VeganMoFo, Day 3: Baked Zucchini Chips
October 3rd, 2008 10:04 pm by Kelly
This recipe - if you can call it a recipe, it's really almost too simple to be a "recipe" - is a fun, yummy way to use up some of that extra zucchini that's sitting in the back of your fridge. (And if you're like me, all over your garage workbench, too!)
Baked Zucchini Chips
Ingredients
One large zucchini
Cooking spray (Pam or similar)
Salt to taste
Directions
1. Spray two cookie sheets with Pam or similar; preheat oven (to 350 or preferred temp; see below).
2. Clean your zucchini and slice it, whole, into round "chips," about 1/4 inch thick.
3. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
4. Place on your cookie sheets and bake for 5-10 minutes or until crisp.
Now, I've tried this recipe several times, and have yet to find the optimal cooking temp. If you bake them at 350 degrees, they cook down and crisp up rather quickly - about 5-10 minutes. If you bake them at a lower temp - say, 275 - they take a little longer to bake, but it's also easier to keep an eye on them. It's a fine line between crisp and, um, ashy, so you may want to err on the side of caution your first time.
Also, try to slice the zucchini evenly - the baking goes much more smoothly if all the chips are roughly the same thickness, and if each slice is a clean, even cut. Otherwise you end up with a chip that's half-mushy and half-crispy. It's still yummy, of course, but not quite what we're shooting for, eh? A mandoline would be helpful, I imagine, but I keep forgetting to look for one when I'm out grocery shopping.