She has also had 16 wellness books published by major publishers including the bestselling Easy GI Diet, The Macro Method, Quit Alcohol (For a Month) and Eat 5. Her books have sold over one million copies.
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Potato chips (or crisps for our English readers) are super yummy – but they can also increase the calories, fat and sodium in a meal. But I get you – sandwiches aren’t quite the same without some crunch on the side. So, what can you use instead… here are 23 quick and healthy ideas…
We suggested swapping out your chips for a healthier alternative as one of the tips in our ‘one no challenge’, but if your lunch doesn’t feel complete without that extra side item, what might you want to fill your plate with instead? What makes a great chip alternative?
It needs at least one of three attributes – it needs to be eaten in pieces like chips, it needs to be salty like chips and it needs to have some crunch, like chips! All of the healthy substitutes for chips on this list have at least one of those attributes…
Some of these ideas also work well as alternatives to crackers when you’re serving something like a dip.
1. Kale Chips
Remove the thick stems, then spray cut or shredded kale leaves with a little olive oil spray and bake at 300F/200C, or air fry for around 20 minutes until crispy.
2. Tamari Almonds
These are my obsession after adding them to a salad bowl once. Warning – you might overdo them, so they’re not the best choice if you’re watching calories.
3. Nooch Popcorn
The original low-fat snack. Add a sprinkle of nooch aka nutritional yeast flakes for a zip of cheesy flavour, some extra B vitamins and just a pinch of calories.
4. Baked Zucchini Chips
Thinly slice zucchini, toss with parmesan and a few breadcrumbs and bake or air fry for 15-20 minutes (start checking them at about 13 minutes).
Veggie Chip Alternatives
The list of vegetables you can turn into crisps could have turned this list into 30 alternatives to chips, but that felt like cheating.
But if you want to experiment, try thinly slicing any of the following vegetables and baking/air frying them with a little oil spray for 15-30 minutes.
Beetroot, sweet potato, jicama, celeriac, carrot, parsnips, butternut squash, eggplant and turnip. You can also use Brussels sprout leaves. These only take a few minutes to cook – but an age to peel!
5. Dill Pickle Slices
These are my favourite chip replacements, as the taste is intense. However, they can be high in sodium, so if you’re on a low-sodium plan, you’ll need to watch that.
6. Veggie Batons
Okay, so they aren’t going to win any prizes for originality, but they are quick to make, crunchy as heck and packed with nutrients. Carrots, red, yellow or green peppers, and cucumber all work.
7. Apple Slices
Especially if you dip them in something savoury like hummus. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
8. Roasted Chickpeas
Use canned chickpeas and drain and dry them well. Spray with olive oil and add any flavourings – salt, chilli powder, nutritional yeast or parmesan all work well.
Roast them for about 35-40 minutes at 450F/220C – start checking on them at about 30 minutes to ensure they don’t burn.
9. Ryvita Chips
Simply snap a couple of these crackers into bits and eat like chips – the Sesame-flavoured ones work really well. The Sweet Onion ones, if they sell them where you are, amazing!
10. Edamame
Sprinkle the pods with a little low-sodium salt and enjoy – the benefit is that because they are high in protein, they’ll fill you up for longer than chips will.
11. Banana Chips
Super crunchy, they work because they don’t taste very sweet. Plus you can buy them ready-made which saves time. If you enjoy cooking though, lots of fruits work as chips.
In fact, just like vegetables, we could have added another 5-10 options to this list by talking about all the fruits you can make into healthier chips at home, but again, it felt like cheating, so if you want to try making your own, try cooking thin slices of apple, kiwi, pear, pineapple, persimmon, plums or other easily sliced fruits in the air fryer for about 15 minutes.
12. Seaweed Snacks
Light, crispy, and packed with umami flavor, seaweed snacks are a great low-calorie option.
Find them in Asian supermarkets, or, you can make them by cutting up the nori sheet, spraying with a little oil spray then baking for about 5 minutes at 300F (150C).
13. Celery Sticks with Nut Butter
The combo of crunch and healthy fats makes this a satisfying side dish. You can also fill them with soft cheese, egg mayonnaise or anything else to make your meal more substantial.
14. Water Chestnuts
If you’ve only ever used to adding these to stir fry, this might seem a bit rogue, but they do work. Use canned water chestnuts; make sure you dry them well and then slice them.
15. Roasted Cauliflower or Broccoli
These aren’t the crunchiest choices on this list but satisfy the same picky feeling as crisps, and the slightly charred taste makes them very satisfying.
Just chop them into florets and bake in the oven at 400F/200C for about 40 minutes. You want them to be a bit browned on the edges. Dip them in hot sauce, and thank me later!
16. Radish Rounds
Just slice large radishes into slices – they also work really well with dips. Or, with cottage cheese as a quick low-carb snack.
17. Pistachios
Not only are they one of the lowest calorie nuts you can eat by weight, the fact that you have to shell them to eat them slows you down reducing the amount you consume.
18. Pickled Onions
5-6 small cocktail onions, or 2 larger ones cut into slices, will satisfy your tastebuds as much as an entire bag of crisps. You can go old school and skewer them with cheese for a more substantial side dish.
19. Toasted Tortilla Wraps/Pitta
You can cut these into pieces and bake them into tortilla chips, but you might have guessed that I am not a slave to my kitchen, and if I can find an easy way of making something, I will – and this is it.
Put a pitta or tortilla wrap in the toaster and toast it until it starts to brown. You can then break it up into smaller pieces.
20: Mange Tout or Sugar Snap Peas
Crunchy, picky and solid enough to encounter even thicker dips, they’re perfect.
21. Olives
Salty, savoury and eaten one by one like crisps – they’re perfect. Plus they supply you with some healthy fats. However, olives can be high in sodium, so shop around for lower-sodium options.
22: Green Beans
Either top and tail these and eat them raw, or you can also crisp them up in the air fryer. Add a mix of Parmesan and breadcrumbs or some chilli powder if you want to liven them up.
23. Roasted Fava (Broad) Beans
If you’re grimacing at this point, forget what these taste like boiled. If you roast them, they turn into a fantastic crunchy snack. However, they aren’t the lowest maintenance option on this list.
To make them, use frozen broad beans and defrost them. Squeeze each bean to remove them from their pod.
Spray them with a little olive oil, add a little salt and roast at 350f/180C for about 40-45 minutes. Check on them at 40 minutes to make sure they’re not burning.
So, there you have it 23 alternatives to crisps that will satisfy that craving for salt, crunch or something picky – or all three – but with some extra nutrients.