Whether you accidentally bought unsalted chips, or your chips just aren’t salty enough, you can fix them with this easy trick.
While some individuals opt for salt-free chips due to dietary restrictions, I am not among them. Unsalted chips upset me, as evidenced by the distress caused when I mistakenly bought a “party size” bag of unsalted tortilla chips. This mishap, experienced by myself and others, prompted the need for a simple solution: salt water spray.
Chips are great for their crunch and saltiness, with the natural vegetable flavor playing a subtle role. Unsalted chips, however, are almost akin to wasting good food—until I devised this straightforward solution.
How to make chips saltier
Tossing chips with table salt won’t do the trick; the granules just bounce off. Instead, we’ll leverage evaporation to evenly salt the chips. Table salt, primarily sodium chloride, readily dissolves in water. As the water evaporates, sodium and chloride ions reunite, leaving behind salt crystals on the surface.
Dissolve salt in warm water, quickly done in the microwave. Add a tablespoon of salt to half a cup of water, warm for 30 seconds, and stir until the crystals dissolve. Preheat the oven to 350°F (or 180°C). Pour the salt water into a spray bottle, like a Misto sprayer designed for oil but suitable for any liquid.
Arrange the unsalted chips on a sheet pan in a single layer, ensuring minimal overlap. Generously spray the chips with salt water, avoiding puddling on the pan. You can spray one side or flip the chips for both sides. Alternatively, if you lack a spray bottle, dip each chip quickly in salt water and place it on the sheet pan. Bake for five to 10 minutes to evaporate the water, observing white blotches on the pan’s surface and crystalline salt residue on the chips. The chips cool rapidly, allowing for immediate snacking.
Not only can you rescue unsalted chips from disposal, but you can also tailor the salt level to your liking. Using one tablespoon of salt to a half-cup of water yields a lightly salted chip, meeting my minimum salt preference. For future attempts, I might use two tablespoons of salt for a stronger solution. Adjust the amount to suit your taste; for those who find regular Lay’s potato chips insufficiently salty, two to three tablespoons in the spray may be preferable. Enjoy !