Homemade Zesty Guacamole AND Chips

Homemade zesty guacamole and chips has been a well-loved snack around here for a long time! And I mean both the guacamole AND chips are homemade- not a bag of chips. The guacamole is easy and delicious, and I love it because it’s healthy and really flavorful! However, homemade chips are a bit more time consuming and are not so healthy, but still delicious. Chips aren’t hard to make either; they just require a bit more work. However, they can be made ahead of time which is nice although fresh chips are really good!

The ingredient list for this is short, and it is fairly economical to make. Our local store often runs sales on avocados, and when they do, I throw a few in my cart. The corn tortillas needed to make the chips is an inexpensive item that makes a lot of chips. I have noticed that different tortillas cook up differently, and I personally prefer a thinner tortilla like the Mission brand corn tortillas (taco size). This is because if they are too thick it takes longer to cook, and they get too brown. Cooking them through is important for a crunchy chip, and we don’t like them overly brown and rather chewy. For this reason, I do not use homemade style tortillas for chips. Another thing to note, vegetable oil is preferred as the best oil to cook these chips in. The heating is even, and the end result is best.

Make your chips and guacamole into a meal. Sometimes, we will have all umpteen of our nieces and nephews over for a homemade nacho party with fresh chips, guacamole, beans, cheese, and loads of fresh toppings, and oh my, is that good! The sky is the limit here. BBQ chicken nachos are another awesome variation. So, if you are feeling a touch ambitious then give my delicious snack recipe a try. You will not be disappointed!

Homemade zesty Guacamole and chips

Makes approximately 1 quart of guacamole

4 large, ripe avocados, semi-soft works best

Juice of 1 large lime

2 tbsps. of dried, minced onion

1/2 tsp. of sea salt

1/2 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes

1 tbsp. of fresh minced parsley

Peel and seed avocados putting avocado meat into bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mush into a thick dip with a potato masher. After this store in the fridge for a half hour and allow flavors to develop. Serve with chips. Use this guacamole in your other south west inspired dishes. It is easy and versatile.

How to make Chips

Makes enough to fill a big bowl!

Chips are not that hard! And you don’t need a deep fryer either! I make my chip in a large pan on my stove top- easy!

1 25 oz bag of Taco-sized, yellow corn tortillas cut into quarters (Mission brand corn tortillas work well for this)

Vegetable oil (enough to fill a large pan 2 inches)

Sea salt

First, get a large sheet pan and line it with paper towels because this is where you will put cooked chips to drain. After this heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large pan over medium-low heat- I don’t recommend getting impatient and cranking the heat up to high on this. Otherwise you may have overly brown chips that are chewy in the middle. When oil has heated put in a few tortilla quarters. Your pan size will determine how many you put in. The goal is to have enough room for the chips to cook, so yes, add plenty, but don’t pack your pan. For my large pan I probably cook about 15-20 at a time.

While chips are cooking, I turn them with my tongs. It takes about 5-10 minutes for a batch to cook, but I always pull one chip out and cool it quick to test its crunchiness. If it’s a bit chewy in the middle, then I keep cooking. When chips are cooked crunchy then carefully take out of oil with tongs and put on lined sheet and generously season with sea salt. As the pan gets full transfer cooled chips to a bowl.

It will probably take a couple a chips batches to get the hang of cooking chips, but as you keep going it gets easier. If I am going to make chips, then I make a lot and do a lot of batches to make it worth the effort. Plus, the chips get eaten fast- lol! Enjoy!

Have an awesome day!