Turn simple apples into homemade apple chips for a delicious, crunchy fruit snack. Crispy apple chips are great in fall season with abundant apples or any time of the year.
Fall or Autumn usually means apple season in cooler climates. If you have apple trees you may end up with more apples than you know what to do with. You may end up turning them into cider, apple sauce, apple pie and more.
And if you haven't tried making apple chips yet, this easy way to make them into a crunchy healthy snack should make it into your recipe vault. This recipe is for oven-baked apple chips, so you don't even need a dehydrator.
Ingredients
You'll need:
- tart apples - I prefer apple varieties that taste tart like Granny Smith, Pink Lady, or Honeycrisp
- lemon juice - to keep the apple slices from browning if processing a large batch
- water
- sugar
- optional: cinnamon or other spices if you want to flavor the apple chips
See the recipe box below for detailed measurements
Tools
- peeler or small knife
- large knife for slicing or mandolin
- small bowl
- saucepan
- baking sheet
- wire racks
Instructions
Peel the apples and cut into thin slices horizontally, or use a mandolin slicer
Soak apple slices in water with lemon juice to prevent browning while processing remaining apples
Cook the apple slices in a light sugar syrup until they turn translucent. Optionally add cinnamon or spices to the sugar water mixture. Pat dry on paper towel or clean kitchen towel to remove excess moisture
Now place the apple slices on a baking sheet (optionally parchment-lined) in a single layer and bake in a low oven (220°F/105°C) for about 45 minutes until dehydrated, and slightly golden in color. Transfer to wire rack. They will fully crisp up after cooling to room temperature
Once they cool to room temperature, store the crispy homemade apple chips in an air tight container to keep them crunchy. Especially in high humidity climates they will start to soften again if exposed to air.
Storage
They may keep for several weeks, but never last that long in my house.
FAQ
It sounds like you may not have baked them long enough to remove most of the moisture from the apple slices. Or if they used to be crunchy, they may reabsorbed humidity from the air. Especially if they weren't closed up air tight. You can return the apple chips to a low oven to re-crisp them.
Using this recipe at 220°F the apple slices will take about 45 minutes to crisp up.
Use a large sharp chef's knife, a mandolin slicer, or even your food processor's slicing disk to cut evenly thin apple slices.
Dehydrated apples and apple chips are similar in that both are dried fruits, but apple chips are typically thinner and crispier, often achieved by baking or frying. If you have a food dehydrator, by all means give it a try!
Both methods can be used, but baking in the oven is the method I describe in the recipe. Air frying can also produce crispy chips, but the process and time may vary.
Tart apple varieties like Granny Smith, Pink Lady, or Honeycrisp (crisp apples) are preferred for their flavor and texture. Ultimately you should be able to turn just about any type of apple into crunchy apple chips if you really wanted to.
Recipe
Homemade Apple Chips Recipe
Ingredients
- tart apples as many as you like
- lemon juice or lime juice
- 2 cups water
- ¾ cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg, cardamom etc. (or try my apple spice mix)
Instructions
- Peel and thinly slice apples with a mandoline or sharp knife. You may also core them, if you prefer. I only pushed the seeds out of the slices.
- Especially, when you are working with larger amounts, place apple slices in a small bowl of water with lemon/lime juice to prevent browning before you are ready for the next step.
- In a shallow saucepan bring 2 cups of water and ¾ cups of sugar to a boil. Optionally add cinnamon or other spices here. Slide in a few apple slices at a time and boil until they start looking translucent.
- Then remove the slices with tongs, drain off, and pat dry with a clean towel or paper towel. Then place on a baking sheet. You may line the sheet with parchment paper, but the drying process might take longer then.
- Bake in a 220°F/105°C oven for about 45 minutes until the slices look dehydrated and slightly golden. The chips will only fully crisp once cool. Watch closely in the end as they turn from golden to burnt very quickly.
- Place slices on a cooling rack with spatula or tongues. If let to cool on baking sheet, they might get stuck.
- Store in an airtight container, especially if you live in a humid climate. Otherwise the chips might soften again after a while.
Nutrition
Pin for later?
Recipe adapted from Serious Eats
Manuela
Hi. Long time no see. I made your apple chips today (I used 3 apples) although I wasn't sure if Alex would like them. Guess what? They are all gone 🙂 I guess I have to make some more. One "recycling" idea for the cooking water: after cooking the slices from 3 apples there is about 1 cup of water left. Some apple juice got into the water and with the sugar it is like apple syrup. So I canned one small jar of it.
Hope to talk to you soon. Miss you...
Regina
Hey, it's awesome you both liked the apple chips so much. Love to hear that you are trying out recipes from my site. Great idea with the apple syrup. We are back in Thailand since today, will catch you on Skype, soon. We miss you all too.
Erin @ Texanerin Baking
Sorry about your phone droppings. Droppiness. Or how about clumsiness? 🙂
And these look great! I LOVE apple chips. I think I might try with coconut sugar!
Regina
Haha Erin, you make laugh 🙂 Making them with coconut sugar sounds like a great 'healthified' version.
Erin @ Texanerin Baking
I guess sugar is sugar but I feel better with coconut sugar. 🙂 Is it really cheap there?
Regina
Erin, you actually made me read up on the health benefits of coconut sugar. I guess it is a little better than regular refined white sugar. I haven't actually seen anything labelled 'coconut sugar' around here, but then I read that around Asia the terms coconut sugar and palm sugar are used interchangeably, although technically they are different. I have definitely seen palm sugar around and it didn't appear more expensive than regular sugar. I'll see if I can incorporate it some time.
amy
I'm a bit clumsy myself, so I understand! =) Sorry to hear about the latest phone drop, but I'm glad that means you can get the new iphone once it's available. And these apple chips look absolutely wonderful! So glad that no Reginas were harmed in the making of them! =)
Regina
Thank you Amy. I sure am glad no one and nothing was harmed in the process of these apple chips 😉