Potato Chip meet Taco.

Today’s “recipe” (and I use that term loosely) is more about the fun of playing with your food than anything else. Sure, you could just buy a bag of Tostitos Scoops and fill them with your favorite taco ingredients, but then you wouldn’t get to experience the excitement and satisfaction of making your own tiny tacos shells from thinly sliced potatoes! And good luck finding a potato chip that’s baked, not fried, and uses very little oil and a delicious variety of spices.

The funny thing about me offering a fun finger food recipe for game day, is that I never watch the super bowl, and we never throw parties. I don’t even watch it “for the commercials” like I hear a lot of people claim. If the commercials are that great, I’ll see them everywhere Monday on the internets. The truth is, no matter how little I care for NFL football, I really love snack food and appetizers. Sometimes I make a whole dinner out of appetizers. Hummus and veggies, homemade tortilla chips and dips, spicy buffalo cauliflower “bites,”  crispy un-fried pickles… yum yum yum.

The idea for these miniature tacos came to me one night after I had been going through my recipe archives, and reminded of these Cheezy Potato Blossoms. Also, we had just enjoyed one of my favorite easy meals, the Nacho Potato Plate from Oh She Glows. I started thinking, why couldn’t I turn sliced potatoes into little taco shells?? A cute, tiny, crispy, potato chip taco hybrid. But how?? I considered trying to form little curved chips using a muffin tin, as I did with the potato “flowers,” but then my eye caught something in my cupboard. It was the perfect tool for creating a little bend in the potatoes as they baked. What is this mysterious apparatus, you ask? None other than a simple metal cooling rack.

It worked great! And now you understand why this recipe is for those who like playing with getting creative with their food. It’s actually quite easy, as long as you have a basic, non-coated, metal cooling rack. The heat from the oven didn’t affect mine at all, but then again it’s not my only cooling rack and it was cheap. I consulted google first to find out if anyone else had tried putting their cooling racks in a hot oven. If you have an expensive cooling rack, or one that is treated with non-stick coating, or made with anything other than metal, please don’t attempt this! I don’t want anyone coming back and accusing me of ruining their fancy kitchen tools!

I’ve made these three times now. On the third try, I decided to try to flip over the chips so that the bottoms would get crisp. You can skip this step if you want, the bottom of the chip will be cooked, it just won’t be crispy. I had my husband try them pre-crispy bottoms and he still thought they were really good. If you’re as committed to having a perfectly crisp chip like I was, then definitely flip them over part way.

Fill them with a dollop of guacamole, salsa, seasoned beans, or my easy vegan cheese sauce and a sprinkle of green onions.

Healthy, homemade, and just darn stinkin’ CUTE! Impress your friends and make them some tiny potato chip tacos for your game day party (or appetizer dinner) 😉

Mini Baked Potato Chip Tacos – Vegan, Gluten Free, Grain Free

1 large potato yields about 24 tiny tacos

• Ingredients:
• 1 or 2 large organic russet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced as thinly as possible (I used a mandolin) I didn’t peel my potatoes
• avocado oil or other oil of choice (use about 1/4 tsp per potato, plus a tiny bit extra to oil the cooling rack and pan)
• a few shakes of chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and sea salt
• toppings of choice: salsa, guacamole, vegan cheese sauce, beans, green onions, cilantro, etc.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 410 F. Line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper, add a tiny bit of oil to the parchment paper and use your hand to rub it around. This will keep the bottoms of the slices from sticking. Optional: If you have time, soak your potato slices in a large bowl of ice cold water while the oven heats up (this helps with crispiness).
2. Dry the slices well, and toss with avocado, olive, or coconut oil, using your hands to distribute evenly. Use a small amount, about a 1/4 – 1/2 tsp, you don’t want them to be too oily or they won’t get as crispy. Sprinkle with  a few dashes of chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and sea salt, and toss carefully to distribute.
3. Add a bit of oil to your hands and run them over the cooling rack. Set the cooling rack on top of the parchment lined pan. Start tucking in each slice of potato into the cooling rack.
4. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes, keeping an eye on them. When the edges are lightly browned, take them out and carefully flip them over so they hang over each wire, then bake for about 10 minutes longer, or until the bottoms are browned. Bake times will vary depending on your oven and how thin your potato slices.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a plate or tray and filling.

Tips:

Choose large/fat potatoes, if your slices are too small in circumference, they will pop out of the cooling rack. You want fairly large slices, so choose large potatoes.

I’ve only tried this using russet potatoes, so I can’t vouch for other varieties of white potatoes, or sweet potatoes. If you try something else, let us know how it worked.

Use as little oil as possible, too much oil will yield soggy chips. Less oil is better for us anyway! (I haven’t tried these using NO oil, so I can’t say if it would work or not).

The photo above above is from a trial where I didn’t use parchment paper, and the bottoms stuck to the pan, so I highly recommend using a sheet of lightly greased parchment paper.

If all else fails, this recipe makes some pretty delicious potato chips! The magic of the rack is that they get nice and crispy on all sides, and who doesn’t love a curled up potato chip??