much you can do with zucchini, from Zucchini Boats to Zucchini Cakes. But I think these oven-baked zucchini chips might just be my favorite. Who knew you could turn zucchini into crispy chips for snacking?!
While you won’t mistake these for potato chips, they are an excellent swap for when you’re trying to cut back on carb-heavy snacks and work some extra veggies into your life. They’re paleo-friendly, keto, naturally gluten-free, vegan, and they pretty much fit perfectly into every possible diet since they’re only made with zucchini, oil, and salt.
The next time you find yourself with an abundance of zucchini to use up, you know what to do with it: make zucchini chips!
What You’ll Need
While you only need 3 ingredients for this recipe, you can also add seasonings, flavored salts, etc.
- Zucchini – Look for one that is large but not too large. The baseball-bat-sized zucchini you harvest at the end of August is not going to work here!
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
How do you make thin sliced zucchini?
I highly recommend using a mandoline slicer; if yours has thickness settings, set it to 2, otherwise, aim for 1/8-inch. It’s very difficult to cut thin, uniform slices of zucchini with a knife.
How to Make Oven-Baked Zucchini Chips
This is one of those recipes that comes down to technique. Follow these instructions closely and you’ll have perfectly crisp zucchini chips!
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 225ºF and line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
Blot the zucchini dry. After you slice your zucchini, place the slices on a sheet of paper towels. Place another paper towel on top and press down to absorb any excess liquid.
Oil and season the zucchini. Line the zucchini slices on the prepared baking sheet. Don’t overlap them, but they can be very close, as they’ll shrink when they bake. Brush the slices with oil, then sprinkle them with salt.
Bake. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake the zucchini for 2+ hours, or until they start to brown, feel dry, and seem crisp.
Cool. Let the zucchini chips cool on the baking sheet, then serve.
Can you make zucchini chips in a dehydrator?
Yes, zucchini chips can be made in a dehydrator, but you’ll need to follow the directions for your food dehydrator to make them. This recipe was developed for making baked zucchini chips in the oven.
Tips for Success
Again: technique is everything here. These tips will help you nail it.
- Cut thin, uniform slices. Thinly sliced zucchini rounds are a must. Thick slices won’t get crispy, and if your slices are uneven, you’ll have some chips that are burnt while others are still soggy.
- Be conservative with the salt. Use less salt than you think; the zucchini slices will shrink in the oven, so they can easily get too salty.
- Don’t walk away. Once you’re nearing the 2-hour mark, you’ll need to keep a close eye on the chips to make sure they don’t burn.
- Don’t rush them. Bake the zucchini chips until you see that most liquid has cooked off. If you don’t do this, the zucchini will stick to the parchment paper or your chips will be soggy. You’ll also need to let the zucchini chips cool on the pan before removing them.
How to Store
Keep zucchini chips in an airtight container at room temperature for no more than 3 days.
Serving Suggestions
Here are some of my favorite dips for pairing with zucchini chips:
- Beet Hummus
- Homemade Tzatziki Dip
- Street Corn Hummus
- Herbed Tahini Spread
If you love zucchini chips, you may like these recipes with zucchini:
- Roasted vegetables
- Zucchini Turkey Meatballs
- Zucchini Noodle Cashew Stir Fry
- Zucchini Brownies
- Zucchini Chicken Meatballs
Easy Oven-Baked Zucchini Chips
Ingredients
- 1 large zucchini
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225 °F (107 °C). Line two large baking sheets (I used two 17" baking sheets) with silicon baking mats or parchment paper.
- Slice your zucchini on a mandolin. Mine had 1, 2, or 3 for thickness and I used 2.1 large zucchini
- After you slice your zucchini, place the slices on a sheet of paper towels and take another paper towel and sandwich the zucchini slices and press on them. This helps draw out the liquid so it’ll cook a bit faster.
- Line up the zucchini slices on the prepared baking sheet tightly next to each other in a straight line, making sure not to overlap them.
- In a small bowl, pour your olive oil in and take a pastry brush to brush the olive oil on each zucchini slice.2 tablespoon olive oil
- Sprinkle salt throughout the baking sheet. Do NOT over-season, in fact, it’s better to use less salt initially because the slices will shrink; so if you over-season, it’ll be way too salty! You can always add more later.Kosher salt
- Bake for 2+ hours until they start to brown and aren’t soggy and are crisp.
- Let cool before removing and serving.
- Keep in an airtight container for no more than 3 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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My gas oven only goes to 325. Any suggestions for cooking time?T
Hi, the recipe calls for the oven temperature to be 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Do you mean that the lowest temp your oven goes to is 325? If that’s the case, then I don’t think this recipe will work for you. 225 is basically making your oven like a dehydrator, slowly slowly slowly drying out the zucchini at a low temp for a long period of time. 325 is simply too high and it won’t dry out the zucchini. It’ll just burn it :(
will a food dehyrdrater work for these
I haven’t tried them myself in a dehydrator but I imagine they would work.
Hello! I have a huge bag of sliced frozen zucchini that I was hoping to use for this recipe. How do you suggest I deal with the extra moisture? Let them thaw and drain all day?
Hi Tracey! Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to work. The frozen zucchini is likely too thick (unless you have really thin zucchini slices?) to make into chips. I’m sorry! :(
I made these chips according to the recipe. They came out crunchy, no sogginess. Use #2 on the mandolin, and 2 hours in the oven. More if needed.
These are terrific! I just received a mandoline and love it. I chose to lightly spray them with canola oil and season with a house mix of 1 part salt, 1/2 part pepper, 1/2 part granulated garlic. I also baked them at 225 in my convection oven for 1.25 hours. They shrunk by at least 50%, but they are golden brown, crunchy and delicious! My husband and I both agreed they will be the perfect partner with a cocktail! So glad it’s after 5 pm here!! CHEERS!
Can the zucchini chips be pre cooked and then reheated
Hi Mandy, I don’t recommend reheating in the microwave that as it will probably end up being soggy but if you meant reheating in the oven then yes, it could possibly work on low heat. You’ll just have to watch it to make sure it doesn’t burn!
These chips look pretty awesome… I was just wondering if ypu have any specific recommendations for bajing them oin a convection oven :D,
Thanks!
Q!
I would reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees if you’re baking them in a convection oven.
I have not tried these yet but when I do I will be tempted to lightly salt the chips, put them into colander, cover them up and let them weep for an hour or two to draw out most of the water. The salt can be rinsed off and the chips blotted dry before cooking. Taking the extra step should reduce the cooking time considerably
Julie,
I am so glad i found this recipe! It’s by far the best zucchini chip recipe I have come across! We loved it so much we thought we would try your recipe and blog about it ourselves! I added chili powder and cumin on half of my batch to make some “spicy” chips since I crave them so much. Chips are my one big weakness in terms of healthy eating, so I really enjoyed the recipe. Thanks so much! If you want to check out where we blogged about it, you can check it out here: https://oakandearth.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/15-healthy-snack-food-alternatives/ We totally understand if you don’t have time to read it, just know that we thoroughly enjoyed it! We look forward to reading more! :)
Don’t bother.. started a diet and was looking for a low cal snack..the coking procedure took longer and it didn’t yield much..too much work.
Use an air fryer
“use an air fryer.”
as though everyone has an air fryer lying around…that is so NOT helpful.
:) some people are cranky.
What temp and how long in the air fruet
I just sliced thin and spritzed them with olive oil. I made in oven which didn’t seem to cook evenly, some burnt, others stuck to pan, etc. Then I put them in single layer in microwave, cooked to beginning to brown, then sprinkled with kosher salt or onion salt or garlic salt and let them cool to crisp. Delicious and addicting!
How long did you microwave them for? Thanks. :)