3 Freeze-Dried Veggie Chips to Replace Potato Chips

Salty and crunchy is a hard craving to shake, especially in winter. Freeze-drying vegetables into chip form solves that without the carbs, fat, or calories that come with a bag of regular chips — and a mandolin slicer is worth having on hand, since thin, even slices are what make these actually crisp up like a chip instead of drying out unevenly.

1. Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrients and fiber, and they hold up well as a chip. Cut them lengthwise, slice thin on a mandolin, toss lightly with olive oil and salt, then freeze-dry. Once they're done, a sprinkle of herb seasoning or seasoned salt finishes them off.

2. Green Bean Chips

Whole string beans, tossed with olive oil and salt (or a lemon-pepper seasoning if you want something sharper), freeze-dry into something that genuinely scratches the same itch as french fries — crunchy, salty, and easy to eat by the handful.

3. Kale Chips

Toss the greens with sea salt and olive oil before freeze-drying, then add about 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast per 12-ounce bunch in a zip-top bag and shake gently to coat. The nutritional yeast adds a savory, almost cheesy flavor that makes kale chips far more snackable than a plain version.

Mix and Match

Combining two or three of these in one bowl makes for a more interesting snack tray, both visually and nutritionally, than sticking to just one vegetable.

More Ways to Build Out Your Snack Rotation

If you're building a regular freeze-dried snack habit, how to add more veggies to your diet has more ideas beyond chips, freeze-drying and rehydrating crunchy vegetables goes deeper on getting that crunch right, and freeze-dried after-school snacks is a good next stop if you're snacking for a family rather than just yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What vegetables make good freeze-dried chips?
Sweet potatoes, green beans, and kale all freeze-dry well into crunchy, chip-like snacks — thin, even slices (a mandolin helps) are what get the texture right.

How much nutritional yeast do you use for kale chips?
About 1 tablespoon per 12-ounce bunch of kale, added after freeze-drying and shaken in a zip-top bag to coat evenly.

Are freeze-dried veggie chips lower in calories than regular chips?
Yes — since they're made from whole vegetables with just a light coating of oil and salt rather than being fried, they come without the added fat and calories of a typical bagged chip.

Do you need a mandolin slicer to make freeze-dried veggie chips?
It's not strictly required, but slicing thin and even — which a mandolin makes much easier — is what helps the chips crisp up properly instead of drying unevenly.