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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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I was doing cucumber chips very similar , can’t wait to try these!
I have made these many times now. Yes, smaller zucchini work better. Don’t turn the heat up. They take a long time, if you are lucky enough to have a convection oven they take less time but they still take a long time. They do get very dark – watch them at this point as there is a short time between done and burned. let them sit on the pan AT LEAST 10 minutes before trying to get them off. If they still have oil on them. drain on paper towels. I make mine with ranch seasoning and they are amazing!! Thank you for the recipe!
We are always looking for healthy vegan snacks!
Thank you.
I like the recipe, it’s a good alternative for potato chips. I had it with creamy parmesan cheese dressing as a dipping sauce.
can I do more than one large zucchini for this recipe and do them at the
same oven temperature and amount of time?
i do not think one large Zucchini is going to make a lot of zucchini chips
will it?
please let me know by e-mailing me at
midnight0675@frontier.com
Yes, you can definitely use more than 1 large zucchini but just make sure you don’t do them on the same baking sheet. They need to be in an even layer.
I do not have a mandolin slicer, and I am
not going run out and buy one just for one recipe. I have a salad shooter that can get the job of slicing the zucchini chips up . So I will be using that instead.
I’m glad you found an alternative.
Trial and error… My oven didn’t produce timely results – maybe because zucchini were large, but I used my dehydrator (lesson #1- spray trays with a non stick baking spray) and got very crisp zucchini chips. I took the oven batch and transferred to dehydrator after 90 minutes in oven. I also borrowed a friend’s mandolin to get thin, even slices. AND I used Italian salad dressing on my zucchini. The first time, I brushed the chips lightly, flipped over part way through and brushed again. Last few times I threw zucchini in large baggie and put dressing in, sealed and shook the bag before placing on tray. I got a really nice flavored chip…also tried a lite raspberry vinaigrette for a very slightly sweet/fruit taste. I stored in baggie on counter or in fridge but these things get eaten pretty quickly. One huge zucchini (have to use what’s given to me) makes less than half a quart sized bag of chips since these veggies have a high water content.
I’ve been telling everyone how yummy and healthy these are! I used cooking spray on foil, and then sprayed the zuccini rounds once they were placed on the foil on the baking sheet. That’s it! No salt, pepper, or anything. And they were so tasty! They were intended for my BF’s mom who is on a paleo diet, but the rest of us chowed down on them as well – great without any dip too!
I’m wondering how to make more at once. I used a mandolin and filled two baking sheets with two zuccinis worth of medallions. They shrunk A LOT and I kept moving them and taking out ones that had browned and were cooked. Could I increase the heat to reduce the time? Should I get a dehydrator with multiple levels? I’d love to make a lot more, it just takes a while and occupied the oven.
I would definitely not increase the heat because the idea is to slowly dry it out so your theory of a dehydrator is a better idea. Definitely would help you make more!
I made it with nutritional yeast & it was as good as you’d think! Give it a try! I mixed the nutritional yeast in with the breadcrumbs.
Should I turn these half way or isn’t it necessary
You don’t have to