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Whole Grain, Homemade Chip: Goodbye Potato Chips!

June 13, 2011   20 Comments

Chips, why do we love you so? Is it the crunchiness? The saltiness? or the just plain deliciousness.

Whole Grain Pita Chip Recipe

Tortilla chips, potato chips, corn chips, veggie chips - you name it - there is an entire 1/2 aisle of the supermarket DEVOTED to chips and their close relations.

Does Snack Girl want to replace them? No! She wants to keep eating them. Except for one critical fact about chips that I can't get around, chips are perfect. The fact is they are a nutritional void.

Yes, that aisle in the supermarket is a deep black hole of processed grains that will do nothing for your healthy goals. Don't go down it! You may never get out!

And, they are expensive! I paid $3.50 for a bag of my favorite chips. So now I am wasting both my money and my health on these. argh.

What to do?

Well, how about making your own pita chips? I know Stacy's makes pita chips, but that brand is high in calories and low in fiber and protein.

Snack Girl's pita chips are sportin' 6 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. Take that Tostitos!!

I had trouble finding 100% Whole Wheat pita bread in my supermarket - Stop & Shop. In front of the deli counter, I found Thomas' Sahara 100% Whole Wheat pita pockets which can be found nationwide.

This brand was a good size and texture for the chips. They come out of the oven crunchy and a bit chewy. They are not as light as tortilla or potato chips and that is a positive attribute.

You have to chew them a bit, and they will fill you up quickly. I used 8 chips as a serving size - but with a small amount of homemade hummus or French onion dip, four would be enough.

One great thing about pita chips is that you can flavor them with your favorite spice combo. My favorite turned out to be salt and pepper. Here are some other suggestions:

  • Old Bay Seasoning
  • Herbs de Provence (crumbled a bit - in photo above)
  • cinnamon and sugar
  • curry powder
  • ground cayenne and salt

Take some of your favorite spices and just toss some on your pita wedges.

These will keep for a long time in a plastic container so you can make a bunch and store them.

Have you made pita chips? How do you make them and/or flavor them?

pitachipb

Pita Chips Recipe

1.6 from 24 reviews

(1 serving or 8 chips)

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Ingredients

1 small 100% Whole Wheat Pita bread
olive oil cooking spray (or any vegetable oil)
salt and pepper (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F. Cut pita bread 1/4 and pull apart bread so you have 8 triangles. Place on rimmed baking sheet and spray with olive oil (a few pumps). Turn over and spray again. Add salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes. Serve plain or with hummus, onion dip, or salsa.

Sixteen chips will fit on a baking tray if you want to make some ahead. Store in plastic container for a couple of weeks (treat them like crackers).

Nutrition Facts

140 calories, 1.5 g fat, 28 g carbohydrates, 6.0 g protein, 4 g fiber, 320 mg sodium, 4 Points+

Points values are calculated by Snack Girl and are provided for information only. See all Snack Girl Recipes

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20 Comments:

Yum! We make a cinnamon sugar variety all the time with tortillas. They are great for scooping up applesauce too!

I already make my own corn tortilla chips a lot of the time, so this is right up my alley. Do I get extra points if I make my own pita bread?

Head Ant,

I'd love to see your recipe...will you share with us?

:) Theresa

I've only made pita bread once and it made my husband very nervous. It called for the oven to be heated to 500 degrees and then my cookie sheet started buckling.

yay :)

Love making pita chips at home! Trader Joe's sells the whole wheat pitas--both regular and mini sized--at an affordable price.

It's a great idea if you are using "made from scratch" pita - but the Thomas' contain HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP and are pretty high in sodium! You are better off with Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips (find em at snackaisle.com) - lower in calories, sodium, lower carbs=sugar, NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP and all natural.

Bravo, Snack Girl!

@Head Ant - I had Middle Eastern neighbors that made their own pita. They did not use a cookie sheet, but took out the racks and put the pitas right on the bottom of the oven. Of course you have to keep your oven very clean to do this.

@Kim Dunham

Try the whole wheat ones from Trader Joe's that Izabel also mentioned- those don't have any high fructose corn syrup in them. Also, I usually only bake them for 5 min. or so after the oven gets heated up not 10. My advice would be to just watch them. I don't bother cutting them into nice pieces either, just separate the pita into a single layer, and tear into chip sized pieces. I find a light spray of olive oil (also available in a can at TJ's) helps them brown, but not necessary if you want to skip it. Have had good luck making a big batch and storing for a few days on the counter in an air tight glass container as well.

We often make them and eat them with cut up veggies and yogurt feta mint sauce from the Mediterranean veggie nacho recipe in Mark Bitman's book.

What about these? They are gluten free and have protein and fiber. They have fat too but mostly from the flax seeds and other "good" fats

http://www.foodshouldtastegood.com/#/multigrain/

I've made pita chips before. I usually spread them with margarine after opening them up and sprinkle with garlic powder or whatever I'm in the mood for.

I have tried making pita from scratch once. I think my version didn't open up as nicely as the ones from the supermarket. However I may give it a try again.

"Except for one critical fact about chips that I can't get around, chips are perfect."

I have more of a problem with the carcinogens as an imperfection than any lack of nutrition, but since your recipe is otherwise healthy....

I figure I'm doomed. I love coffee, bread, crackers, rice cakes, popcorn, bagels, cereal, chips roasted potatoes and other vegetables... I might as well eat the healthiest possible versions of them but still... I just eat my fruits and veggies too and hope it takes a long time, if ever, for the stuff to turn to cancer...

I bake pita chips often to use for dips, my family loves them with Guac, salsa, etc. One mediterranean spice/blend called "zataar" has Thyme, sesame seeds, salt,etc. I love to spray the pita bread with Olive Oil and sprinkle with this, bake to a wonderful "crunchiness" for snacking or with a cup of hot tea. I'm sure you can find the recipe online to make from scratch if you can't find at a store near you.

I make pita regularly, and while they don't open as easily as the store-bought variety, nothing beats warm pita fresh from the oven. I use the Artisan-Bread-in-5-Minutes-A-Day version.

Dough recipe is here:http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/02/09/back-to-b…

Pita instructions are here: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/02/13/fresh-pita-the…

Question for the pita makers, I just made my second batch ever of homemade pita. How do you keep them from drying out? I let them cool under a damp towel & put them in a ziploc style bag. Today I went to make my pita chips and they were very dry... had to put a damp cloth in the baggie so I could slice them.

Despite the extra effort they are yummy. Challenge right now is keeping the kids from eating all of them before dinner.

When you have left overs do you store them in the fridge or on the counter at room temp?

@Heather - Great question! I store them like crackers on the counter at room temp. I think they go stale at a slower rate.

Gail- please research margarine. When you do you will never eat that "stuff" again. It's very scary. If I can find the link for it again I will post it. Maybe snake girl has a post for margarine. It's not food in any sense of the word. Mostly plastic.

I just finally had a need and time to make these. They are better than anything you can buy. I cut my pita bread into 6 pieces, pulling it apart and making 12 triangles. I only added a very small amount of salt (I used Trader Joe's 100% whole wheat pitas which already have 180mg sodium per pita) and baked for 10 minutes in a convection oven. Wow! Crunchy just like what you would buy in the store but much more flavorful. I will definitely make time to bake these in the future.

Saved as a favorite, I love your blog! holidays on gozo

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