We took our famous low carb tortillas and whipped up the ultimate keto tortilla chips! Expect deliciously crisp results in every bite.
Keto Tortilla Chips
Super Crisp & Puffed!
If you’ve tried our grain free keto tortillas, you already know they’ll taste great. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?!
So whether you fry them up or opt for a quick bake, you’ve got a crispy (and totally addictive!) delight in your foreseeable future. You really cannot eat just one.
And at 2g net carbs per 30g serving (i.e. one tortilla = 8 chips), you really don’t have to.
So whether you’re missing on something to munch on during game night or want something else for your guacamole other than pork rinds, these are a safe bet.
The Toppings
You can either do a simple sea salt topping or go for a sorta ‘Dorito’ dust.
Just note that, just like in our keto ‘cheetos’, the key ingredient to get that addictive cheese flavor and texture from commercial chips is nutritional yeast. With absolutely no artificial flavorings and colorings!
Fun fact: nutritional yeast is a powerful source of vitamins, particularly rich in vitamin B12, as well as being a complete protein.
The Cooking
Given that coconut flour browns ridiculously fast, you want to start with raw dough rather than a cooked tortilla for these keto chips. Particularly if you want them to puff up.
My preferred method of cooking these guys is some good old frying in lard. You see, the most magical thing happens a couple seconds after they hit the oil: they puff up completely!!
I cannot say I anticipated this. In fact, you might even call it a wonderful surprise! But it’s not really that surprising given that the tortillas puff up themselves, and the chips also puff up somewhat when baked. But the effect when fried is truly wonderful!
Just one caveat: the coconut and almond flours do not crisp up when fried…! So you need to fry them up quickly until lightly golden, and then do a quick bake to dry them up.
Or you can always just bake them directly. They will puff up somewhat, and still taste incredibly good (particularly plain with guacamole). See picture below of what they look like baked, rather than fried and baked.
But if you’re into chips, I cannot recommend enough that you do fry them up, dry them out and lather them up with a topping (particularly the spicy one). They’re really quite something.
The Flours
I like a mixture of super fine almond flour and coconut flour best. Add a touch of xanthan gum and baking powder, and we’re golden.
In terms of brands, for the almond either Anthony’s or WellBees work great. Both are super fine grinds. And for the coconut, I always favor Anthony’s (most natural taste and less gritty texture by a mile!).
No substituting flours here and the xanthan gum is absolutely necessary. And, if possible, weigh your ingredients for consistent results.
Borrowed from molecular cooking, xanthan gum is the binding agent which makes your toothpaste jelly-like and it’s also what gives cream cheese it’s distinctive texture. It’s also the most common gluten-replacer in gluten free baking, and it’s derived through a fermentation process using the strain of bacteria Xanthomonas campestris. So now you know where it’s name comes from.
Oh and ahem, they make the ultimate keto nachos!!
Low Carb & Keto Tortilla Chips
Ingredients
For the tortilla dough
- 96 g almond flour
- 24 g coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt depending on whether sweet or savory
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 3 teaspoons water
For cooking
- lard or frying oil of choice
- extra virgin olive oil for brushing (if baked)
For the 'Dorito' dust (optional)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder to taste
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
For the tortilla dough
- Add almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt to food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined.
- Pour in apple cider vinegar with the food processor running. Once it has distributed evenly, pour in the egg. Followed by the water. Stop the food processor once the dough forms into a ball. The dough will be sticky to touch.
- Wrap dough in cling film and knead it through the plastic for a minute or two. Think of it a bit like a stress ball. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes (and up to two days in the fridge).
- Break the dough into eight 1” to 1 1/2” balls. Roll out between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper using a tortilla press (suggested) or with a rolling pin. For your reference, each tortilla should weigh 26g uncooked.
- UPDATE: Based on a reader's feedback, we now know that your chips won't puff up unless the tortillas are THIN enough! So you absolutely must get 8 5-inch tortillas out of one batch (26g/tortilla). If using a tortilla press, keep pressing down and rotating the tortilla around to get even thickness. They are a bit harder than regular tortillas, so they might take anywhere from 3-6 tries (depending on how much muscle you've got!).
- Cut tortillas into 8 triangles and set aside.
If frying
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Heat up a pot or frying pan over medium/high heat and add lard or frying oil of choice (a couple centimeters or so will do). Once hot, drop the triangles in batches of 3 to 5 at a time. Cook for just 3 to 5 seconds until just puffed, and flip them over immediately. Cook for just 3 to 5 more seconds and transfer to a paper towel lined plate. You want to keep your puffed chips as white as possible, as they'll continue to brown when baked.
- Transfer puffed tortilla chips to a baking tray (with a fitted rack or lined with parchment paper), and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden (flipping them over half way through). The tortilla chips will continue to crisp up while cooling.
If baking
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Place uncooked tortilla dough triangles in a parchment lined baking tray. Bake for 13-15 minutes, flipping half way through, until golden brown and hardened. The tortilla chips will continue to crisp up while cooling.
- If adding a topping, you'll need to brush them with olive oil (or oil of choice), in order for it to stick.
For the 'Dorito' dust (optional)
- Mix all ingredients in a ziplock bag, or run them through a high speed blender to fully mix and finely grind. Once your tortilla chips are done cooking, add them into the ziplock bag with the spices and mix until thoroughly coated. Allow them to cool completely, so they crisp up fully.
Hi! I’d love to use your recipes, but I am allergic to tree nuts. What can I substitute for the almond flour?
Sunflower seed flour is the only straight sub I’ve tried!
Can the dough be frozen for later?
Thank you for this great recipe and all the notes!! I followed the directions and was able to press them super thin. I didn’t get them to puff much (about 2-3 did), but no problem, they were super crisp. Kind of like a crispier, thinner, wheat thin.
I like them for a fancy charcuterie plate with brie, pate, keto candied pecans, cornichons, hard salami, etc.
Will definitely make this again, highly recommend recipe.
ps, most important note after rolling super thin, fry for no more than 5 seconds, they really do brown more in oven!