These 1-Ingredient 1-Minute Zero-Carb Chips are ingenious and super-tasty, and they’re certainly worth a blog post of their own. But I always like to overdeliver, so in this post you’ll also find a recipe for Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo—ideal for dunking your chips in! Plus, you’ll see three videos: The first one shows you how to prepare the chips in the microwave oven; the second shows you how to prepare them in a regular oven; and the third is on how to prepare the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo. My family loved sinking each crunchy chip into the smooth, creamy, lightly-spiced dip, and I hope your family does, too!
Tips how to prepare the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo
The 1-Ingredient 1-Minute Zero-Carb Chips are really easy to make, so I didn’t include any progress photos. However, you’ll find two videos on how to prepare them either in the microwave or in a regular oven when you scroll down.
And even though the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo is also incredibly easy to make, I wanted to include the progress photos just for fun (and to make your mouth water a little!)
So here’s how to prepare this addictive dip:
First, take all your ingredients.
Next, halve the avocado…
…like this.
Remove the pit.
Scoop the avocado flesh into a small bowl.
Mash the avocado flesh with a fork. It doesn’t have to be absolutely smooth: you can leave in chunks of avocado if you prefer your dip chunky.
I like my dip on the smooth side, though.
Add the mayo…
…lemon juice…
…cayenne pepper…
…and the Cajun seasoning.
Mix well with a fork or spoon…
…until well mixed. That’s it! Easy, wasn’t it?
Then grab your 1-Ingredient 1-Minute Zero-Carb Chips, dunk them into the dip, and enjoy!
My 1-Ingredient 1-Minute Zero-Carb Chip experiments
Actually, the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo recipe isn’t brand-new: I posted it on my Facebook page a couple of years ago. In that post, I was complaining about how food bloggers are always bragging, no matter what piece of junk they publish. Today, I couldn’t agree more. The squeaky wheel really does get the oil: those who are loudest and who brag the most get the most attention, whether their recipes are any good or not. Plus, there’s a lot of stealing going on: some bloggers copy others’ recipes, then try to pass them off as their own—or the lazy copycats just change a little bit of the recipe, and then pretend they invented the whole thing, even though somebody else has done all the hard work of recipe development.
There’s only one way to find the true gems that are hidden behind the bragging bloggers and the copycat recipes: Test the recipes yourself. Then you’ll know who the real pros are!
But now I’ll stop ranting and start doing! First, all you need for your 1-Ingredient 1-Minute Zero-Carb Chips is a single ingredient: Pepperoni! Yes, pepperoni makes perfectly crispy chips when baked in the microwave for one minute. (Naturally, if you don’t have a microwave, you can use a regular oven.) The directions and videos will follow.
I have to confess that this pepperoni chip recipe was born by accident, and since it happened to turn out so well the first time around, it really didn’t need any fine-tuning. But how did this recipe come about, and how did I find out that pepperoni makes the perfect chips?
Well, one day I felt like munching on something crispy. I had leftover pepperoni after developing my Pizza-Stuffed Zucchini recipe, and it occurred to me that pepperoni might become crispy when baked in the microwave. Well, I thought, if even watery zucchini becomes crispyin the microwave, then certainly pepperoni must as well! And you’ve probably seen those recipes for Parmesan (or other cheese) crisps, in which small mounds of grated Parmesan are baked in the oven, resulting in crunchy, freshly-made “crisps.” Right?
This time, however, I wanted to save time and energy, so I decided to see whether the microwave would work. As usual, I was impatient: I wanted to munch something crispy now, and not in a couple of hours!
So, for my first experiment, I took a small plate and placed some pepperoni slices on it. I left lots of space between the slices: you never know whether they’re going to stick together if you put them too close to each other.
I had no clue how long to bake the pepperoni slices in order to make them crispy. If I didn’t bake them long enough, they’d be too soft; if I baked them for too long, they’d burn.
So I started with one minute on high heat. I continuously observed the pepperoni slices during baking, being prepared to hit the stop button if I saw them burning.
Well, they didn’t burn, and after one minute was up, I removed them from the microwave. Excitedly I grabbed one hot slice with my fingers and pored over it.
To my surprise, it was crispy! The slice had shrunk slightly and had lost some grease to the plate. But the more the pepperoni slices cooled, the crispier they got! And the taste was ideal: slightly spicy and more intense than cold pepperoni. Delish!
When I left the chips on the greasy plate I’d cooked them on, they lost some of their crispiness after a couple hours—but when I put them on a paper towel, they got even crispier! So, placing the chips on a paper towel right after baking is highly recommended (hint hint!).
My husband was astonished by the chips and he raved about them (while simultaneously gobbling down the rest of my experiment). That evening I baked all the pepperoni slices I had, and we devoured them all. Believe it or not, my 6-year-old son liked the chips, too, even they were pretty spicy!
Even though the chips are perfect munchies as they are, they get even better when paired with a dip, like the super-rich and flavorful Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo!
Below is a short video on how to make the 1-Ingredient 1-Minute Zero-Carb Chips in the microwave:
And here is a video on how to make the chips in the regular oven (although in that case they won’t be 1-minute chips anymore—just 1-ingredient chips!) Bake them at 350 °F (175 °C) for 8-12 minutes, or until crispy. Don’t let them burn!
And here is the recipe for the wicked-good Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo:
Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo
Ingredients
- 1 ripe Hass avocado, peeled and pitted
- 1/3 cup = 80 ml homemade olive-oil based mayonnaise (there is a recipe for a foolproof mayo in my new book)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
Instructions
- Place the avocado flesh in a small bowl. Mash it with a fork.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a spoon or fork until smooth.
- Serve as a dressing or dip.
- Store in the fridge for up to two days.
Just in case you’re not tired of watching videos yet, here’s one more on how to prepare the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo:
| Nutrition information for the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo | Protein | Fat | Net carbs | kcal |
| In total: | 4.0 g | 77.9 g | 0.7 g | 720 kcal |
| Per tablespoon: | 0.3 g | 6.5 g | 0.1 g | 60 kcal |
You’ve probably noticed that the Spicy Cajun Avocado Mayo is a real fat bomb; ideal if you need to add some healthy fats to your keto diet!)
Tips for variation
These chips are an essential part of any party — especially a keto party! — so make sure to have enough pepperoni on hand. You’ll definitely need to make multiple batches! And why not make a variety of dips to go with them? Try, for example good old guac, Pico de Gallo, or Homemade Ranch Dressing. Or make it a tad more exciting with Cheesy Kale Spread!
For Halloween—which is just around the corner—you can serve the chips as “Dried Blood Clots” with my Halloween Spread or this scary-looking Wormy Dip!
Add some variation to your chips by trying this easiest-ever recipe with different types of pepperoni, salami or cold cuts. Or why not try topping the pepperoni slices with some Parmesan and baking them, turning them into crispy zero-carb Parmesan Pepperoni Chips? I haven’t tried that myself, but it’s only a matter of time!
Where do you get you’re pepperoni from? All the sources I find here in the UK contain some form of sugar or non Keto friendly fillers! Thanks
I use Finnish or Italian pepperoni. If you don’t find, maybe thinly sliced salami works as well (if you find keto-friendly salami)?