Pesto flavored dehydrated zucchini chips that are easy to make. Slice zucchini (by hand or use a waffle cutter) and coat in a homemade nut-free vegan pesto sauce. Bake in the oven and enjoy this plant based snack.
Time for one of my favorite Recipe Redux posts. It’s the annual end of the year game theme, where we develop a dish from a favorite cookbook. Using a recipe from a page with a combination of numbers from that year.
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Taste the Inspiration
For this year’s pick, I chose Good Clean Food: Super Simple Plant-Based Recipes for Every Day cookbook by Lily Kunin the creator of Clean Food Dirty City.
Page 112 of the book has a picture (sold!) of Pesto Zucchini Noodles—spiralized zucchini coated in a vegan pesto sauce and topped with roasted tomatoes. Similar to this dish, but without the mushrooms and the “noodles” are kept raw.
Since the combination of pesto & zucchini is delicious, I decided to use it for this challenge. Switching up the zoodle bowl for a snack, with these easy, oven baked, dehydrated zucchini chips.
Past years’ cookbook inspired recipes
How to make dried zucchini chips
The first step to making courgette chips is to cut the zucchini into thin rounds. This can be done with a mandoline or simply using a knife to make thin ⅛ inch thick slices.
Then mix the zucchini pieces with spices, the homemade vegan pesto sauce (below) or your favorite store bought option. Lay the zucchini pieces out on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake in a low temperature oven to turn them into chips.
How to make crinkle cut chips
To take these up a level, you can cut these into fun shapes—like waffle chips. To do so you’ll need a crinkle cutter blade and the help of a mandoline.
Follow this technique to turn vegetables—like zucchini, potato, large carrots—into waffle cut chips.
- Attach the wavy blade to your mandoline and adjust the blade to the crinkle cut setting.
- Push the vegetable you’re cutting down the runway, to create you first slice. This will only be wavy on one side.
- Rotate the vegetable 90° and repeat. This will make the first waffle cut.
- Continue cutting on the mandoline, rotating 90° in between each cut, until you reach the end of the vegetable.
More than a potato
Nowadays, vegetable chips are available in many different options. You can make dehydrated chips from any of your favorite vegetables—including beet, kale, carrot, zucchini, parsnip, eggplant.
They can be a great way to add more vegetables into your routine. Plus, you can customize them with your favorite combination of spices or sauces to make different flavors.
Homemade dehydrated vegetable chip tips
Here are a few helpful tips to making vegetable chips at home:
- Slice vegetables as thin and uniform as you can. Using a mandoline comes in handy for this.
- Place cut vegetables between two kitchen towels to help absorb some of their water before baking.
- Use a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet to easily remove the cooked chips.
- For faster chips, you can cook these zucchini chips at a higher temperature. However the final product might be less chip-like and more similar to roasted vegetables. Both delicious.
- Keep an eye on them while they bake & remove pieces as soon as they are crisp.
- If you have a dehydrator, use it.
More healthy chip options
Now that you know the details. Try these other great oven baked vegetable chip recipes: including dehydrated kale chips or these dehydrated carrot chips.
Feeling more adventurous with your snacking? Try these crispy cottage cheese chips.
Oven Dehydrated Squash Chips with Pesto
A dairy-free and nut-free pesto recipe. Enjoy it on it's own or use it to flavor these oven-baked zucchini chips.
Ingredients
Pesto
- 1 cup basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt & pepper
Zucchini Chips
- 2 zucchini
Instructions
For the Pesto
Combine ingredients in a food processor. Blend together until smooth. (Makes ¼ cup pesto)
To Make the Chips
- Preheat oven to 200°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (*see note below about cooking temperature)
- Use a mandoline to crinkle cut* the zucchini or thinly slice into ⅛th inch rounds.
- Transfer the zucchini to a bowl. Add pesto. Use your hands to gently mix them together. Making sure to coat every piece with the pesto.
- Place zucchini onto the baking sheets in a single layer.
- Bake for 2 to 2½ hours. Check occasionally, remove chips as soon as they become crisp.
Notes
Creating Crinkle Cut Chips
Attach the wavy blade to your mandoline and adjust the blade to the crinkle cut setting.
Start with the rounded end of the zucchini and push it down the runway, to create you first slice. This will be wavy on one side. Rotate the zucchini 90° and repeat. This will make the first crinkle cut.
Continue cutting the zucchini on the mandoline, rotating 90° in between each cut.
Cooking Temperature can be Adjusted
These chips can be cooked at a higher temperature. I've gone as high as broiling them on low.
They'll cook much faster so keep an eye on them as they bake. Flip them halfway through cooking, once the tops appear dry or have developed some color.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2Amount Per Serving: Calories: 224Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 158mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gProtein: 4g
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