How to Make Perfect Apple Chips in the Air Fryer

Dehydrated apple chips in the air fryer are so easy and fast. What used to take hours in the oven or dehydrator can be done in less than 20 minutes. You’ll be making these healthy snacks all the time!

Bulk Items Used for Air Fryer Apple Chips: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger

I’d like to go on the record here stating that I HATE extra kitchen appliances and gadgets. I was pretty reluctant to get an Air Fryer, but oh boy, I was wrong. I actually love it! We’ve had two now. The first one was only so-so, and ended up breaking after a year of use. So we replaced it with the Instant Vortex 10 qt, 7-in-1 Air Fryer Oven. This is the one guys! If you’re looking for an Air Fryer, I highly recommend it! (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases, with no cost to you. Thanks for supporting The Incredible Bulks).

Review of the Dehydrator Function on the Instant Vortex Airfryer

One of the cool features this air fryer has is a dehydrator function. So to break it in, we decided we’d better make dehydrated apple chips. We used the dehydrator function to cook the apples at 175 degrees for just over 2 hours. This is a lot quicker than when I use our actual food dehydrator to make apple chips. The apple chips turned out great, just like they were made in the oven or a food dehydrator. Also, they didn’t stick to the air fryer trays, which was great!

The bad news, however, is that I could only fit less than an entire apple in the air fryer. Making dehydrated apples in the oven takes the same amount of time as the air fryer does, but I can make 3-4 times the amount of apple chips.

So, while the dehydrator function is fun and works great, I probably won’t use it very often to make apple chips. Unless my oven breaks….

After doing some research and tests, however, I discovered there is a MUCH better way to make air fried apple chips, and you can use any air fryer to do it!

How to Dehydrate Apples in the Air Fryer (the Fast Way)

By setting the air fryer to 320 degrees, you can whip out apple chips in less than 20 minutes. Here’s how:

1. Preheat the airfryer to 320 degrees.
2. Thoroughly wash the apples. You do not need to peel the apples, but you can if you want to. You can also core the apple, but again, it’s not necessary.
3. Thinly slice the apples, they should be about 1/8th of an inch thick.
4. Optional step: Coat the apples in a little bit of lemon juice to prevent browning. You can also sprinkle the apples with cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
5. Lay out the apples on the air fryer trays or the bottom of the air fryer basket. Try to not overlap the apples too much.
6. When the air fryer is up to heat, add the apples in a cook for 5 minutes.
7. Take the apples out and flip them over. This prevents sticking and promotes even dehydrating. If you have trays, rotate the trays from top and bottom.
8. Cook for 5 minutes more.
9. Check your apple chips. They are done when they are hardened and have just a little bit of flexibility. They will crisp up as they cool. Every air fryer cooks a little differently, so at this point they may be done. If not, continue to cook apples until they reach your desired crispiness. In test groups, some found they were done after the 10 minutes, others cooked theirs for 12 minutes, some needed 16 mins, and another cooked it a full 20 minutes. I have found that in the air fryer the apples can go from perfectly dehydrated to burned within a minute, so keep your eye on them!
10. Store in an airtight container so they don’t get soft again.

Tips for Making Dehydrated Apple Chips

• I highly recommend using a mandoline for thinly slicing the apples. It makes the job so easy, and evenly cuts the apples so they all dehydrate evenly. Be careful though! I’ve sliced the side of my thumb off before! If you’re looking to purchase one, I recommend the “Fullstar Mandoline Slicer Spiralizer.” (As an amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases, with no cost to you. Thanks for supporting The Incredible Bulks).
  
  
• We’ve tried making apple chips with many different varieties of apples, and haven’t found an apple that made a bad chip. I have noticed that sweet apples become even sweeter and sour become even more sour when dehydrated.
  
  My very favorite apple chips are made from Honeycrisp apples, but I also enjoy Granny Smith apple chips. Red Delicious make a pretty decent apple chip as well.

• Apple chips are tasty just the way they are, but adding cinnamon can be delicious too. My personal favorite is to sprinkle pumpkin pie spice on top. (P.S. Pumpkin Pie Spice is expensive to buy. You can make your own for a fraction of the price. Check out this recipe from Loving It Vegan).

Recipes for Air Fried Apple Chips

Here are some of my favorite recipes from around the web that use Dehydrated Apples:

Fuji Apple Chicken Salad from Gimmie Some Oven

Caramel Apple Cookies from Crayons and Cravings

Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal with Dried Apples and Cranberries from Barefeet in the Kitchen

I hope you enjoy these apple chips!

✌️Ems