We love chips and salsa, but the store bought brands of corn chips contain a fair amount of salt and fat. I’ve found some corn tortillas that are low salt and haven’t been fried in oil. When I bake them to make them crispy they become almost bullet proof tough.
What could be the difference in the formulations for chips and tortillas?

Chips are supposed to be fried until brittle. By cooking tortillas on a hot pan you seem to get more air into the tortilla dough and the tortilla itself. Chips should simply be fried tortillas.

I've tried frying store bought tortillas and the texture was way off. Part of it is the tortilla is way too thick.

Baked Chips? Oh the horror. The corny cardboardy horror.

Thin, light, and crispy fried white-corn Chips for me, please. Just thick enough to not break while dipping.

I used to buy my Chips from one of the Tortilla factories in Austin, made fresh daily. Dos Hermanos, IIRC.

Or I get them togo from a local Restaurant or two I like. Sometimes I ask them not to Salt them so that I can do it myself.

Juanita’s chips. Best chips you can buy. Super thin and crispy. Perfect for salsa.

I don’t have any affiliation with them, I just love their chips. I need to find a store that carries them here.

https://www.juanitasfinefoods.com/

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I've tried frying store bought tortillas and the texture was way off. Part of it is the tortilla is way too thick.

Cook them on a hot pan first. It's kinda like refried beans - chips came about as a way to recycle whatever didn't get eaten before.

You need some fat. Try spraying with a bit of Pam, then season to your liking and bake in a pretty hot oven like 400 but watch them carefully because they’ll burn fast.

PASig,

I’ll try that method. I’m on a restricted fat diet so this might help me too.

Cook them on a griddle.

I'd recommend making your own, though, over store-bought. They're literally just masa, water and salt.

Thanks Oat..Man. I have a press, but it will only get them so thin. I suppose if I pressed a couple of tortillas, each between a pair of plastic sheets, then stacked two of them and pressed them again they would turn out to be half the original thickness. Of course making them from scratch rather than pressing someone else’s product should be a lot easier. Maybe I won’t have to have squirrel like teeth to enjoy them.
This is still a great place to fish for ideas.

The favorite here:



Other varieties like seas salt & lime are tasty too but the above is the gold standard.

Never heard of the Late July brand, but bald1's post made me curious, so I looked and I see that the leading supermarket chain in this area, Publix, carries them.

I need to stop tomorrow to pick up some ice cream, so I'll grab a bag of these chips, too.

I have no doubt that the Late July chips are delicious. However, their nutritional data says that every ounce of chips contains 130 calories and 60 of those calories come from fat! That’s 1/2 teaspoon of fat per ounce of chips. I can’t handle that much fat.
It has been a struggle, but by aggressively restricting my fat intake, I no longer have to take a bunch of metformin and 100 units of insulin everyday.
The whole point of my post was to find a way to make my own fat free chips that are close to being chewable.

quote:

Originally posted by Sportshooter:
The whole point of my post was to find a way to make my own fat free chips that are close to being chewable.

Understood. I just have never been able to find any "low cal" stuff that didn't make me want to retch.
We don't have chips and salsa or queso all that often, so they're a treat despite the relative unhealthiness.

Yeah, I know a lot of “low cal” stuff is “blandy land.”
So much of the processed food leans heavily on salt and fat to jack up the taste.
Sometimes I feel like a chemist trying new recipes and seasonings.
I read somewhere that nearly all cheeses are 70% fat. Then I came across an honest to goodness “fat free” dipping cheese that is made from rolled oats. It definitely doesn’t taste like a downstream kind of cheese. The only downside is you need a high speed blender like a Vitamix to put it together.
I’m hopeful there is a solution to my chip problem. A man shouldn’t be forced to eat salsa or cheese dip with a spoon.

quote:

dipping cheese that is made from rolled oats

Oh my, I am so sorry.

Those are some serious health concerns to have driven you to this point.



Jokes aside I hope you find a combo that works. Giving up chips, salsa, and queso would be rough.