Apple chips are thinly sliced apples that are lightly sprinkled with cinnamon, then baked until pleasantly crisp. Healthy homemade apple chips are a remarkably addictive snack. Unlike their store-bought counterparts, however, this apple chips recipe uses no sugar and the chips are baked, not fried. This is healthy snacking at its finest!
These chips are a hover situation.
As in, I’m going hover in the kitchen, hover over the container, and hover anywhere else where I can feasibly sneak another little handful before someone else beats me to it.
Because these baked cinnamon apple chips are a healthy snack, you can hover to your heart’s content.
5 Star Review
“These were absolutely wonderful. Turned out perfect the first time. I can’t believe how easy the recipe is. You must try this.”
— Mike —
About These Apple Chips
My first experience with homemade apple chips was elementary school, when my dad purchased a food dehydrator and decided that we were going to dry everything.
At one point, we had such a backup of assorted dried fruit and jerky that we probably could have hiked the Appalachian Trail.
While I don’t plan on purchasing a food dehydrator myself anytime soon, I still love apple chips and, fortunately, they are easy to bake in the oven.
In fact, I’d argue that baked apple chips taste even better than the machine-dehydrated ones because:
- You can make them truly crisp, versus chewy, similar to ones you’d find in a shiny bag.
- They don’t require an extra piece of bulky kitchen equipment that takes up precious counter space.
While I baked these often when Ben was in law school, I hadn’t busted out a batch in years.
After bringing home a particularly large apple haul from my local Wisconsin grocery store, however, I decided to refresh my memory and try making them once more.
They were outstanding! Dear Apple Chips, I won’t forget you again.
How to Make Apple Chips
These do take a while to bake (2 to 3 hours of low and slow), but I promise your house will smell magnificent by the end. Your cinnamon baked apple chips will be crispy, and after one bite, you’ll be hovering over the pan too!
Ingredients
- Apples. Aside from being totally delicious, apples contain vital nutrients like vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants that have been shown to boost heart, brain, and digestive health.
The Best Apple Varieties for Apple Chips
I used a mix of different Wisconsin apples, but any sweet-crisp apple will do nicely. Pink Lady, Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisp are four widely available ones, and if you are apple shopping in Wisconsin, look for Macouns, Cortlands, and heck, more Honeycrisps because ❤️?. (If you find yourself with a surplus of apples, check out my list of healthy apple recipes for inspiration.)
- Cinnamon. An apple’s BFFE. You just cannot beat the aroma and flavor of cinnamon with apples.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
- Wash, core, and thinly slice apples.
- Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake. The apples are ready when a single apple chip removed from the oven is crisp when set out at room temperature for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Turn off the oven and let the apples cool in the oven for 1 hour. ENJOY!
Like the Slow Cooker Apple Butter I shared a few weeks ago, once you see how easy and deliciously rewarding it is to make homemade apple chips from scratch, you’ll start to wonder why you haven’t been doing it this way all along.
Apple Chips
Ingredients
- 3 large sweet crisp apples, such as Honeycrisp, Fuji, Jazz, or Pink Lady
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven and preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
- Wash the apples. With an apple corer, very small cookie cutter, or the round side of a metal piping tip, core the apples (you can also skip this step if you don’t mind a few seeds in the chips). With a mandolin (recommended) or a very sharp knife, slice the apples horizontally into 1/8 inch-thick rounds.
- Arrange the apples in a single layer on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 1 hour in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Remove the baking sheets and switch the pans’ position on the upper and lower racks. Continue baking for 1 to 1 1/2 additional hours, until a single apple chip removed from the oven is crisp when set out at room temperature for 2 to 3 minutes (to test the apple chips, remove a single apple slice but let the others continue baking). Once you are happy with the crispness (the total time will vary based on the thickness of your slice and the type of apple), turn off the oven and let the apples sit in the oven for 1 hour as it cools down to crisp further (unless you fear you overcooked them, in which case remove the pan immediately and let it sit at room temperature).
Notes
- Thin slices are best! If you slice the apples more than 1/8 inch thick, they will still be delicious, but they won’t be crisp.
- The color of the final apple chip will vary based on the type of apple. Crisper apples tend to be lighter, while softer, sweeter apples tend to be darker.
- The total cooking time will vary based upon the moisture content of your apples.
- Store baked apple chips in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Favorite ways to enjoy these: Chopped and sprinkled over yogurt with granola, on top of salads, on top of oatmeal, and, of course, right out of the container!
Nutrition
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I had just bought some apple chips and they were really good. When I saw this recipe, I thought I could have them anytime I want. These were just as good as the packaged ones. I used honey crisp apples, no cinnamon and baked about 2 1/2 hours. I did use a mandolin and it was nice and thin, 1/8 inch. I have to go buy more apples and make more, these will be gone soon!
Hi Karen! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
I had bought some apple chips (in a bag from the store) and fell in love. I told my husband that they were too expensive to keep buying every other day and said I wanted to try to make my own. I found this recipe and let me say I am not disappointed at all! My biggest regret is not owning a mandolin because I feel like I could get way more slices out of an apple than I do with a knife. Off to go buy one I go! I definitely prefer the homemade version because I can make them whenever I want and I always have apples on hand! 10/10 will make again and will recommend these to anyone who asks!
Hi Steffy! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
I tried this today with Granny Smith apples. Worked great! I sliced the apples by hand since I don’t own a mandolin and that worked fine because I only dried a few apples. I put cinnamon on half the apples and sprinkled salt on the other half. They are both tasty, but I think I like the cinnamon apples best. I baked them for just over two hours and that was enough.
Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Jane! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
This was a great idea. I only got a few of them due to the fact I had my two granddaughters for the day. They loved the apple chips. I did too. Thanks
Hi! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
I just found your recipe and can’t wait to try it. I eat a lot of baked apple chips, as I have a hard time swallowing apples (my esophagus is not my friend). The store bought ones are really good, but it will be so nice to pick and choose my favorite apples to bake. Now to the store I go!
Enjoy Donna!