The Perfect Yuca Chip!
The Perfect Yuca Chip!
I’ve been busily perfecting my yuca chips! I tried fresh vs. frozen yuca, paper thin vs. slightly thicker slices, pan frying vs. oven baking, and 4 different seasoning variations! If you ask me, they’re all pretty terrific! But if I had to choose a favorite, this recipe using fresh, finely sliced, pan fried yuca is a cut above the rest! These chips are an incredibly satisfying, crispy, salty, gluten-free snack! (I guess it’s no surprise that frying in oil is delicious!) My daughter describes these homemade Yuca Chips as seeming like a cross between a potato chip and a pita chip in consistency, and insists that they’re WAY better than any store bought ones she has tried.
As a kid I remember making homemade potato chips with my mom a few times and they just couldn’t be beat! (Until now!!!!)
I got inspired to buy a mandoline to make these thin, crispy chips (after trying to slice my yuca as thin as possible and really only succeeding in making very thin fries.) Don’t get me wrong – they were DELICIOUS, but not really a thin, crunchy “chip.”
I bought the Oxo Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer. I chose this one because it was BPA free, had a few different thickness settings, can cut straight slices, crinkle cuts, or julienne strips, has a setting where the blade is safely tucked away, and folds away for easy storage. It was so much fun to use to make The Perfect Yuca Chip!
It helps to have a long handled metal mesh skimmer to flip and remove chips from the pan to protect against getting burned by hot oil. A metal spatula can also be used. If you need one, click link below.
How to make The Perfect Yuca Chip!
Ingredients: (Full printer friendly recipe below)
-1 pound fresh yuca (Fresh yuca can be found in some larger grocery stores, and in Latin and Asian grocery stores.) I always buy a little more than a recipe calls for just in case I find black steaks in the white flesh upon peeling. It’s important to buy very fresh yuca, as it doesn’t last long after harvesting. Make sure fresh roots are firm (no mushy spots.) See: Buying, Storing, and Peeling Fresh Yuca for tips.
–avocado oil (I use Chosen Foods 100% Pure avocado oil.) I prefer avocado oil for almost all my cooking because it’s neutral tasting, is full of healthy anti-oxidants, won’t cause systemic inflammation like most vegetable oils do, and has a high smoke point (which makes it ideal for cooking involving high heat like frying.) *Do not use olive oil to fry your yuca chips! See Healthy Eating Tip below for more details.
-fresh ground black pepper
Have some fun trying different seasoning variations!
Not only can the seasonings be switched up, but the amount used can be customized to accommodate any palate. My family had a ball doing a 4 seasoning variation taste test, and here’s what we concluded:
Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning – Voted #1 seasoning variation by my family! Everyone agreed that the burst of lime flavor is AWESOME!!! While there’s a hint of chile flavor, it’s extremely mild – not spicy at all. It’s the perfect balance of tangy and zesty!
Trader Joe’s Onion Salt – Also LOVED by my family as a top choice seasoning variation, and my personal favorite! The combination of onion powder, dried scallions and garlic powder give these a sour cream and onion type taste (a flavor that the two of us who are gluten and dairy-free haven’t experienced in years!) YUMMY!!!
Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper with a pinch of pink Himalayan salt is a very tasty option. It has a more full bodied flavor than salt and pepper alone, with the added pleasure of a hint of lemon and pepper flavor. Not overpowering at all.
Salt and pepper – We all agreed that yuca chips are delicious with salt and pepper alone. These are a simple classic which highlights the taste of the yuca, which has a delicious hint of sweetness.
Any way you slice them, Yuca Chips are fun to make and to eat!
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Fresh yuca looks a bit like an elongated sweet potato with a much thicker peel and a waxy coating (which is added to help preserve its shelf-life.)
Fresh Yuca
Step 1: Peel fresh yuca. With a very sharp knife or vegetable peeler, fully remove peel. I like to use a knife to remove the majority of the peel and then go over it with a vegetable peeler to get any remaining fragments. See: How to Peel Fresh Yuca for tips and more detailed instructions.
Note: Do not eat raw yuca. Yuca contains a cyanogenic glycoside called linamarin, located mostly in the outer peel. This is why the peel must be removed before yuca is cooked or eaten. Once yuca is peeled and cooked it’s perfectly safe to eat, as these steps eliminate all linamarin. There’s no need for concern; there’s cyanogenic glycoside in many commonly eaten foods, such as almonds, lima beans, flax seeds, bamboo shoots, and apricots. In small doses, this compound is not only safe, but is beneficial for our health.
See: Getting to Know Yuca (Cassava) for more info.
Peeling Yuca
Peeled Yuca
Step 2: Cut peeled yuca in half (horizontally, so there are 2 equal sized pieces.)
Step 3: Slice yuca into “chips” using a mandoline. If you don’t have a mandoline, slice yuca with a vegetable peeler, or very sharp knife. The thinner the slice, the crispier the chip! If using a mandolin, put it on the thinnest setting and choose a straight v-blade.
Yuca can either be sliced into circles, or from top to bottom, making long chips!
Step 4: Place about an inch of avocado oil on the bottom of a large frying pan and heat on high.
Step 5: Once hot, place yuca slices into avocado oil – do not overlap. (The oil is hot enough when the first yuca slice sizzles upon entering oil.) It works best to pan fry in batches, as chips cook very quickly. *Be careful not to get splattered by hot oil!
Step 6: Flip chips. Pan fry for about 1 minute, until yuca begins to brown and curl up at the edges. Depending on the amount of oil in the pan, flipping chips halfway through may be needed to ensure even browning on both sides. Yuca chips cook very quickly so keep a constant eye on the pan. Flip using a metal spatula or long handled metal mesh skimmer to avoid getting scalded by hot oil.
Step 7: Once browned, remove yuca chips using metal mesh skimmer or slotted spatula, allowing excess oil to drain back into pan. (Beware – the hot oil might melt plastic utensils!)
Step 8: Place chips on paper towel to absorb excess oil.
Step 9: Immediately sprinkle with salt and pepper, or your favorite seasoning. See recommended seasoning variations below.
My favorite variation is Trader Joe’s Onion Salt – It’s a combination of granulated onion, granulated garlic, minced onion, kosher salt, green onion and dried chives! YUM!!! It just pops these yuca chips to a whole new level!
Enjoy this mouth-watering, salty, crunchy, satisfying treat!
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No time to make The Perfect Yuca Chip right now, but want to try them? No problem – I’ve taste tested many brands and listed my top picks with links below! It’s rare to find most brands in stores, but they can be purchased online here.
Check out these yummy options:
Artisan Tropic Cassava Strips are an excellent, truly classic yuca chip. Very similar to potato chips. They’re made just like I make mine, by thinly slicing the whole yuca root, cooking in oil (they use non-hydrogenated palm oil) and adding sea salt. Cassava Strips are non-GMO, vegan, certified Paleo and gluten-free, contain no preservatives, and are made in a peanut and tree nut-free facility. Click below to check them out.
Siete makes AMAZING yuca/cassava chips, which they call Grain Free Tortilla Chips. They come in 3 flavors: sea salt, lime, and nacho. They’re all gluten, dairy, and soy free! I love them all, but my absolute favorite is the lime flavor! The nacho ones taste more like the Herr’s Ketchup Chips that my kids used to be obsessed with than a true nacho flavor, but they’re still delicious. They are made with cassava flour (not sliced, whole cassava root) and then formed into triangle shapes. These chips melt in your mouth, kind of like a Pringle. I love that Siete makes these chips with avocado oil (See healthy eating tip below – as this is the healthiest high heat cooking oil.) Be careful, they’re totally addictive! Here’s a link to a 3 flavor sampler pack, but you can also buy just one flavor.
Cassava Crunch is another awesome yuca/cassava chip! Plant Snacks created these delicious gluten-free, non-GMO, grain & corn free, Paleo, trans fat free chips with no preservatives and no artificial flavors or colors. The ingredients are simply dried yuca/cassava root, sunflower oil, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast and sea salt. These ingredients are mixed together and formed into a square chip (about 1″ square.) They’re salty and crispy with a definite sesame flavor. Very unique and delicious! Check them out by clicking the link below.
Cassava Crunch comes in 5 flavors. Click the link below if you’d like to try them all! (Note: some flavors include dairy.)
Jans Root Chips (Jalapeno Cassava Chips, 3 oz)
By ordering recommended products through links on our website we get a small commission which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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- 1 pound Fresh Yuca / Cassava - peeled Note: Do not consume raw yuca! As with many foods, proper preparation and cooking is needed to ensure food safety. In order to be consumed, yuca must be fully peeled and cooked. (Link: Don't eat raw yuca)
- Avocado Oil. (Chosen because of its mild taste and high smoke point - making it a safe oil for frying.)
- Himalayan Sea Salt - to taste. (I use this salt in all my recipes because it is pure and full of minerals and trace elements - unlike table salt.)
- Fresh Ground Pepper - to taste
- Variation: Trader Joe's Garlic Salt
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With a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, remove bark-like peel from fresh yuca. (See: How to Peel Fresh Yuca)
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Cut peeled yuca in half horizontally, and soak in a bowl of water for 20 minutes. (This step further removes any remaining linamarin, which will otherwise be eliminated during frying.) Discard water.
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If you have a mandoline, put it on the thinnest setting and choose a straight V-blade. Slice peeled yuca into circles, or from top to bottom for long, chips. If you don’t have a mandoline, yuca can be thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler, or very sharp knife. The thinner the slice, the crispier the chip!
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Place about an inch of avocado oil on the bottom of a large frying pan and heat on high.
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Once hot, place yuca slices into oil - do not overlap. (The oil is hot enough when the first yuca slice sizzles upon entering oil.) It works best to pan fry in batches, as chips cook very quickly. *Be careful not to get splattered by hot oil!
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Pan fry for about 1 minute, until yuca begins to brown and curl up at the edges. Depending on the amount of oil in the pan, flipping the chips halfway through may be needed to ensure even browning on both sides. Yuca chips cook very quickly so keep a constant eye on the pan.
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Once browned, remove yuca chips using a metal mesh skimmer or slotted spatula, allowing excess oil to drain back into the pan. (The hot oil might melt plastic utensils.)
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Place chips on paper towel to absorb excess oil.
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Immediately sprinkle with pink Himalayan Sea Salt and a pinch of pepper - to taste.
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Variation: Immediately sprinkle with Trader Joe's Onion Salt and pink Himalayan sea salt - to taste.
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Enjoy!!
Variations: Sprinkle with Trader Joe's Chile Lime Seasoning, Trader Joe's Onion Salt, or Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper. These chips can be seasoned with any spice that you enjoy - so start experimenting! Comment at the bottom of the post or tag me with your pictures on Instagram @CrazyForYuca to tell me about your perfect chip creation!!
A word on frying: If you are like me, frying is like "a four letter word!" You avoid it as part of your healthy lifestyle. While that is typically true for me, I read a great post by Alton Brown which helped me to make these chips less oily. (See Alton Brown's post Fry Hard Transcript.) In a nutshell, he says the keys to frying without absorbing oil into food are to pat food dry before placing into oil, and to fry just until the sizzle stops. While the sizzling/bubbling is happening, moisture is being expelled from the food. Once bubbling stops, moisture and fat are being absorbed by food. SO INTERESTING!! Also, do not cover pan. Covering causes steam and condensation within pan which will create soggy, oily chips.
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Healthy Eating Tip: Start using avocado oil, especially for cooking involving high heat.
Avocado oil has a very neutral flavor and is a healthy addition to both raw and cooked meals. For high heat cooking like frying, it’s critical to use oils with a high smoke point (the temperature at which an oil breaks down under heat.) Avocado oil has the highest smoke point of any cooking oil. It’s able to remain stable at temperatures up to 520 degrees! This is very important, as when cooking oils are heated above their smoke point they degrade into free radicals. This causes systemic inflammation, damage to cell membranes, healthy cholesterol and collagen, and even attacks our DNA! Avocado oil not only doesn’t break down and harm the body in these ways, it actually helps to prevent physical aging and chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and Alzheimers. While many oils increase systemic inflammation in the body, avocado oil helps to decrease inflammation as a result of its high levels of monounsaturated fats, oleic acid, carotenoids, lutein, vitamin E and phytosterols. It has even been shown to increase nutrient absorption. Making the simple swap to avocado oil is a simple step toward greatly improving one’s health (1, 2.) I use Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil.
*Never use olive oil for high heat cooking! With its smoke point at 350 degrees, olive oil should only be used in recipes that don’t involve cooking at high temperatures – such as a quick saute, salad dressing, or cold vegetable salad.
Here are some links to products I use to make
The Perfect Yuca Chip!
Chosen Foods 100% Pure Hand-crafted Avocado Oil (33.8-oz Bottle) Pack of 2
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Disclaimer– At Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and require personal guidance from a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
You make it look so easy!! I’ll need to try this soon.
If you have a mandolin it really is easy! My kids beg to make them whenever they come home. We have a lot of fun making them together and trying out different seasoning variations!