Salt and vinegar squash chips (made in dehydrator or oven)

Turn piles of summer squash into a healthy snack you can enjoy all year long!

Course Preservation, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword salt and vinegar squash chips, summer squash chips, summer squash preservation

Prep Time 20

Dehydration time 12

Servings large bag of squash chips

Author Aaron von Frank

2.5 lbs thin-sliced summer squash
2 cups organic white vinegar
4 cups water (*Start with warm water so salt dissolves, but let cool before adding squash.)
2 tbsp sea salt

Thin slice your squash. The best thing to use here is a mandoline slicer. You can process a lot of squash very quickly and get the exact same thickness on each slice. If you don't have one, just use a good sharp knife and slice your squash into strips as thin as you can make them.
Brine your squash. In a large non-reactive bowl (ceramic or glass), combine all ingredients EXCEPT for sliced squash. Stir/whisk together and wait until salt has dissolved and/or water has cooled before adding squash to bowl. Cover bowl and allow to stand for 12 hours in the fridge or on your kitchen counter.
Remove and dry. Remove your sliced squash from the salt & vinegar mixture, blot dry, then place onto dehydrator racks. Set dehydrator to your dry veggie setting (125° - 135°F on our Excalibur). If you don't have a dehydrator, you can also dry your squash on baking racks in your oven, turned to the lowest heat setting possible (you don't want to cook them, just dehydrate them).
Store.
Once your squash chips are dry and crunchy, remove them from the dehydrator. It usually takes about 12-18 hours for us, depending on how thin-sliced the squash are. Store dried squash chips in air tight containers until you're ready to eat them — large jars, silicone bags, etc. If they get stale, simply pop them in the oven on low heat for about 10 minutes before eating.