Ever stared at a bag of chips and thought, "I bet I could make these myself"? We get it. There's something deeply satisfying about turning a few raw sweet potatoes into a crispy, golden snack with your own two hands. It's one of our most frequently asked questions, so today we're sharing the recipe we've spent countless hours perfecting, first in our home kitchen, then in a commercial kitchen, and now in our manufacturing facility. The good news? The core process stays the same no matter where you're cooking.
What you'll need
Here's a quick list of supplies to get you started:
- Sweet potatoes
- Avocado oil or coconut oil for frying
- Himalayan sea salt
- A mandoline for slicing
- A metal spatula, preferably a spider spatula
- A wide, shallow pan or pot
Choosing your supplies
Finding the right pan
The pan you choose might be the most important decision you make. We started with a Dutch oven, which worked fine but limited us to small batches. If you have one, a Dutch oven is a great place to start. As we scaled up, we worked with a local metal fabricator to build wide, shallow pans (think 12+ inches across and about 6 inches deep). The wider and shallower your pan, the more evenly your chips will cook.
Picking your sweet potatoes
Grocery store sweet potatoes work well for this recipe. Fresher potatoes tend to fry up a little better, and most grocery stores carry potatoes that were harvested fairly recently. If you want to go deeper on varieties and what makes each one unique, check out our guide to the types of sweet potatoes.
Mastering the slice
A mandoline gives you control over thickness, and thinner slices generally fry faster and more evenly. Try to keep every slice a consistent thickness from edge to edge. If you let your slices sit out for a few minutes after cutting (no more than five), they'll fry up a bit quicker once they hit the oil.
Prepping your potatoes
Wash, peel, and slice your sweet potatoes as thin as you can while keeping the thickness uniform. Peeling ahead of time isn't required, but it does make the mandoline step a little smoother.
Bring your oil up to temperature, ideally somewhere between 315 and 330 degrees Fahrenheit. An infrared thermometer makes this a lot easier to track. Make sure you have at least 3 inches of oil in your pan before you start.
How to fry your sweet potato chips
Frying usually takes about 6 to 8 minutes per batch. A good ratio is roughly 3 cups of oil for every two medium sweet potatoes (about the size of an adult fist), so 6 cups of oil should comfortably handle 4 medium potatoes. When in doubt, add more oil rather than more slices. Smaller batches with plenty of oil almost always cook better.
Once your oil hits temperature, add the slices one at a time, spreading them out so they don't clump together and cook unevenly. The oil temperature will drop once the slices go in, then slowly climb back up as the water in the potatoes cooks off.
Use your spatula to gently stir the slices so they don't stick to one another. You'll know they're close to done when the bubbling slows way down. This usually happens within 6 to 8 minutes, though it depends on your batch size. At this point, the chips should look bright orange with just a hint of brown.
Finishing the batch
Pull your chips when they look slightly underdone. They'll continue to firm up after they come out of the oil, so soft and pliable is exactly what you want at this stage. Give them 2 to 3 minutes to start stiffening, and within about 5 minutes they should reach that satisfying, crisp texture. If they're still soft after 5 minutes, let that batch cook a little longer and adjust your timing for the next one.
A metal colander works well for draining oil before transferring your chips to a paper-towel-lined bowl. We like to season right away, while the chips are still hot, so the salt sticks.
Time to enjoy
All that slicing, frying, and patience pays off the moment you take that first crunchy bite. In our house, the cook always gets a chip for every chip they hand out, and honestly, that's a rule worth adopting.
Making chips from scratch is a genuinely fun kitchen project, but we also know life gets busy. As one of our customers, Kathy S., put it: "These are the best tasting, and are the only sweet potato chips I've found that I can actually have! Using avocado oil and all clean ingredients is a game changer for me!" And registered dietitian Lauren Manaker has recommended Jackson's sweet potato chips for their short ingredient list and kettle-cooked crunch, as featured in EatingWell.
If you want to compare your homemade batch to a snack we've spent years perfecting, our Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips are made with real sweet potatoes, kettle-cooked in avocado oil, and finished with just the right touch of sea salt. For more on what makes this snack tick, take a look at our sweet potato chips breakdown.
The takeaway
Whether you're slicing your own sweet potatoes or reaching for a bag from the pantry, snacking should feel like something you enjoy, not something you overthink. Making your own sweet potato chips is a hands-on way to connect with your food and impress everyone at the table. And on the days you'd rather skip the mandoline, we'll be here with a bag ready to go. Shop Jackson's Sweet Potato Chips or find a store near you and grab a bag today.
