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This recipe is taken from my book Mila’s Meals: The Beginning & The Basics.
This is a gluten-free, dairy-free AND refined sugar-free recipe. All Mila’s Meals recipes are.
“I don’t eat vegetables!”
When Mila was 3 years old she declared “I don’t eat vegetables!”.
Just like that.
Gone were the delicious veggie-laded meal ideas she had gobbled up before.
Again, I was forced to get creative in the kitchen. That is why many of my recipes now have the tag “#sneakyveggies”
Mila is now 10 years old and she will, now, only happily eat vegetables if they are raw or dehydrated – or baked crispy like vegetable chips.
(Or hidden in other foods where she doesn’t even know they are!)
Are you a snacker?
For me, once Mila is in bed for the night and I have some quiet time to myself, I find myself wanting to munch on something – usually something crispy and salty.
“Normal” or store-bought chips make me feel ill – probably due to the amount of seed or vegetable oils used to cook them.
So, while I originally created this recipe for Mila to entice her to eat more vegetables, I am the person who benefits the most from making these!
Homemade vegetable chips are a nutritious alternative to deep fried crisps and which are usually laced with MSG, colourants, preservatives and trans fats.
You can make them with a variety of different vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips. (Parsnips are particularly delicious and a rich source of vitamin C!).
The amount of vegetables needed in the recipe really depends on how many baking trays you have!
The vegetables shrink a lot once cooked – so what may look like a mountain of soon-to-be chips going into the oven, will be a third of the size when they come out! My advice is to fill all your baking trays, and perhaps even do a few batches throughout the day.
But Wait! Air Fryers have arrived!
I must say, I don’t make these crisps that often because of the length of time they need to be watched in the oven. But now… we have air fryers!
(Well, I’m waiting for Father Christmas to bring me mine – but I made parsnip crisps in my mom’s and they were so good, my sister-in-law ran out to go buy herself an air-fryer!)
Vegetable Chips Air Fryer cooking instructions:
Cook at 180C for 15-18 minutes flipping half way through.
Quick & Easy right?!
THE AIR FRYER I’M EYEING OUT
Why this one? It’s big enough to make a batch of veggie chips! It dehydrates as well. And the trays, housing, heating element and internal cavity are all stainless steel and free from Teflon and other non-stick nastiness.
Beetroot & Zucchini Chips Recipe
Beetroot & Zucchini Chips Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Air Fryer, or baking trays & oven
- 1 pastry brush
- 1 mandolin
Ingredients
- 1 large zucchini or 4 baby marrows, washed
- 2 beetroot washed and peeled
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tsp desert or sea salt
Instructions
- Using a pastry brush (or painting brush), brush your baking trays with olive oil.
- Thinly slice the zucchini (or baby marrows) and beetroot (a mandolin is great for this).
- Place the slices on the prepared baking trays and brush lightly with olive oil.
- Sprinkle the salt over all the slices (less is more!)
- Bake in the oven for approximately 2 hours – they should be crispy, not soggy or brown.
- Cool on a wire rack and serve.
- These can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days. If they get a little soggy, simply ‘refresh’ in the oven until crispy again.
Notes
Air Fryer cooking instructions:
- Cook at 180 C for 15-18 minutes flipping half way through.
Variations:
You can make them with a variety of different root vegetables (parsnips are particularly good).FIND MORE GLUTEN-FREE, DAIRY-FREE & SUGAR-FREE RECIPES ON THE MILA’S WEBSITE – www.milasmeals.co.za – OR IN OUR AWARD WINNING COOKBOOK – ‘Mila’s Meals: The Beginning & The Basics’.
Nutritional Value & Health Benefits
Highlighting the health benefits and nutrients of the main ingredients used in this recipe.
Information taken from the ingredient glossary of my book 'Mila's Meals: The Beginning & The Basics'.
Beetroot is an excellent source of folate.
It is a very good source of:
- manganese
- potassium
- copper
And a good source of:
- dietary fibre
- magnesium
- phosphorus
- iron
- vitamins B6
- vitamin C
Beets are high in antioxidants, have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties and support detoxification of the body (by neutralising toxins and making them sufficiently water-soluble for excretion in the urine).
Zucchinis are an excellent source of manganese.
They are a very good source of:
- vitamin B6
- vitamin C
- vitamin K1
- magnesium
- dietary fibre
- copper
- phosphorus
- potassium
- folate
A good source of:
- vitamin A
- vitamin B1
- vitamin B2
- zinc
- omega-3 fatty acids
- niacin
- pantothenic acid
- calcium
- iron
- choline
- protein
Baby marrows have both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Mila’s Meals Reviews
