Healthy Baked Carrot Chips with Spicy Harissa Yogurt Dip

These healthy baked carrot chips (and parsnip chips) make a delicious snack for your kids!  Served with spicy harissa yogurt dip for the adults.

I am continuing onwards and upwards in my quest to make more snacks & side dish recipes for le blog.  I realized that I had probably somewhere in the ballpark of 30 dessert recipes, and…5 snacks & sides?  Clearly this area needed a little attention.

This week’s baked carrot chips recipe is so simple.  I like simplicity.  I don’t have time for candy thermometers or brulee torches.

I must sound like a broken record about my kid’s naps.  They barely exist.  Today we had a 16-minuter.  I wish I was joking.  So…I had 16 minutes to spring into action and get these babies into the oven.  Not a problem.  I actually had time to spare!

I don’t know about you but I’ve had my issues in getting crispy oven-baked anything…french fries, sweet potato fries…and we’ve tried just about every recipe and method out there.  The closest we seem to get to crispy is chewy.  Yum.  Chewy fries that actually got stuck in my teeth.  So I was pretty pessimistic when I tried this recipe.

But low and behold…crispy baked carrot chips!  Ohmygosh.

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Not only were they crispy.  They were tasty.  Both the carrots and the parsnips had a mildly sweet flavor that came out when they were baked, and with the subtle cumin spice and salt and pepper…mmm…

The best part about this recipe: no frying.  The next best thing about this recipe: no fussy mandoline that is inevitably going to decapitate one of your fingers {a simple vegetable peeler is all you need}.

Wait!  I have more….these baked carrot chips take less than 10 minutes to bake, and they’re veggies, so you can feel perfectly guilt-free about your chippy snack.

Edit:  I realized after hitting “publish” that I really didn’t write anything about the dip!  The dip actually turned out really nicely…it is tangy from the mayo, spicy from the harissa {holy harissa, that stuff is spicy}, and cool from the greek yogurt and lemon.  I really like that the spice kicks in, but then the lemon and yogurt cool you back down.  So, there you go.  Dip away!

Tips for crispy chips:

• use a rack positioned over a cookie sheet so the air can get to all sides of the fries {do not place directly on the cookie sheet!}
• use the convection setting on your oven {if possible; if not, increase the bake time}
• don’t abandon the oven; you’re going to want to keep an eye on the first batch since they can overcook quite quickly
• make sure your chips get nice and brown before removing from the oven {see photos above}.  My first batch I thought they were burning but they were just right

More Healthy Snacks & Sides:

• Spicy Chili-Lime Roasted Potatoes
• Fast & Easy Roasted Carrots & Radishes with Dill Butter
• Pan Fried Gnocchi with Sage & Black Pepper

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Healthy Baked Carrot Chips with Spicy Harissa Yogurt Dip

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

20 mins

 

These healthy baked carrot chips (and parsnip chips) make a delicious snack for your kids!  Served with spicy harissa yogurt dip for the adults.

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: 1

Ingredients

Carrot & Parsnip Chips

• 1 carrot or parsnip peeled into strips
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt & pepper

Spicy Harissa Yogurt Dip

• 1/2 cup greek yogurt any type of yogurt is fine
• 1/4 cup mayonaise
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon harissa paste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

Carrot & Parsnip Chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F {convection if your oven has this setting}

2. Peel carrot or parsnip into long strips with a vegetable peeler. Toss in olive oil, then cumin.
3. Arrange on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 8 minutes {parsnips} or 10 minutes {carrots} or until edges are browned and chips are crispy. Cool slightly and enjoy.

Spicy Harissa Yogurt Dip

1. Whisk together all dip ingredients until smooth.

Recipe Notes

Recipe is for 1 carrot or 1 parsnip; I could only fit one at a time on my wire rack and did 1 batch of each for the photos shown.