Baked Coconut Chips

Coconut chips are a great healthy alternative to munching on potato chips!  Plus once you have them, you’ll never want to go back to regular chips again 🙂
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Introduction

About this Recipe

By: Kelli South Something everyone knows about me is that I am a muncher!  I love snacking and eating something salty and crunchy while I am working or watching TV.  I completely switched the way I eat and go about my life about a year ago.  I started watching what I eat and consistently working out and it completely changed the way I feel.  It was really hard for me to give up potato chips though.  My weakness was kettle cooked chips with sea salt and black pepper!  If you have ever had them you will understand why.  This is my healthier recreation of them.
Ingredients
  • 1 Coconut
  • 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
  • 1/8 tsp Black Pepper, freshly cracked
This recipe is SUPER easy and actually kinda fun. You start out by finding a good coconut at the store.  If they don’t look good, don’t get them.  Some months I either cannot find coconuts, or they look kinda crappy.  They should be completely brown and have a nice woody skin.  Shake it to make sure it has a decent amount of liquid inside.
Once you get your coconut home, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  This recipe requires tools so you are going to need to whip out a hammer and a pointy/philips screwdriver.  Each coconut will have 3 eyes like a bowling pin.  Pierce the softer of the 2 eyes with the screwdriver and hammer.  Drain out the coconut water.  You can either save the water for another recipe or discard it.  Next, make a little doughnut out of foil for the coconut to rest on.  Place the coconut, eyes down, on the doughnut and place it on a small sheet tray.  I like to put the coconut on the doughnut to allow the excess liquid to finish draining out while its baking in the oven instead of the liquid baking in the coconut. When the oven is preheated, bake the coconut for about 15-20 minutes.  If it cracks before 20 minutes, take it out of the oven.  If it does not crack, take it out of the oven after the 20 minutes.  Some coconuts never crack.  I have made this recipe multiple times and more often than not, they do not crack.  So either when the coconut cracks or when 20 minutes hit, take the coconut out of the oven to cool.  After if fully cools to the touch, wrap the coconut in a small towel and bash it with a hammer.  It should start to crack into a few pieces.  Using a small paring knife, peel the coconut flesh off of the shell.
After the shell is off the flesh, use a potato peeler to peel off the brown skin covering the flesh.
Using the same peeler, or a mandolin, slice the coconut flesh into “smiley” chips.  I like using the peeler because I feel like I have a little more control over the shape and so I don’t have to dirty another utensil. Next, you are going to preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  What is nice about coconut is that they are naturally greasy/moist so you do not need any olive oil or butter to make the seasonings stick.  Toss the chips with some salt and pepper and lay them on a parchment covered sheet tray in a single layer.  Do not overcrowd the chips or they will not cook evenly.  You should have enough chips to cover 2 large sheet trays.  Once the oven is preheated, bake them until they are a nice golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.  If you like them darker like I do, bake them for about 17!  Make sure you check the oven at 12 minutes though, all ovens are different so 12 minutes might be just right.

Be careful sharing with your friends and family, they’ll be gone faster than you know it!

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Find the 3 eyes on the coconut.  With a screwdriver and hammer, pierce though 2 of the 3 eyes and drain the water out.  Make a small doughnut stand out of foil for the coconut to sit on.

Step 2

Set coconut eyes side down on doughnut.  Place on a sheet tray in the preheated oven.  The coconut will begin to crack when it is done, 15-20min. If it doesn’t crack, take it out at 20 min.  Let the coconut cool to the tough, about 15-20min.

Step 3

Place coconut on a cutting board and cover with a towel.  Bash the coconut with your hammer until fully opened.  Peel the thick, brown outer shell off the white coconut flesh.  The flesh will have brown skin on the side where the outer shell was.  Peel off the brown skin with a potato peeler.

Step 4

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Using the potato peeler or a mandolin, thinly slice the white coconut flesh into “smiley face” chips.  Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper on both sides.

Step 5

On a large parchment lined sheet tray, layer a single layer of chips.  Cook until golden brown, about 12-15min depending on how toasted you like them!  I like mine a little darker and usually cook them for 15-17min.

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