Name: Beet Chips
Total time: 3 h
Ingredients: 1 pound beets , peeled, trimmed, and sliced 1/16 inch thick; ½ teaspoon salt

Why This Recipe Works

Beet chips sounded delightful, but we were skeptical about getting truly crisp results without any special equipment. Indeed, many of the recipes we tested produced chips that were leathery and floppy, or overcooked and bitter. We knew that crispness depended on extracting as much moisture as possible from the beets. To do this without overcooking the chips, we tried lightly salting them to draw out some water—and it worked, extracting almost 2 tablespoons before cooking. We then tried microwaving the beets, which is a popular alternative to frying, but the process was inconsistent at best; the difference between perfection and burnt was mere seconds. So we took a cue from our kale chip method and slow-baked our beets in a 200-degree oven. It took a couple of hours but produced chips with a concentrated beet flavor, light crunch, and deep color.

Before You Begin

Be careful to not let the beet chips turn brown, as they will become bitter. Thinly sliced beets are key to crispy beet chips—use a mandoline or the slicing disk on a food processor.

Instructions

Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 200 degrees. Set wire racks in 2 rimmed baking sheets and spray with canola oil spray. Combine beets and salt in colander set over bowl and let drain for 25 minutes. Pat beets dry with paper towels.

Arrange beet slices on prepared racks, making sure slices overlap as little as possible. Bake beets until shrunken slightly and crisp throughout, 2 to 3 hours, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let beet chips cool completely before serving (beets will continue to crisp as they cool). (Beet chips can be stored in paper towel-lined airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)