I used to possess this eerie obsession of chewing chips and crackers all the time, which happened to be the repercussion of my overweight!
Then, in one movie night, my friend handed me a box full of homemade tortilla chips that she made in the oven! And guess what? It has the least calorie compared to the expensive chips you keep on chewing.
Now? There’s no room for high-calorie chips in my kitchen because once you have mastered making healthy snacks that taste luscious, there’s no going back!
With that being said, today, I am going to articulate how to make homemade tortilla chips in the oven easily.
The Equity of Tortilla Nutrients and Calorie
Perhaps you barely stayed a day without having tortillas if you were raised in a brown household. Also, in the USA, people crave for tortillas, and their terrific ideas of making fusion foods out of readymade tortillas don’t seem to have a closure.
So yeah, tortillas once were conventional, but it’s one of those millennial traditions that never seemed to be obsolete or overrated.
However, there is a legitimate reason for why tortillas are more popular. First thing first, if you focus on the nutrient aspects, you’ll perceive that it has relatively fewer calories and carbohydrate contents than rice. However, it depends on which type of flour composites you are using to make those tortillas.
For instance, if you are making or buying readymade corn tortillas the nutrient properties, you’ll get from one tortilla are;
- 45 calories
- 0.5 g fat
- 40 mg sodium
- 9 gram carbohydrate
- 1 g fiber
- 0 sugar
- 1 gram protein
NOTE: the overall calorie spectrum may fluctuate depending on the diverse tortilla making process. But that was the universal one for your convenience.
One the other hand, one flour tortilla has 150 calories, which makes the concept of preferring corn tortillas over flour tortillas transparent.
Now the question is how many calories you are going to possess from tortilla chips! Well, in one tortilla chip, you will get 140 calories, and if you have a stack of 100-gram tortilla chips, then it might be around 465 calories.
As opposed to that, homemade baked tortilla chip, which you make out of the oven, contains 100 to 120 calories.
The Making of Tortilla Chips in the Oven – 3 Easy Steps
Before heading towards the process of baking tortilla chips, let’s take a moment to narrow down how you are gonna make tortillas. So, personally, I am a lazy bear who gets sold on every technology, which saves up time and doesn’t drain much of my energy.
Hence, recently I treated myself with one of the best tortilla press contenders that doesn’t require the hassle of constant grinding of flour balls to give them a round look, neither you need to stick your fingers and nails with the flour excess.
Just simply put the tortilla dough inside the round press surface and close the lid forming a little bit pressure and voila! Your consistent round tortilla is ready to serve!
On the flip side, there are tortilla makers which generally go on top of the stove and absorbs the predicted puff due to heat exposure.
In contrast, there are electric tortilla makers that use electricity as the heating power source. Apart from the conventional tortilla press or tortilla makers, the new generation equipment incorporates sensors, along with the LED screen where you can determine the required time for the entire cooking process.
So that was all about how you can make tortillas effortlessly. Now, let’s sink into the making of tortilla chips step by step.
Step 1 – Grab All the Necessary Ingredients
Just to be assured that you don’t fumble choosing the right ingredients, let’s have a glance over the stuff your need from scratch. And if you are a clumsy cook like me, you can write up the ingredients on your phone draft.
- 6 homemade tortillas (you can also buy readymade corn tortillas)
- 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil/ vegetable oil/ canola oil or you can also use clarified butter
- Salt and pepper
- Cumin
- Oregano
- A cooking tray
- A rubber spatula
- A pointy knife
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheet
Once you got all the ingredients near the oven, opt for the next step!
Step 2 – Direction
As you are baking the tortilla chips in the oven, make sure that you read the instruction manual of your oven because every electronic device features diverse functionalities. Now when you are well aware of operating the oven, let’s start with the baking process.
- While you are gathering all the necessary ingredients, shove the “start” button of the oven and preheat the oven for 350 degrees F or 190 degrees Celsius.
- When the internal region of the oven is getting preheated, take all the tortillas on a cutting board and make a straight pile of them as in one on top of another.
Then provide a little pressure downwards, resting your left-hand fingers at one side of the stack and cut the tortilla using a knife from the middle vertically and drag a horizontal cut from the center top.
Now you have four big, evenly triangular sized wedges from each tortilla. (you can also cut six equally sized tortilla wedges from one tortilla)
- Spread all the tortilla wedges on a cooking tray and sprinkle olive oil over them moderately.
Make sure that all the cut tortillas are consistently coated with oil on both of its sides. To be assured, see if the wedges are a little moist and giving a little sheen or not. Avoid drizzling too much oil.
- For more enhanced flavor and aroma, you can add the spices before baking. So, sprinkle salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano as per your preference over the oiled tortilla cuts and let them sit for few seconds.
- Take the baking sheet and wrap it with a parchment paper. Make sure the baking sheets have enough room for the marinated wedges so that they don’t stick to one another (brush oil or butter all over the baking sheet so that the chips don’t stick).
You can also place them one by one in a consecutive row.
Step 3: Time to Bake!
Start baking it for ten minutes on both sides. (toss-up the tortilla cuts using the spatula after one side exhibits a pale brown look and wait for another 4 or 5 minutes. Now when you are done baking the tortilla chips, it’s time for cooling.
Take the baking sheet out and let them chill for a moment. Afterward, place them in a bowl and enjoy having crispy and mouth-watering tortilla chips with your favorite dips or sauce.
Tip 1: If you are fond of warm tortillas and don’t really want to go through the typical heating annoyance, then you get yourself a tortilla warmer that heats the tortillas in a matter of few seconds promptly.
Tip 2: Try getting an oven that has a transparent door so that you can see from the outside whether the chips are ready or not.
Bottom Line
There are plenty of homemade tortilla chips recipes that you can make out of the oven, but this was the basic and quickest one. However, you can use other spices such as chili flakes, mustard seeds, herbs, mint leaves- you name it!
The sky is the limit when it comes to improvising your own recipe. So, don’t forget to share your go-to tortilla chips recipe in the comment section!