Bubble potato chips have a unique shape and are a popular and fun snack. The potatoes puff up when fried and are completely hollow inside, much like a bubble. They come out super crispy and tasty. They are also just 3 ingredients and easy to make at home.
Have you tried bubble potato chips? They have been trending this summer and I was immediately intrigued by their fun puffy shape. After doing some research, I decided to try them out. They were a lot of fun to make and eat. I’m sharing a lot of step by step photos and instructions in this post so that hopefully you can get them right on the first try.
Bubble Potato Chips
Bubble potato chips or bubble potatoes are a new trendy snack. I’m not sure where they originated from but they seem to be particularly popular in Asia. The chips are puffy and completely hollow in the middle. They are also super crispy, for those who like extra crispy chips.
The chips appear to be inspired by pommes soufflées (also known as souffle potatoes), a dish from France created in the 1800s. Souffle potatoes is a classic dish served in New Orleans, which I got to try a few years ago and absolutely loved. Similar to these chips, souffle potatoes are made by blanching and deep-frying thin slices of potatoes until they puff up. Souffle potatoes are generally thicker and bigger than the potato chips I’m sharing today.
Types of Bubble Potato Chips
From my research, there are three main versions of bubble potato chips. The version I’m sharing today is the easiest of the three and requires the least amount of ingredients.
Bubble Potato Chips Using Raw Potatoes
This is the version I’m sharing today. These chips are made using thinly sliced raw potatoes. They usually are cut into rectangles and when they puff up they become pillow-shaped. The reasons I was drawn to this recipe are:
- No need to peel, cook, mash the potatoes beforehand.
- No need for special ingredients.
Bubble Potato Chips Using Mashed Potatoes
These bubble chips are usually shaped like little balls, so they really do look like bubbles. Of the three versions, I think this version looks the best but it is a little time-consuming. You need to peel the potatoes, cook them and then mash them. This version requires several more ingredients, including rice flour to help achieve the crispy texture, which I know is not a common staple for many households. This version also adds sugar which gives these chips a sweet and salty flavor. I personally prefer them without the sugar.
Ridged Bubble Potatoes Using Mashed Potatoes
A third version I came across is almost identical to the round balls, except that instead of shaping them into balls, the dough is given ridges and has a more cylinder shape (similar to gnocchi).
How to Make Bubble Potato Chips
- This version starts with thinly sliced potatoes. The potatoes need to be very thinly sliced (about 1/16 inch thick) so you likely will need a mandoline. I did try slicing the potatoes a little thicker (1/8 inch thick) and they did not puff up.
- The potato slices are first dried, then lightly brushed with cornstarch.
- Half of the potato slices are then brushed with egg white (which acts as a binding agent). You then place a potato slice without egg wash on top of the potato slice with egg wash and press so that the potatoes are mostly sealed.
- The edges of the potatoes are cut off (this helps seal them further), forming rectangles.
- The potatoes are then fried until puffy, golden and crispy.
Bubble Chip Tips
- The potatoes must be very thinly sliced or they won’t puff up. I used the thinnest setting on my mandoline slicer. I tested it on the medium setting as well and the chips didn’t puff up. I think these will be very hard to make without a mandoline slicer because of how thin you need to slice the potatoes. If you don’t own a mandoline slicer, you may want to try the mashed potato version instead.
- You don’t have to make them rectangle shaped, but it’s the easiest shape to cut without the need for a cookie cutter.
- Don’t put too many in the oil at once. If they overlap before they puff up, it will prevent them from fully puffing up.
- You can fry the remaining scraps after so that they don’t go to waste.
Can these be Baked in the Oven or Cooked in the Air Fryer?
Unfortunately, I have not been able to successfully bake or air fry these. The chips rely heavily on the hot oil to puff up. When I tried making these in the air fryer and oven, they turned into crispy chips but they remained flat and never puffed up.
More Unique Potato Recipes
Crispy Bubble Potato Chips
Ingredients
- 1 medium (approx 197 g or 6.95 oz) russet potato
- 1 tbsp (8.5 g) cornstarch
- 1 egg white
- oil for frying (can use vegetable, canola, peanut)
Instructions
- Wash and dry your potato. Using a mandoline slicer set to the thinnest setting, slice your potatoes. It's okay if they don't all come out perfectly sliced since the ends will be sliced off later. Your potatoes slices should be about 1/16 inch thick.
- Dry your potato slices to remove excess starch. The most efficient method for me was to put the potato slices onto a large sheet of paper towel, being careful to not overlap any of the slices. Place another large sheet of paper towel over the potato slices, covering them. Use your hands to press the paper towel onto the potato slices to dry them. Repeat with remaining potato slices as needed.
- Before you begin assembling the potatoes, I recommend you review the post and step-by-step photos so you know what to expect, otherwise it can be difficult to visualize and explain in the instructions. Place dried potato slices onto a large cutting board. Line them up in a way so that you have one column of potato slices, then find similar sized and shaped potato slices and put them in the next column so that the pairs are next to each other and you will be able to easily sandwich them together later. See photo in post for reference.
- Brush the surface of each of the potato slices with a light dusting of cornstarch. The cornstarch should not be thick, but should cover the entire surface. See post picture for reference.
- Brush half of the potato slices with egg white (the egg white wash goes on top of the cornstarch). If you lined up the potatoes as I did, you would brush the potatoes in one column, skip the next column, brush the next, etc.
- Press a no egg wash potato slice firmly onto a potato slice with egg wash (both potato slices should have their cornstarch side facing in). You want to press firmly to almost seal the two slices together. Repeat with remaining potatoes.
- Use a sharp knife to slices the edges off of the potatoes, forming a rectangle shape. Cutting into rectangles should further seal the potato slices together
- In a medium saucepan, bring oil to medium heat (about 350°F). Gently add a few potatoes at a time, being careful to give them room to puff up. If they overlap before they can puff up, it can prevent them from puffing. Once they are puffed you can add more. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove and drain from oil. If desired, you can fry the remaining scraps to make regular potato chips.
Notes
- The potatoes must be very thinly sliced or they won’t puff up. They need to be around 1/16 inch thick. 1/8 inch thick is too thick.
- The edges of the potatoes do need to be cut. They won't puff up if the edges are not cut off because the seal isn't tight enough.
- I use this oxo mandoline slicer.*
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
- Nutrition estimate is for the potatoes chips before frying. It is difficult to determine how much oil is absorbed in each chip, which is why the nutrition estimate does not include it.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
When I prep potatoes I like to soak slices in cold salt water to prevent browning. Will that interfere with the final product on this recipe? Obviously, I would carefully dry them after soaking and rinsing.
We haven’t tried doing that, but as long as you thoroughly dry them it should be okay.
Great ! This ol Sailorman sure will try . I know my camping students will enjoy the test , Ha.
Thank You from W. Colorado . Mtn Mel, & Molly Blue , Ret. USN SERE – POW Inst. / VN . Tipi Camp.
We hope you love the recipe!
Could you use dehydrated potatoes from an augratin box and rehydrate first? They’re sliced real thin and it seems it should work? What’s you thoughts?
Sorry, we haven’t tried that and not sure it would work well.
I really wanted to like these but they didn’t work for me. They browned and puffed up nice but immediately collapsed when removed from the oil. Maybe the oil wasn’t hot enough?
It could be that the oil wasn’t hot enough which would cause the potatoes to absorb too much oil. That could cause them to collapse. Also, did you slice them very, very thin as described in the post?
Very cool to see a User-friendly recipe for “Potato Puffs”! A VERY Long time ago i made them the “fancy shmancy Restaurant” way… (Otherwise known as the Good chance of setting your house on fire way!) Or as you may know them made from Single slices, Re-fried in increasing temps. of oil!
It was great to have them, but SO nerve wracking to make! (I’d make my husband sit nearby with the kitch.fir extinguisher!)
Thanks a bunch for a more reasonable way to have these! An extra step or two, sure. But a few extra minutes for these yummies is worth no bonfires in my kitchen! Keep posting!!
You are braver than me– I was too afraid to try the restaurant way!
Hi there can you put feta or mozarella betweem squares
no that would result in them not puffing up
What is a serving?
Hi, you can find that information under “yield” in the recipe box. The recipe makes approximately 3 servings. 1 serving is 1/3 of the recipe.
Hi there, thank you very much, i am going to try this bubble potatoes looks very interesting. thanks again Cornelius
Hope you enjoy!
I love this recipe. Thanks for sharing
I’m so glad you like it!
In India summer is when you can still find steel plates and woven mats and platters full of thinly sliced and salted vegetables like bittèrgourd and chillies drying in the scorching sun. Some are even marinated in chillies or curd and turmeric depending on the region. When the finished product is dropped in hot oil they puff up giving a perfect crunchy accompaniment for the rice and curd meals preferred in the heat. But not potato!!
How interesting, I was not aware of that. Thank you for sharing!
Hi, can I use air fryer for this?
As mentioned in the post, we have not had success cooking them in the air fryer.
Is this an original recipe? It looks very similar to a recipe published by ‘Nino’s Home’ three weels ago.
If you bothered to read my post, you would see that I don’t claim this is an original recipe. I specifically discuss that this is a popular trendy snack right now and the recipe has been shared by many. I have not been able to determine where the original recipe came from, which I also discuss. If you do a video search, you will see the same recipe shared by many different cooking youtube sites, none of them claim to be the original owner, they are just making the recipe. The video link you shared even says in the captions that they found the recipe from two other sites, so that person is also not the original creator.
This is a really cool recipe and it came out really fantastic. My whole family enjoyed it it was a little bit more labor intensive than I thought it would be I mean I’d love to have like 700 of these to snack on but i that would be just too much work. Thanks so much for the great recipe.
I’m so glad it worked out for your family!
Why can’t you leave them in circles? Less waste
if you leave them in circles, they will not puff up because the seal is not very tight. And you don’t need to waste the scraps; you can fry them for regular potato chips.
I thought of using a cookie cutter?????
Is there a substitute for the egg I could use? I don’t eat eggs. Could cornstarch and water work?
I have not tested a different substitute for the egg.
This looks neat! I didn’t see the instructions for the mashed potato method though. Is that a separate page?
Hi, this post is only sharing the raw sliced potato version. I think it would have made the post too long and confusing to share more than one recipe. But if you do a youtube search for bubble potato chips mashed potatoes, I’m sure you’ll find the recipe.