Thoughts of Smoky Beet Chips
This post is written by Full Circle guest blogger Monica Bennett. Check out her blog Just 5 More Minutes for more of her amazing photographs, stories and recipes!
On this particular early Saturday morning, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Outside, everything was alive. Outside, everything was also very chilly. I love when the sun shines down so brilliantly on the frost covered landscape. To me, it is one of the best times to strap on your hiking boots and head into the woods for a walk where the air is crisp and quiet surrounds you.
The frozen ground crunched under my feet as I walked through the woods. It is times like these when I am able to think clearly. Inspiration and ideas comes easily when in this element of nature.
Thinking to weekend plans and what to make for the hungry boys back at home, my mind keeps turning to those beautiful beets that are waiting for me in my kitchen. Oh those beets – they were definitely on my mind! I knew I wanted to do something with them, but what?
As I continued on, many ideas came to me. Roasted beets, beet pie or maybe even beet soup? I wanted to create something original and something to celebrate the beautiful colors of this root vegetable.
Then it came to me. Why not beet chips? Bradley, my seven year old loves the veggie chips I buy at our local organic market and he especially loves the beet chips. Maybe I could even make them taste better. Maybe, I can make them taste better and make them healthier. Frying them in oil was not an idea I had. Baking them in the oven was more like it.
I was excited and could hardly wait to get back home to start preparing the beet chips! Thank you so much Mother Nature for my clear mind and a fresh start to this beautiful day.
This recipe turned out excellent. These chips were light, airy and so incredibly crispy! The flavors of the beets condensed into a sweet deep smoky flavor. Absolutely incredible and probably the best chip I have ever tasted. I am always very happy when my recipes turn out this way. I am also very happy to be able to share the recipe.
I encourage you to have your young ones help out in preparing these chips. Bradley enjoyed slowly dipping each slice of beet into the egg mixture and strategically placing them on the baking sheet. I on the other hand, loved the opportunity to be able to explain to him not only how good beets are for our bodies but also the beneficial uses of the beautiful color they provide. He already knows how unhealthy artificial food colors are, so I was happy to be able to explain to him the many different uses of the beet color from adding it to foods all the way to coloring Easter eggs (which I think is something we will try this spring). It was a very special morning of bonding with him. How I love moments like these!
If you decide to prepare this there are two things you should keep in mind. First, the beets should all be the same thickness so they can cook evenly all together and secondly, after 15 minutes of baking, please keep your eye on them as ovens vary in temperature from one to another.
Bon appetit!
Ingredients
- 2 medium sized beets, scrubbed clean
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- Cooking spray*
- Flake sea salt for finishing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375. If you use convection (which I did) preheat to 350.
- Thinly slice** your beets and place them in a bowl of water. Rinse beets until water runs clear and pat dry with a dishcloth.
- In a shallow dish, beat your egg whites, paprika and garlic together.
- Take your beet slices that have been dried and one at a time, dip into the egg white mixture and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Keep the chips close together but do not overlap. Place into your oven on the lowest rack.
- After 10 minutes, spray the beets with your cooking spray. Increase your oven’s heat by 25 degrees (375 for convection; 400 for non-convection) and continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes. Keep your eye on them and remove from the oven when they turn a beautiful golden red-brown color. Cooking times will vary based on your oven.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes (if you can wait).
- Finish with flake sea salt.
- Bon appetite!
- * For this recipe I used a mandolin to evenly slice the beets. I would imagine a food processor with the slicing attachment would work well or a simple sharp knife too. It’s important to slice them as close to the same thinness as possible so the chips all cook evenly together.
- ** I love the manual spray pumps that you can fill with your own oil.
Download our handy Weekly Meal Planner for FREE! Take the guesswork out of what to eat, and make your meal planning stress free every week!
Comments
Trackbacks
-
[...] Guest Monica Bennett – Thoughts of Smoky… [...]
-
[...] Link to post and recipe Share this:ShareEmailFacebookTwitterStumbleUponTumblrDiggRedditLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
-
[...] and I'm getting excited about cooking again! Last night, we grilled plain old burgers and I made roasted beet chips as our side. They were ok; Matt and Sylvia ate them, Liam helped me make them and then told me he [...]
I too have gotten inventive with my FC beets! My favorite way currently is to shred them into pancake batter and make veggie pancakes, adding chopped onion and garlic (could be sauteed), and curry powder. Then I top with salsa and sometimes yogurt.
Makes pretty purple pancakes great for dinner!
This sounds heavenly!! I think you just gave me a great idea for dinner tonight
These look super tasty; I love the addition of the smoked paprika!
Thank you!!! The smoked paprika really made them delicious
Cool idea to coat the beets in egg whites before baking them, that adds a good bit of healthy protein. Also an interesting spice combo. Good stuff. I have tried salt/pepper and salt/sugar only so far, without egg yet. I wonder how the white influences the ultimate chip consistency? I may need to try this to find out! Happy baking!!!
Look beautiful and DELISIOUS. I love beets, but have never made them myself. Do you have to peel them first?
No, you don’t have to peel them, but make sure to really scrub them clean
Never would have guessed that egg whites make beet chips taste better! I’ve made potato chips at home before but never any other vegetable chips — am looking forward to trying there.
They are really delicious! I promise
Thank you so much everyone
Your comments mean so much to me!
To answer a couple of questions:
Veggie Wonder: The addition of the egg whites adds a nice “crispy” coating to the chips
I like your idea of the salt/sugar combination, I may have to try that!
Jen: No, you don’t have to peel them, but the scrub them good and hard to clean them.
Thanks again everyone
I just realized I could reply to each post individually, lol. I did answer your question below but I’ll repeat it
The egg whites add a nice crispy finish to the chip — really, really crispy and delicious! Make sure to slice your beets nice and thin if you don’t have a mandolin.
My love for beets drew me to notice this post.
I’ll be making these healthy chips very soon for sure.
Thanks for sharing your friend’s lovely kitchen savvy ;o)
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
This recipe is a beautiful, colorful choice for when baked kale chips don’t quite cut it. Great idea!
fyi, a typo:
“# In a shallow dish, beat your EGGS whites, paprika and garlic together. ”
nice blog otherwise! too nice to have a typo in it.
kc
mn
Thanks Kathy! Missed that one.