Skip the store-bought bag and make homemade tortilla chips instead! Here’s how we make traditional tortilla chips as well as baked tortilla chips in our own kitchen.
A few really good store-bought tortilla chip brands are available, but we haven’t found anything that beats homemade chips! Homemade tortilla chips are easy to make and perfect for homemade nachos or serving alongside your favorite dips and salsas.
I love serving these tortilla chips with our fresh pico de gallo, homemade guacamole, creamy queso dip, and our roasted tomatillo salsa.
Key Ingredients
- Tortillas: Use corn tortillas, preferably stale or slightly dried out. I love using leftover homemade corn tortillas or good-quality store-bought tortillas. For the best flavor, look for tortillas made using nixtamalized corn (look for the words “nixtamal” or “nixtamalized” on the package). You can also look at the ingredients list (it should be short and have the words “lime” or “cal”).
- Oil: If frying, use a light-flavored oil with a high smoke point like avocado, safflower, or peanut oil. If baking, lightly brush the tortillas with a little oil to help them crisp up.
- Salt: I like to sprinkle fine sea salt over the chips as soon as they come out of the oil or oven. For lime-flavored chips, mix the salt with a bit of lime zest before sprinkling.
How to Make Tortilla Chips
You have two options for making homemade tortilla chips: fried or baked. For the best tortilla chips, fry them. Baked chips are excellent, but they will never be as light or crispy as traditionally fried chips.
I love the light and crispy texture of fried tortilla chips, so that’s my preferred method, but both methods are super simple!
For crispy, light, and airy fried tortilla chips, you will need to fry them in oil. I use a wide pan with an inch or two of oil (you don’t need more). Then, cut the tortillas into wedges and drop them into the oil. Cook until crisp and golden brown (they only take a minute or two). I keep my oil temperature around 350°F.
From our photo, you can see that the tortilla triangles can be close together in the oil. That said, you will likely need to fry your chips in batches.
For baked tortilla chips, you’ll need a large baking sheet and your oven preheated to 375°F (tips for convection and air fryer baking are in the recipe). I cut the tortillas into wedges, brush them lightly with oil, and then line them up on the baking sheet. Make sure they are in one layer and bake until crisp and golden brown.
Although the baked tortilla chips will not be as light and crispy as fried ones, they will still be delicious and better than the baked store-bought bags of chips sold at the store!
Easy Tortilla Chips (Fried or Baked)
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
For the best homemade tortilla chips, fry them. The recipe includes details for fried and baked tortilla chips. The baked chips are excellent, but they will not be as light or crispy as the traditionally fried chips. The recipe calls for 10 corn tortillas, but you can increase or decrease this amount based on how many chips you would like to make.
For the best flavor, look for tortillas made using nixtamalized corn. Nixtamal is dried corn cooked and soaked in water with calcium hydroxide (slaked lime or cal). Not all store-bought tortillas use this method, which is why the flavor of corn tortillas can vary. Look for “nixtamal” or “nixtamalized” on the package. You can also look at the list of ingredients (it should be short and have the words “lime” or “cal.”)
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
10 corn tortillas or use more for more chips, stale or dried out tortillas are best
3/4 to 1 cup neutral, high-heat cooking oil like avocado oil, safflower oil, peanut oil or vegetable oil
Sea salt to taste
Directions
- Fried Tortilla Chips
1Cut each tortilla into 6 triangles.
2Line a plate with paper towels or a clean dishcloth, and set aside.
3Add the oil to a wide, high-sided pot or cast iron pan until it’s about 1/2 inch deep. Heat on medium-high until the oil reaches 350°F (177°C).
4Add a single layer of tortilla triangles to the hot oil. Use a slotted spoon or tongs to push them down into the oil.
5Cook until the chips are crispy and golden brown, about 2 minutes.
6Transfer them to the prepared plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
- How to Make Baked Tortilla Chips
1Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat.
2Spray or lightly brush the tortillas on both sides with oil.
3Cut each tortilla into six triangles and arrange them in one layer on the baking sheets.
4Bake until the chips are crisp and golden brown, 10 to 20 minutes. Check the chips often, and if some are browning quicker than others, rotate the baking sheets to encourage even baking.
5Lightly season each chip with salt and then serve.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- If you don’t have a thermometer: Test the oil by dropping in a small tortilla piece. It should sizzle gently. If it browns too quickly, the oil is too hot, so remove the pan from the heat to cool slightly before continuing.
- Storing: Homemade tortilla chips are best eaten the same day, but if you need to store them longer, allow them to cool completely and then place them into a resealable plastic bag or airtight container. They should keep this way for an extra day or two.
- Convection oven: When using the convection setting, reduce the cooking temperature by 25°F and check the chips a few minutes before the recipe suggests. Some ovens already so this, so we recommend checking your oven manual.
- Air fryer tortilla chips: Air fry lightly oiled tortilla triangles at 350°F (177°C) in a single layer until golden brown and crispy, 5 to 7 minutes. Check on them as they cook so that they do not overbrown.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. Values below are for fried chips.
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I made the baked version to go with chili, we use tortilla chips in place of crackers. They were so easy, even got crispy. Next time I will dust with chilli powder and add some fresh lime juice. Not sure I’ll every buy a bag from the store again
I don’t think I’ll ever buy bagged chips again. These were absolutely amazing!!!!
This recipe inspired me to make a very fast version, it’s too hot for the oven and I don’t deep fry anything for health reasons. So I cut up 3 small corn tortillas as in recipe, used maybe a teaspoon of olive to grease them up a bit. Then I laid them out on a large non-stick griddle and turned heat in high. Took a couple of minutes to cook first side and a minute to do the other side. While they were cooking I mashed an avocado with some salsa and juice from a lime. Of course I ate the whole thing. Thanks for inspiring me!
These were AMAZING! I did 14 minutes in oven @ 375 for mine and they turned out perfect. Added in some garlic salt blend and it was so tasty.
These are the perfect corn tortilla chips! The baked version is perfect. I also appreciate the way you laid out the instructions. No guess work!
Yay! We always try to throughly test our recipes to remove any guesswork. We are thrilled all of the info is useful! 🙂
I made these today half deep fried half baked. Very tasty, but why did mine puff up. I could have stuffed them with something? Great recipe.
Hi Dan, you likely used great tortillas! A really good tortilla has layers, which when heated creates pockets. This happened when you fried them.
These look absolutely delicious! I want to make them but I only have flour tortillas not corn tortillas will it work with these as well? Please let me know as I want to make this tomorrow thanks so much!
I made theses today and tried both baking and frying technique. The baked ones were not as good as the fried ones. I also made the seven layer Mexican dip and In taking my items to a church potluck I think they’ll like everything.
I never knew that nixtamilized corn is what creates the taste difference. Isn’t that the same process used to make Hominy? I love Hominy in Texas caviar salsa. Yum. Thank you for the recipe.
Great recipe, thank you for sharing! I have really enjoyed using this. Have seen both sides of the importance of the oil temperature and the amount of time you fry the tortillas. So, I’d invest in a thermometer and expect a couple batches to fail before you figure out the timing. I use Guerrero corn de maiz blanco tortillas, which I buy at BJ’s, but have seen them in other stores as well. While the ingredients in English don’t list it, the ingredients on the package in Spanish say nixtamalizado.
Wonderful recipe! I never knew it was so easy to make homemade fried tortilla chips! They came out delicious.(And I did look for the specific kind of corn tortilla with the ingredient you suggested in it, but couldn’t find it so I just used normal corn tortillas and it still came out yummy!)
I’ve tried making baked tortilla chips but no luck, they are never crunchy. I will try this recipe, maybe it will work.