Pasta? As a chip? Okay, woah. If you’ve found yourself down a TikTok rabbit hole in the past few weeks, you’ve surely come across a new trending food: pasta chips. This crunchy twist on pasta is taking the internet by storm, and I, of course, had to try it.
If you’re unfamiliar with pasta chips — let me explain them to you. They are your typical cooked pasta, kicked up a notch. Take pasta, whatever shape or style you like, cook it as you normally would, season it to perfection, and then toss this creation into your air fryer (an oven works just fine too) for about 8-10 minutes. Voila, now you have crispy, golden, flavor-bursting pasta chips!
Now that you’re up to speed, I’ll walk you through my experience making the viral snack/appetizer/whatever you want to call it.
Ingredients:
Used: rigatoni pasta, olive oil, bread crumbs, grated fresh mozzarella, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Process:
First, I cooked my rigatoni pasta. It took a little over 10 minutes. Next, I strained it. I tossed the pasta with olive oil in a large bowl — I’d say I did a heavy drizzle. After that, I used a sprinkle of each seasoning mentioned above. I used about three handfuls of breadcrumbs, for an extra crunch. I grated fresh mozzarella and mixed that in, too. Once everything was combined, I spread out the pasta on a baking sheet coated with spray olive oil to prevent anything from sticking. I baked this in the oven at 425 degrees, for eight minutes. (A ton of TikTok recipes use an air fryer, but I found one that used this exact method for the oven). After the eight minutes passed, I tossed the pasta again and then put it back in the oven for another five minutes to ensure that it would be golden and crisp! Then, I put the pasta chips on a plate and served with my mom’s homemade tomato sauce.
My Thoughts:
Amazing. It was definitely different to eat pasta as a finger food, but I can’t complain! Each piece of pasta was perfectly crunchy. These chips were super flavorful, and the breadcrumbs added an awesome, crisp texture. On top of that, the fresh mozzarella created another layer of deliciousness. Many recipes use parmesan cheese, but I personally prefer mozzarella. Although these chips had a lot of flavor on their own, I would definitely recommend serving with a sauce. Using my mom’s sauce to dip was definitely a power move. One great thing about pasta chips is how creative you can get. You don’t have to use a set recipe! You can get as wild as you want with them. I think pasta chips would be an awesome addition to any appetizer line up — easy to make, and certainly easy to eat!