Zucchini and Yellow Squash Chips - No Oil

I love vegetable chips but, boy are they expensive, and they always seem to have a lot of oil.  You can make zucchini and yellow squash chips very easily in a dehydrator.  This uses no oil and the flavor of the vegetable shines through!  I also think that these are sturdy enough to use for dipping!

Try to pick your squash before they get too big and seedy.  Slice them about 1/8 inch thick.  The first time I tried to make these I sliced them as thin as I could get them.  In my mind, I thought the thinner, the crisper.  Mistake.  Oh they were crisp, but the middles all stuck to the dehydrator trays.  Besides that, the flavor didn’t come through as well.  So go just a little thick—-but not TOO thick.   There seems to be a fine line in the thickness department!  Some people use a mandolin, but mine is not the best and so I prefer to just use a sharp knife.  It doesn’t take long at all.  

As you cut, lay the slices on the dehydrator trays as close together as you can get them.  You’ll be surprised how quickly the trays fill up.  Next, you can sprinkle on salt or whatever spices you would like on yours.  The beauty of using squash is that since the cut surface is moist, your salt or spices will stick!  I personally like to use sea salt and a little bit of citric acid.  Citric acid gives a little bit of sourness and makes your mind think “salty.”  You can find citric acid in the canning section of the store.  What I’m using right now is Fruit Fresh, which is ascorbic acid and citric acid.  

My dehydrator has temperature control and I set mine at 135 degrees and let it run for several hours.  At first the slices will be fairly dry and pliable.  I want them to be a bit crispy so I let it run longer.  What I’m going for it that they will break when you bend them.  When they reach that state, you need to put them in an airtight container or bag right away.  Even leaving them sitting on the trays on the counter for 30 minutes caused mine to lose crispness, and they had to go right back in the dehydrator.  Lesson learned.  Put them up right away.  I found that after they cool, they are just a tiny bit crisper than they were when I checked them in the dehydrator.

You will be surprised at how much your chips shrink down from the original size!  I have 4 trays and that whole thing will make about a quart of chips.  

Experiment and get a feel for thickness and the amount of salt to use.  Try other spices if that sounds good to you.  Let us know how yours turn out!

Eat well, Y'all!!