Golden crispy chips, cooked in the air fryer so they’ve got a nice bit of crunch, but they’re soft in the middle.
No need to soak the potatoes or par-boil. Just toss the potatoes in a little cornflour, oil and seasoning and they can go right in the air fryer.
Ready in 20 minutes!
Making homemade chips was one of the first things I tested when I finally got around to buying my air fryer.
I tried a number of different methods:
- Soaking the potatoes in water, then patting dry before air frying.
- Verdict: The outcome didn’t warrant the effort and time of washing and drying the potatoes. Yes, the idea is to remove excess starch so the potatoes don’t burn before they’re cooked. But I found I could cook them without soaking, and they were ALWAYS cooked in the middle before the outside got too brown.
- Steaming in a foil parcel in the air fryer to par-cook the potatoes before air frying. The idea was to par-cook them in an air fryer because who has the time to par-cook chips in water? So I thought I’d see if my air fryer could steam them for me.
- Verdict: Turns out if can’t. Even after 15 minutes air-frying in foil, the potatoes were hard and rather dry. Plus I was worried the foil could be a fire-risk. So that ruled this option out.
- Air frying the chips in just oil, salt and pepper (rather than using the addition of cornflour and paprika in the final recipe).
- Verdict: This worked just fine, and I’d recommend this if you didn’t have cornflour or paprika in. The cornflour adds just a little bit more crispness and the paprika adds just a little more gorgeous golden colour.
📋 Ingredients
- Potatoes – I like to use floury potatoes – such as Maris Piper or Rooster, as the edges go a little more crispy. I peel the potatoes first, but you can leave them skin-on for a more rustic feel.
- Cornflour (cornstarch) – adds a little extra crispness to the chips
- Oil – use your favourite neutral-tasting frying oil (such as rapeseed or sunflower).
📺 Watch how to make it
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post***
- First things first, prep the potatoes. Give them a peel and a wash (if needed). Then, chop up into chips and toss in the cornflour.
- When the chips are fully coated in cornflour, coat them in the oil and seasonings. Then just pop them in the air fryer, tossing them every so often until they are golden brown.
- Super simple and quick, I like to serve them with a sprinkling of sea salt.
Pro Tip
You can add extra flavourings to your chips before air-frying if you like. Cajun spice, garlic salt (reduce the regular salt accordingly) and curry powder make great additions for a different flavour.
You can also make these chips chunky, skinny or crinkle-cut. Skinny chips will take a few minutes less, and chunky chips will take a few minutes more in the air fryer – just check on them and give them a shake an extra couple of times to ensure they don’t burn.
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Pin It🍽️ What to serve it with
Since these are a side dish, they can be served with LOADS of things (I particularly like them with Lasagne or Steak Pie, but if you’re looking to serve them as a snack, how about:
- On some homemade bread or brioche buns for the ultimate chip butty (there’s the Northern girl coming out)
- Dipped in spicy bang bang sauce, BBQ sauce or classic burger sauce
- Smothered in homemade gravy, or upgrade further and make into poutine, salt and pepper chips or pizza fries!
Crispy, golden and fluffy. They are the perfect side to any meal, or can just be eaten by themselves as a snack. 😋
🍲 More fantastic Potato Sides
These are best eaten freshly cooked, but if you want to prep ahead a little, you could cut the peel and slice the potatoes into chips, then place them in a bowl of cold water (so they’re totally covered).
They’ll be fine on the side for an hour, but any more than that put them in the fridge. I wouldn’t recommend leaving them in water for more than 8 hours.
Use sweet potatoes, just check them regularly so they don’t catch.
Add additional flavourings – such as Cajun spice, dried herbs (rosemary is lovely), garlic salt, chilli flakes or curry powder.If you’re using chilli flakes or dried herbs, add them halfway through cooking, so they don’t burn.
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Air Fryer Chips
Ingredients
- 700 g (1 ½ lbs) of floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or Rooster – these will ensure a fluffier chip interior and a crispier exterior.
- 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 2 tbsp frying oil use your favourite neutral tasting oil – such as rapeseed, sunflower or vegetable
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
To Serve:
- pinch salt and pepper
Instructions
- Peel and slice potatoes into chips (about 1cm thick)700 g (1 ½ lbs) of floury potatoes
- If they're a bit grubby, then rinse in cold water, drain and pat dry, if they're not grubby you don't need to do this step.
- Add the chips to a bowl and toss with the cornflour until coated1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- Add oil, salt, pepper, and paprika and toss again so they're evenly coated2 tbsp frying oil, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp paprika
- Place in the air fryer and cook 190C/375F for 20 mins, shaking every 5 minutes
- Serve with a sprinkling of salt and pepper if you like.pinch salt and pepper
Video
Notes
When you’re ready to cook use, drain the potatoes and pat dry before continuing on with the recipe. Ingredient swaps
- Use sweet potatoes, just check them regularly so they don’t catch
- Add additional flavourings – such as Cajun spice, dried herbs (rosemary is lovely), garlic salt, chilli flakes or curry powder.
- If you’re using chilli flakes or dried herbs, add them halfway through cooking, so they don’t burn.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was first published in Sept 22. Updated in July 2024 with a video and some housekeeping.
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My second comment for the second time i’ve used this technique and i still haven’t made chips!
This time i did courgette chunks just added a tsp of fine semolina to the cornflour and some finely grated parmesan keeping an eye on them using the light function(D200),my courgette chunks took about 12 mins.
For reference i’ve been using the Ninja D200 air fry oven so because it’s wider i can spread everything out on the fine wire rack which negates the need for a shake break plus you can see what’s going on.
One day i’ll do the actual chips. 👍
Great chips. I make chips all the time but never really considered you want the inside cooked before the outside burns because I had the habit from oven frying of really going for as brown as possible. Paprika was an awesome tip too thanks
I used this technique(I added some dried mixed herbs)to make crispy new potato halves for a mid-week mini roast.
Excellent results and saved to my favs.
Cheers!
These airfryer chips are fantastic, will not be using frozen chips ever again