Low Carb Zucchini Chips And How To Make Them

I’m a chip girl. I always have been. Thankfully, there are a few chips on the market that I love that aren’t completely awful for you. But all-in-all, I’ve always tried really hard not to eat them. Now that I’m eating low carb, not being able to have the occasional chip has nearly done me in. At least until I discovered zucchini chips.

If I’m completely honest, I have to say that while I love chips, it really all comes down to the dip. They go hand in hand. It’s tough to eat dip without chips and visa versa. At least for me. So I was very happy to discover this little gem of a chip.

Now, there is nothing spectacular about these (again with the honesty). They aren’t “knock it out of the ballpark” flavorful on their own. But pair them with a good dip and it becomes a very different story.

You see, all they are is dehydrated zucchini slices. It’s nothing exotic or terribly exciting and I can’t even give you a recipe because there is none. It’s just one ingredient, zucchini. But there are a few things I have discovered that I thought I would share with you here. Things that really make these chips crunchy and more like actual chips. After all, what’s a chip without it’s crunch? Isn’t that really why we eat them? That crunch is just so satisfying!

TIPS FOR MAKING GREAT ZUCCHINI CHIPS

1. If you can get your hands on a mandolin for slicing, do it. Not only does the process of slicing go much faster, but you’ll get all your chips uniform in size which means they’ll all dry evenly and at the same time in your dehydrator.
2. Since I mentioned size, I’ll tell you that I have found a 1/4 inch cut to be just perfect. At that thickness, they aren’t too thick (which takes much, much longer to dehydrate) and they aren’t too chin (which gives you tissue paper instead of chips and makes it impossible to pick up dip).
3. If you don’t get them sliced uniformly, don’t worry. Set them to dehydrate and when the process is finished, simply remove the chips that are done and do another cycle with the chips that didn’t quite get finished. If you can’t leave your dehydrator going overnight, I highly recommend putting your unfinished chips in a container and in the fridge overnight until you can start the dehydrator up again the next day.
4. If they are truly dry, you can feel it. It feels like a chip. There is no moisture in them at all. If they don’t feel like that, they aren’t done.
5. I have an Excalibur dehydrator. On my machine, I set it for 8 hours on the vegetable temperature (I believe it’s 125 or 135), then check to see which chips need another 8 hour cycle.

Once you’ve gone through this cycle a few times, you’ll be a pro! Just remember to make a great batch of dip to go with them because you’re going to want it, I promise. Just be careful because the carbs on veggies can still add up. Remember that when zucchini is dehydrated, you could easily eat 3 or 4  entire, large zucchinis without realizing it. So just stay aware of portions and you’ll be fine.

Also, I’m giving you the nutrition stats below from the HoneyVille.com website because nutrition data on dehydrated foods can be a little tough to track down. This is a company that sells dehyrated foods and this was the data listed on their can. This data is for dehydrated zucchini, not fresh zucchini.