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Air fryer Japanese sweet potato chips — thin golden chips with caramelized edges in the air fryer basket

Air Fryer Japanese Sweet Potato Chips (Honey Butter)

Japanese sweet potato sliced 1mm thin, tossed in melted honey butter with a pinch of salt, and air fried until half of each chip turns golden. They come out floppy and crisp up as they cool - that last part is the whole trick.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Total Time 31 minutes
Servings: 3 servings
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 150 g Japanese sweet potato (satsumaimo) about 5 oz; roughly one small one, skin on
  • 20 g honey about 1 tbsp
  • 5 g unsalted butter about 1 tsp
  • 1 pinch salt do not skip

Method
 

  1. Wash the sweet potato and leave the skin on. Slice it 1 mm thin on a mandoline straight into a bowl of cold water. Even thickness matters more than thinness - uneven slices burn and stay soft in the same batch.
  2. Soak the slices in the cold water for 5 minutes to rinse off the surface starch. The water will turn cloudy.
  3. Lay the slices out on paper towels and pat both sides dry. Any water left on them turns to steam in the basket and stops them crisping.
  4. Put the honey, butter, and salt in a heatproof bowl and microwave for about 40 seconds at 600 W, until melted and runny enough to pour.
  5. Add the dried slices and turn them gently with tongs until each one is thinly coated. Raw slices tear easily, so be careful.
  6. Spread the slices out in the air fryer basket as flat as you can. Some overlap is fine; a thick pile is not.
  7. Cook on the air fry setting at 165C (330F) for 16 minutes, pulling the basket out partway through to separate any slices that have stuck together. Aim for about half of each chip turning golden brown - pale chips stay soft.
  8. Tip them onto a plate and leave them for a few minutes. They come out of the basket floppy and crisp up as they cool. Do not put them back in before they have cooled, or they will burn.