These Air Fryer Beet Chips are a healthy snack that are so delicious and easy to make, and they have the crunch of deep-fried potato chips! This healthier option has the perfect crispy crunch of a traditional chip and they are made right in your air fryer.
They make a wonderful side dish to these amazing turkey burgers or serve them as a crunchy snack for movie night. Beet Chips are definitely a healthier alternative to potato chips and, even if you don't like beets, you may be surprised by these. My husband has never liked anything I've made with beets, even when I know he can't taste the beets, but he enjoyed these chips!
After trying several different methods, this is the best I found to make your own beet chips and it's incredibly easy.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Air fryer Beet Chips will stay crunchy for a few hours out on a cooling rack as long as it's not too humid in your house. In order to preserve their crunch longer, make sure they are cooled completely on a cooling rack and put them in an airtight container. I like to use a ziplock bag and squeeze as much air out as I can. They stay fresh and crunchy for about a week when stored correctly.
Beets are higher in carbs than some other vegetables, but they are significantly lower in carbs than a potato. You can enjoy them in moderation and this healthier option has the perfect crispy crunch of a traditional chip and they are made right in your air fryer.
I've seen some recipes for dehydrated beet chips, but they are completely different and I didn't find them to be nearly as good. If you don't have an air fryer, I would make them in the oven.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and put a single layer of the beet chips on the parchment. Bake in a preheated oven at between 325-350°F and flip them several times during the baking process.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Beets
You can use traditional red beets or golden beets in this recipe. You can also use other vegetables that have the same texture as beets, like sweet potatoes or other root vegetables. I really want to try carrot chips soon! I bet they will be amazing.
If you wanted to make regular potato chips, you can try this same technique, but make sure the potatoes are not cooked too long before air frying or they tend to fall apart. I am working on a potato chip recipe, but so far my test runs haven't been good enough for a recipe.
Seasoning
I only used a little sea salt to season the beet chips, but you can use any kind of seasoning you like. If you want to spice them up a bit try using some black pepper and chili powder.
Oil
You can use any kind of oil that you like. I have used olive oil and avocado oil in my test batches and both worked great.
The oil is important to help the beet chips cook evenly and crisp before burning, so I don't recommend skipping it.
If you don't want to toss the beet slices in oil, then you can always use a spray bottle to mist them with the oil of your choice.
Tips For Making Homemade Beet Chips
Par-cook the beets
Not only is it almost impossible to make thin slices from a raw beet, they simply won't cook up as well when making beet chips. So, by cooking them just a little bit before slicing is very important.
In my recipe, I use my Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker to PC the whole beets for 5 minutes. This works great, but if you don't have a pressure cooker you can simply boil them on the stove just until a fork can be inserted, but they are still very firm.
You can also steam them or even throw them in the microwave and cook in 2-3 minute intervals until they are just done. Leave the skin on when you cook them and it's super easy to peel them afterwards.
Use a mandoline slicer if possible
Using a mandoline set to about ⅛" will give you the most uniformly sliced beets which allows them to cook at the same time. If the beet slices are too thick, they won't get crispy before they burn and if they are too thin, they tend to stick together and not crisp as easily.
If you don't have a mandoline, it is helpful to slice off ¼" off the side or end of the beet to create a flat surface. You won't have perfectly round slices, but it won't matter once they are air fried and it will keep the beet more stable for slicing with a sharp knife.
Try to keep the slices as thin as possible, ⅛-¼" is ideal. It's also important to have them all about the same thickness so they cook at the same time.
You can also use the slicing attachment of a cuisinart food processor or whatever you have that is capable of making thin slices.
Watch the beet chips carefully while air frying
The air fryer beet chips can go from done to burnt in a very short time, so it is extremely important that you open the air fryer and keep an eye on how they are cooking.
I toss them around every few minutes while air frying, but it is extremely important that you keep a close eye on them during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking.
The temperature of the beets makes a difference
Room temperature beets will cook faster than cold beets. I had the best results when I used room temperature beet slices, and a temperature of 300℉/150℃ worked best.
When I used cold beet slices, I started out at 300℉/150℃ and they weren't cooking as well. Once I increased the temperature to 325℉/160℃ they cooked and crisped.
Either way is okay, but you may need to adjust your temperature and/or cooking time depending on the temperature (and thickness) of your beets.
How to Make Crispy Beet Chips in the Air Fryer
The first step is to prepare the beets and parcook them. You can do this in many different ways, but the easiest way that I've found is to use your pressure cooker.
Simply wash the beets and cut off the beet greens, if needed. Leave the stem end and root end intact which prevents them from bleeding during the cooking process.
Add 1 cup of water to the inner pot. Place the whole beets into the basket, you can cook as many as you like without any changes to the timing.
Pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Immediately release the pressure after the time is up.
Then, place the whole beets into a bowl of cold water or into the sink with cold running water. Rub the beets with your hands and the skins will peel right off.
Let them cool enough to easily handle and then you can slice them.
Slice beets into ⅛-¼" uniform slices. A mandoline works best, but you can use a knife. See tip above if using a knife.
It's important to preheat the air fryer and I recommend doing this on the hottest setting for a full 10 minutes. You will also want your air fryer basket inside the appliance so it preheats, as well. This will prevent the beet slices from sticking.
Place the beet slices into a medium bowl (or large bowl if needed). Lightly coat with olive oil or oil of your choice. The amount you use depends on the amount of beet slices you have. For 3 medium size beets, 1 Tablespoon is plenty.
Season beets with whatever seasonings you like. I only used salt, but you can use different spices. You can use as much or as little seasoning as you like. I used about a teaspoon salt for 3 medium beets.
Put enough beet slices into the air fryer basket to cover the bottom, but still have enough room to allow good airflow. It's fine if the beets are stuck to each other at this point. Once they begin to cook, you will toss them to separate and, the drier they become, the more they separate on their own.
Select the air fryer mode and set the temperature for 300℉/150℃ and the time for 20 minutes. *The time will vary based on thickness and amount of beets in the basket, so go by how they look more than time.
After about 3-5 minutes, gently toss and separate the beets. Repeat this process every 5 minutes until the beets are dry and you see very little shiny areas. If the chips begin to brown, lower your temperature so they don't burn.
Below is an example of a beet chip that is almost done, but still has too large of a shiny area to crisp up well. The perfectly done beet chip will be bright red with very minimal darker red shiny areas.
Once the beet chips are done, place them on a cooling rack so that there is air flow all around the chips. Otherwise, they will steam and not finish crisping up. When you first remove them from the air fryer basket, they might seem soft, but they will crisp up as they cool.
Repeat the process if you are air frying multiple batches.
I hope you enjoy this easy recipe for air fryer beet chips and please let me know if you try this process with a sweet potato!
Air Fryer Beet Chips
Equipment
- Any Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 3 medium beets
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
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Instructions
- Parcook the beets until they are soft enough to slice, but still firm to bite. My favorite way to cook them is with the peels on in my pressure cooker. I pressure cook them in the basket or on the rack with 1 cup water on high for 5 minutes with an immediate release. When done, put them in a bowl of cold water and rub the outside with your hands and the skins will slip right off.
- Preheat the air fryer on its hottest setting. For the Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker & Air Crisper this is the Broil (Grill in the UK) setting for a full 10 minutes. Make sure the basket or cooking surface is in the appliance so it preheats as well. This will prevent sticking.
- If you refrigerated the beets, let them come to room temperature before or after slicing for the best results. Slice the beets, using a sharp knife or mandoline slicer, into ⅕-¼" slices. ⅕" is what I aim for. Any thinner and they tend to stick together, any thicker and they brown before crisping.
- Place the beets into a mixing bowl and drizzle with oil. Season with salt.
- Place the beets into the air fryer basket and set the air fryer to 300°F for 20 minutes. After 3-5 minutes, use tongs to toss around the beet chips and gently separate any that are stuck together. Repeat this process every 5 minutes until the beets become a bright red and lose most of the shiny dark red areas. You may see some browning, but don't let them get too brown or they will taste burnt.
- Remove the beet chips from the basket and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
About the Recipe Author, Louise Long
Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years of experience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.
She published her first cookbook in the Fall of 2018 and is very interested in writing several more.
Louise is also the creator of an online Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooking Course with over 100 instructional step-by-step videos. People absolutely rave about the course and all the value they have received from it.
Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and learning more about the appliances they love.
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker & Air Crisper 101
Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill & Smoker
Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format on The Salted Pepper YouTube channel.
She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can. Get more Information about Louise & contact information
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Debbie
These are absolutely delicious! We grew a lot of beets this year and had several pickled beets left from last year so this gives my something else to do with them. Thank you so much for all the time you spend developing these recipes to pass on to us.
Louise
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Martha Latch
Louise
Is better than dehydration? I wondered because you can do so many more on the dehydration racks in the Ninja Foodi🤔
Louise
It's totally different. If you want to dehydrate beet chips for use in soups or as a side dish that works just fine and I have a recipe for that. If you want crunchy chips for snacking, air fry them.