LivingWasteFree

Crispy. Crunchy. Incredibly snackable. Yeah, I’m talking tortilla chips today.

You can check out the video for a full tutorial, or you can click here and skip straight to the recipe.

At some point, I think every zero waster has had to find a way to deal with their suddenly chip-less life. Chips, in general, are only found in large plastic bags that are sometimes impossible to recycle. And even if they are technically recyclable, being 100% certain that your plastics are going to a regulated facility that has high environmental standards is an issue. Which is why, 2 years ago I quit plastic and in that moment, I also thought I had quit chips. A real pity since chips and lentils was a go to snack of mine.

(Still is, as you can see.)

Now I knew in theory that chips would be made at home from scratch, using unpackaged (or minimally packaged, depending what’s available to you) ingredients, but they seemed far past my cooking skill level.

Turns out I was wrong and these tortillas are as simple to make as they are to eat*.

*Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but they are really easy!

The Recipe:

• 3 cups flour (I use all purpose, but most will work, but the texture may vary)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup oil (I like to use sunflower oil)
• A bit of extra flour to use while kneading and rolling out dough
• Measuring spoons and cups
• A large mixing bowl and spoon
• A stovetop and cast iron skillet
• A spatula
• An oven or a fryer

To make:

1. Measure out all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
2. In a smaller bowl or in one of your measuring cups, put water and oil. Slowly stir in the liquids to the dry ingredients while slowly mixing
3. . Once all the liquid is in the bowl with the dry ingredients, a dough ball should be forming. Take a few seconds to form into a ball, adding more water or flour as necessary. (If the dough is too sticky add flour, too dry add a touch of oil or water.)
4. Split your dough ball into 16 similarly sized pieces and roll into balls. Let these dough balls rest for 10 minutes.
5. Once the dough has rested, flour a clean, flat, dry surface and roll out each ball into a circular (or whatever) shape.
6. Heat a seasoned cast iron pan over low or medium-low heat, and once it is hot enough that drop of water sizzles immediately when put in the pan, you can start cooking you tortillas.
7. Place one rolled out tortilla in the pan until it begins to bubble (approx. a minute, maybe 2 depending on your stove), then flip the tortilla and cook another minute.

Your tortillas are done! These tortillas are totally edible and delicious. I generally save a few out to eat before making the rest into chips.

To Make Into Chips:

• Cut your cooled tortillas into chip sized pieces. This can be any shape, but having them all a similar size will help them cook evenly.
• Decide which method you want to use: Baking or Frying

The chips on the towel at left were fried and the ones in the bowl were baked. Both come out similarly crispy.

To Bake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F
2. Drizzle your chips in oil (I use olive oil) and salt and toss to coat
3. Place your chips in a single layer on an oven safe baking sheet
4. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip (or just mix around) and bake another 3-4 minutes or until chips are golden brown*

* Ovens vary and so all baking time is approximate.

To Fry:

1. Preheat oil (I use a Fry Daddy which heats oil up to 375°F)
2. Put a clean towel (I use an old towel that I don’t care if it gets ruined) on a plate or over a slotted cooling rack.
3. Place 6-8 chips in your oil for 2-3 minutes
4. After one minutes use a metal slotted spoon to mix chips around so they fry evenly
5. Remove chips after 2-3 minutes using your slotted spoon. Your chips should be a light golden color (they will darken a bit as they cool).
6. Put your hot chips on your towel and season to taste with salt.

 

Storage:

Once you have your chips, it can be hard to resist eating them all at once. But, if you do have that kind of will power and find yourself with left over chips they can be stored in a tightly sealed container for a week and still be delicious. I generally put them in a pyrex bowl with a plastic lid or a just a regular mixing bowl and then seal it with a beeswax wrap and stash it in the fridge.