Nacho cheese! <— cringe
Last week I decided it wasn’t worth it to make bagels from scratch. Buying them is fine by me.
Tortilla chips, on the other hand, are now going in the “home-made” column.
Easy – yes. Delicious – yes. Cheap – yes.
I’m not joking, this was probably the most simple and tasty thing I’ve “made” in a while.
Did I mention how cheap they were?
A bag of 100 corn tortillas from Costco set me back a whole $2.99. They are made by Guerrero, and when I researched the company (which seems to be owned by Mission Foods) I was delighted by their concern with quality control. This link answers FAQs about allergens (the tortillas are vegan, wheat and gluten free).
If you’re wondering how the eff you can use 100 tortillas before they go bad, don’t worry, they freeze fine! This really makes me feel dumb for buying brown rice tortillas from Whole Foods (at the insane price of $6 for 6 tortillas!).
How to make tortilla chips:
1. Remove tortillas from freezer [clearly you can omit this step if you haven’t bought a 100 pack in the last few months].
2. Once tortillas have thawed, cut them like you would slice a pizza (making eight triangle wedges per tortilla). Below is the yield of four tortillas (32 chips for those who aren’t mathematically inclined).
3. Brush tortillas with canola oil until all sides are coated. I used 2-3 tbsp for these, but I didn’t measure. Either brush them with a silicone brush like this, or pour oil into a shallow container and dip them.
4. Place them on a baking sheet and season as you want.
Salt, lime juice, paprika, whatever. Plain chips are fine too.
5. Bake in oven at 435 degrees for 8 minutes.
I’d recommend you start checking on them around the 5 minute mark (just in case your oven is an overachiever).
6. Serve alongside vegan “cheese” sauce.
You have a few options with which recipe you use. I used my butternut squash cheese sauce leftovers. But this faux-mage recipe is a great choice too.
Feel free to add a dash of cumin, hot sauce, diced jalapenos, or green chilies to give it some mexi-flare.
7. Dip chips in nacho sauce liberally. And often.
What’s your policy on double dipping? I’m pleading the fifth on this. 😉
Have you ever made your own chips? How about tortillas? Now that I know how simple this is, I think pita chips may be my next adventure. Once I get through these next 96 tortillas…
haha Elise, I was biting into an apple when I read your cheese joke at the beginning of the post and I kind stared at it blankly for a second..then I snickered and shook my head 😉
I’ve made chips with pita bread like you did here with tortillas. SO good with hummus.
If it’s just me hoarding the dip, I double, triple. quadruple-dip. If I eat with someone else, I usually take an obscene amount of dip with a chip and leave it on my plate to dip with other chips. 😛
I’m a double dipper with myself and myself only. If I’m with my family, I’ll do the take a bite, turn the chip around, and dip the other side thing.
Aaaand I wish I could buy corn tortillas! Brown rice ones are so expensive!
I love making homemade tortilla chips! You can also bake the whole tortilla to make tostadas. Its basically the perfect crunchy plate for all sorts of fillings.
I want to run to Costco to get those tortillas… I see cinnamon dusted tortilla chips dipped in a baked apple soufflé in my future:)
Do you know if mission foods used gmo corn in their products?
If I have my own personal dip, I am all about double dipping. If I am sharing with others I will break whatever I am dipping in half. 🙂 I have made chips out of Ezekiel tortillas which were pretty good!!
I like JUST made these for the first time right before reading this post! I was so pleased with the result ( TASTY!) And it was just SOo easy and simple to do.
I went the sweet route. Just sprayed them with olive oil and then liberally doused them with truvia & cinnamon. Yes yes they were awesome!
Xxx
I know there are lots of recipes out there, but try the Veganomicon recipe for pita chip variations — delish!
Love homemade chips! It tastes so much better. Best part–you get to add your own flavorings!
I need to do this! I also see huge bags of corn tortillas but don’t buy them because I think I won’t be able to finish them. Thanks for the idea, and the cinnamon-sugar chips everyone is talking about sound delicious.
I actually did this once on accident! I tore up a brown rice tortilla and put the pieces in the microwave (intending just to heat them up) and they ended up like chips! I bet they’d be way better baked in the oven though!
love that joke! heard it on “king of the hill” one time and i’ve used it ever since, haha!
this is a great post – i love homemade tortilla chips, but have never made my own.
i love that you just revealed you watch king of the hill. haha. excellent.
ps make the chips. you can thank me later.
thats exactly how i discovered the ease of the process too! those brown rice tortillas bubble up really well in the microwave. i brush them with coconut butter and its heavenly.
i agree – thats definitely next on my list.
thanks libby. i will for sure.
haha! yes, i have no shame 🙂 i’ve seen EVERY one, haha!
and i will be making these chips on my next 7 days off! (i now work on a unit where i do 7, 10hr shifts in a row and then i get 7 off – how do you feel about that type of rotation? right now, i’m just grateful to be employed!)
that sounds so freakin’ good!
mmmm.
im not sure if they’re genetically modified. lemme look into it.
ok it took a while, but here’s a quoted response from Mission Foods regarding the use of GMO’s:
And here is the second letter, from Mission Foods:
Questions product related
From: Quality Assurance (Quality@missionfoods.com)
Dear Valued Customer: Thank you for taking the time out to contact Mission Foods with your question. We do not use any genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, in any of our products. We hope this helps you. If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us again. — Mission Foods
hmmm…it intrigues me. youre right about it at least being a paying gig. hard to come by right now.
how do 10 hour shifts work though in terms of shift changes since there isnt a way to divide that into 24 hours. what hours are you – am or pm? the stretch of days off seems nice but 7 in a row still sounds pretty rough. how do YOU like it?
they are such a rip off! i wonder, can you buy other ones cheaper online?
such a good idea!!
I tend to cheat when I make these and give them a quick spritz with oil spray (probably less healthy that way….I think it contains butane or something :/) I’ve only made them with wheat tortilla’s. I have to try the corn, they look yummy!
As for policy on double dipping……I’m all for it (so long as it’s family, I don’t do it at parties or anything, someone might notice :P).
Thanks! You’re awesome:)
there’s day/eve/noc shifts with overlaps on each shift. works well for lunch coverage for day/eve shift, but the only overlap (2 hrs) on noc shift is when we come on shift (i’m nocs). day shift comes on when i have one hr left in my shift. i like that there are plenty of nurses during these overlaps, BUT i’ve noticed the communication is not always the best. i don’t like that i don’t always know what’s going on with my patients – too many cooks in the kitchen kind of thing. i’m still in my orientation period, so maybe there’s something that i’m not seeing yet. for nocs so far though, it’s nice to not have to switch back and forth with sleep – you just stay on the same sched for 1 wk and that’s nice…however, 7 in a row is HARD, no matter what shift you are.
I laughed at the “overachiever” oven statement. Thanks for my AM joy. I shall savor the rest of the posts when I need a work break. =)
I don’t normally double dip, I am weird when it comes to that stuff. Tortillas I have made, Mama Pea has an excellent recipe for tortillas, and tortilla chips well I think I need to try this out!
Hi Elise! I’ve never commented before, but I’m a friend of Alene’s and I’ve been reading your blog for a while. Love it!
You should make chilaquiles with all those tortillas. We buy the 100 packs at my house and don’t even bother freezing any since we use them up so fast. To make chilaquiles you just cut up a bunch of tortillas (like for chips, or smaller), put some oil in a pan and cook the tortilla pieces until they crisp up (like chips). Season with salt, and then pour some salsa in (we use green usually, but you could use red), and let it simmer and recrisp. Then just serve with some eggs, beans (if you want). We usually top with cheese too…maybe one of the vegan cheeses would work, but you could get away with no cheese. Delicious, and a good Mexican breakfast!
Mmmm…your creative vegan eats never fail to tempt me 🙂 This looks delicious. And I would never have thought to make my own tortilla chips. Genius! 🙂 Hehehe…your joke was also genius. Classic. 🙂 xyx
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Hi! well I actually wanted to answer to the question if I have ever made tortillas 😛 yes I have and it was the whole process, from growing the corn to eating a delicious taco, my grandma lived in a rural place and I watched and helped her make tortillas, it was very fun 🙂 and honestly those are the only tortillas I ever liked :P.
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