How To Make Guilt-Free Potato Chips in Your Microwave That Are Actually Crispy

We know what you may be thinking — why go through the effort of making homemade potato chips when you can just buy them in the store? For one thing, you might want a healthier way to enjoy delightfully crispy tubers. You can control exactly how much oil and salt you use. For another, you can add in other fun seasonings. Whatever the case may be, making chips at home is easier than ever, and you don’t need to pull out the air fryer to do it. There’s no need to look further than your own microwave.

Yep, you can zap up a batch of crispy homemade chips in a matter of minutes. The trick has been buzzing around on the internet for some time, and when I tried it, it honestly blew my mind.

How To Make Crispy Potato Chips in the Microwave

The recipe is simple: wash your potatoes, then slice them as thin as you can. Line your microwave with parchment paper, lay the slices out (trying not to overlap them), season with salt, place another bit of parchment paper over them, and nuke.

I used my OXO Hand-Held Mandoline Slicer ($17.49, Amazon) to chop regular white taters into one-centimeter discs. I can’t stress this enough: If you also use this kitchen tool for this or any other recipe, be very careful. The super-sharp blade doesn’t know the difference between your fingers and potatoes, so use the hand guard that comes with it. You might even invest in a pair of cooking gloves, like NoCry Cut-Resistant Gloves ($11.49, Amazon). OK, now that that PSA is over, let’s get back to the chips.

I seasoned mine with the recommended salt and added a pinch of Trader Joe’s Mushroom and Company Multipurpose Umami Seasoning Blend ($7.75, Amazon) for an extra kick of flavor. The AllRecipes post says to heat them for eight minutes, but mine crisped up in just under three. As the back of every frozen meal claims, microwave timing may vary, so I recommend working in one or two minute increments until your chips are just right.

Here’s how mine turned out:

I’ll admit they could look a little better, but they were crispy and tasted so good! Plus, you can obviously mix up the seasoning you sprinkle on while trying it yourself. It might take a few rounds of nuking to get through a full potato, but you can get into a rhythm pretty quickly. 

Now on top of having a simple and perfectly seasoned snack, you can also feel guilt-free about chowing down on chips that aren’t greasy or fried. Win/win!