These simple baked apple chips are a great healthy snack to make this fall with all of the extra apples that you have leftover from apple picking. No fancy equipment required!
The great thing about these simple baked apple chips is that they really are simple! They require no fancy equipment at all – not a dehydrator, not a fancy slicer, and no obscure ingredients. All you’ll need to make these tasty, low calorie, crunchy dried apple snacks is just apples, cinnamon, an oven, and a bit of patience.
Every autumn, I make sure to make my traditional apple cake for something with a bit of extra sweetness, and I make these apple chips or baked apples to balance it out with something a little healthier.
Which Type of Apple is Best for This Apple Chips Recipe?
When it comes to apple recipes, most people have strong opinions about which type of apple they prefer to use, especially when it comes to things like applesauce, muffins, or classic apple pie. I absolutely swear by macintosh apples for my homemade apple sauce, but I honestly don’t have a strong opinion when it comes to these chips because every variety I’ve tried seems to work quite nicely.
A tart granny-smith apple chip is delightful, but we also love to pick fresh golden delicious when we go to the orchard every fall and those have worked well for me too. Whatever type of apple that you have available to you, whether it’s a fuji apple or a honeycrisp, should work beautifully as long as it’s ripe. You really can’t mess up an apple cinnamon baking recipe. It’s a combination that will never let you down.
Making the Baked Apple Chips
My original intention was to slice these up using my food processor because those skinny little slices just looked like they’d be too finicky to deal with otherwise, and I don’t own a mandoline. The apples I was dealing with were huge though and there would be no way to fit them into my food processor’s chute to get them sliced up in there. Also, I wanted the pretty, full slices for my baked chips.
These crispy apple chips are great for snacking, but they also make a beautiful garnish for apple dessert recipes or a mug of steamed cider. A single apple slice would be perfect on top of one of my caramel apple cinnamon rolls as well.
I decided to just try slicing the apples evenly myself with a nice, sharp knife and it took me about 2 minutes to slice up the four apples that I chipped. You can check out my tips for sharpening and caring for knives here if you think your knife could use a tune-up before you attempt this: How to Properly Clean and Sharpen Knives.
When you make this recipe, make sure that your slices are no more than about 1/8″ thick or you won’t really be able to achieve a nice, crisp chip with a satisfying crunch during the baking process. You can use something like an apple corer or a mini cookie cutter to cut a nice clean circle in the middle of each slice, or you can just leave the pretty flower shape in the middle if you don’t mind it.
You can also use a peeler to remove the peel prior to slicing if you prefer, but I really like the traditional look of the spiced slices when they aren’t peeled.
Checking Baked Apple Chips for Doneness
At the end of the baking process when it’s time to see if your chips are ready, here’s what you do: Remove just one chip from the oven and place it on the counter for about 2-3 minutes. When they’re still in the oven, they’ll seem soft and chewy, but they should crisp up when they’re allowed to cool down to room temperature. If not, try leaving your chips in the oven for another 20 minutes or so, then test again.
When you’re satisfied with your chips, store them at room temperature in an airtight container.
Try these crispy chips crumbled on top of granola or oatmeal with raisins, yogurt, and walnuts. You could even drizzle a bit of homemade apple cinnamon syrup on top for an extra seasonal touch.
Here’s the full printable recipe for the baked apple chips!
These simple baked apple chips are a great healthy snack to make this fall with all of the extra apples that you have leftover from apple picking. No fancy equipment required!
- 4 Apples
- Cinnamon
- Ginger (optional, if you're feeling fancy)
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Preheat your oven to 200°.
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Slice your apples into 1/8" thick slices using a very sharp knife.
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Arrange your apple slices in one layer on two parchment lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with about a teaspoon of cinnamon, and about half as much ginger as well, if you like.
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Bake at 200 degrees for 3-3.5 hours, rotating each baking sheet after about 1.5 hours.
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When cooking time is up, remove just one apple chip from the oven and leave it out on the counter for 2-3 minutes to test for crispness. If they're not crisp yet, leave the apple chips in the oven for another 20 minutes then test again.
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Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.