Microwaved Beet Chips

These are delicious and cooking them won't heat up the house because it's done entirely in the microwave.  Woot-woot!  Beets are a sweet veg, and the flavor-texture result here is crunchy but melt-in-your-mouth, lightly sweet and lightly salty all at once.

The two in the back left are a leetle burned, but the rest are as they should be

The tricky part is that I can't tell you how long to nuke 'em.  It depends on how thinly you've sliced the beets, how powerful your microwave is, how many slices you're cooking at once.  I can tell you that these will burn between one second and the next if you're not careful though.  Start with a short time frame, then add time in 1 minute or 30 second intervals when you're getting close.  And watch them like a hawk with your finger on the STOP button in case you start to see or smell carbonization.  As usual, I screw up so you don't have to.

What I can tell you is what I did.  I have a "mid-size" microwave (don't know offhand how many watts).  I used 4 2" diameter beets and hand sliced them as thin as possible (pretty thin, but not totally regular or even).  I made the first batch with as many slices as I could fit in the microwave (about 3/4 of the slices).  You'll see the slices go from hard, to softened, to slightly curled to leathery to burned.  I started with 3 minutes.  They were just starting to look softened, so I added 3 minutes.  Then I added 1 more minute.  After 7 total minutes of cooking, they looked a little leathery but I thought they could use more time.  At 7 minutes 45 seconds, they were done but I didn't pull the emergency stop fast enough.  Fifteen more seconds gave me smoking briquettes and a reeky microwave. 

The second batch was much smaller, so at 3 minutes they were looking just leathery.  I gave them 30 more seconds, and stopped the microwave with 12 seconds left to go.  I spread the cooked chips on a paper towel and let them stand a few minutes.  They crisped up as they cooled. 

Four tennis ball sized beets will give you four small (about 1/3 cup) servings of chips.  Or one big afternoon snack.


Microwave Beet Chips
Makes 4 servings

4 2" diameter beets, scrubbed well (peeling not necessary) and sliced as thinly as possible
Cooking spray
Parchment paper trimmed to fit the turntable of your microwave
Salt (optional)

Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.  Lay the beet slices on the parchment, making sure none overlap.  If you need to do this in batches, divide the slices evenly between the batches (no "big" and "little" batches).  Spray the tops of the slices with cooking spray as well.

Transfer to the microwave and cook on high for 3 minutes.  Continue cooking in 30-60 second intervals until the chips have softened, then gone curly around the edges, then begun to look leathery.  This may take as long as 8 or 9 minutes, depending on the size of your microwave, the size of the batch and the thickness of the slices.  Stop the microwave immediately if you see or smell burning.  Better to be a little underdone than overdone here.

Spread cooked chips on a paper towel lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt if desired.  Allow them to cool and crisp up before serving. Pin It