If your local fish and chip shop is like mine and gives you a massive portion of chips that would feed the five thousand even when you ask for a small one, then you probably also feel, like me, that it is a bit of a waste to throw all the leftover chips away. So you might be asking the question of whether you can reheat chips.
Well I decided to do some testing on this from my last trip to the fish and chip shop and the answer quite simply is ‘yes’. There were enough chips in a small portion left over from my son and I having them for lunch, that I could have some both for dinner that evening and lunch the next day (by that point I had had enough chips for a while to be fair!).
On both occasions I spread the chips out on a baking tray covered with foil and heated them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes at 210 degrees (190 degrees with fan) and they came out really hot and crispy. In fact I would almost go as far as saying that they were nicer than when I first got them from the chip shop!
I had kept the leftover chips in the fridge overnight and to be honest the next day they looked pretty grey and unappetising. However, once again after they had been cooked, they looked and tasted great.
Added to that, a few months down the line I tried this again with some of the chips that I had frozen and they were also delicious – you can cook them from frozen and just give them an extra 5 minutes or so.
The oven that I used is one that I do use quite often for small portions of food. It uses less power than a standard one as it just sits on the worktop and does not need any time to heat up. I had this oven when I was doing a kitchen refurbishment as a temporary measure about 3 years ago and now I wouldn’t do without it.
So this is just one more small way to stop more food going to waste.
