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Learn how to make coconut chips, or shredded coconut flakes, from fresh coconuts. It’s easy!
As I told you the other day, I’ve been on a bit of a coconut kick lately and have been buying a lot of fresh coconuts. Not only do I love drinking the fresh coconut water, but I can use the meat for making coconut milk, coconut flour, and coconut butter, and my new favorite, coconut chips. Not only have I made all sorts of recipes with the coconut meat, but I’ve even been making crafts with the coconut shell. In fact, I got so busy with all of it that I almost forgot to get to the blog to tell you all about it!
So, be warned, this is the second in a series of many posts about what to do with fresh coconuts. The first was a post about how to choose a fresh coconut and how to open it. I figured that was an important place to start if you start to buy fresh coconuts for these sorts of recipes. Choosing a bad coconut takes all of the fun out of the projects, and will make you quickly give up. Choosing a fresh coconut, though, isn’t difficult and makes all of the difference!
Coconut chips on their own are a fun topping for smoothies and smoothie bowls, but I have to admit that I find them a bit boring plain.
So why would you want to go through the hassle of making coconut chips?
When seasoned, they are incredibly tasty!
Many of you have probably heard about coconut bacon. I’ve made it many times by now, and while I really enjoy munching on a handful of coconut bacon, or sprinkling it on my salads, it isn’t my favorite way to season coconut flakes. For those of you who don’t know how to make coconut bacon, though, I’ll show you in the next few days. You really do need to try it!
I’ve been making all sorts of sweet, tangy, and salty coconut chip types that are crispy and one of the healthiest ways you can satisfy your cravings for chips.
While you can use store bought coconut flakes for making coconut chips, I’ve found that the ones I make at home are a bit thicker and make for more crispy coconut chips. The store bought variety are still tasty, but I don’t get the same satisfaction that I get from biting into the crunchy homemade ones.
You can make regular coconut flakes or toasted coconut flakes by adjusting the temperature of your oven when dehydrating your coconut. I personally like the white flakes better, but I do have to admit that the toasted ones are great to use for making coconut bacon.
So, have I convinced you to give it a try?
Video
How to make coconut chips or flakes and toasted coconut chips
Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 fresh coconut (See the link for how to choose a good coconut)
Instructions
- Open the coconut and pry out the coconut meat. (You can find detailed instructions for choosing a good coconut and how to open the coconut here.)
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the brown skin from the coconut pieces. (I usually dry out the skin and either munch on it separately or grind it into a powder which is great as an exfoliant for your skin.)
- Rinse off and dry the white coconut pieces.
- Using your vegetable peeler again, peel off strips of coconut until you have finished making coconut chips with the entire coconut.
- Using either your oven or a dehydrator, dry the coconut chips until they are completely dried out. You can tell by trying to break them. If they are still somewhat flexible and hard to break, you should dry them out a little longer. They should easily snap in half. If you are using your oven, use the lowest heat and the convection setting if you have one.
- If you want toasted coconut flakes, you can continue to heat the coconut in either the dehydrator or the oven and they will start to slowly become toasted. They will first start to turn a golden yellow, followed by a darker brown color. You can quicken the process by turning up the heat a little, but be very careful! Toasted coconut flakes burn very quickly and easily. Once burnt, they don’t taste very good.
- Store your dried coconut chips in an airtight container. They are now ready for eating as is or seasoning however you choose.
I got a bowl of coconut chips from my coconut. (Although I do have to admit that I was eating coconut as I went, so you could probably get more from your coconut than I did if you don’t eat it all during the process.) 😉
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing with you some of my ideas for making seasoned coconut chips. I’ve made everything from raspberry to matcha-lime coconut chips to coconut bacon, and they’re all super yummy!!
How to Choose a Coconut and How to Open it
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Kaye
Hi! I landed here in search for ways to season coconut chips, but now I’m super curious about your coconut crafts! (We don’t use the same coconuts though, in the Philippines we call yours niyog, which is an older coconut. I mostly drink the younger, green coconut.)
Also, have you tried drying coconut strips instead of flakes?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Kaye,
I guess I never got around to posting my crafts. My son made a turtle, and I made a soap dish. I started to make some pendants, but never got around to finishing them. I should show some of them off, I guess. 😉
I love the green coconuts, but they are very expensive here because it is difficult to keep them fresh, I think. I’ve bought them occasionally, but not as often as I’d like because of the price.
I’ve only dried the thin strips you see in the pictures. Larger strips of the older coconuts probably would be difficult to dry and eat. You could probably do much thicker strips of the green coconuts, though, because they seem to have a much higher liquid content.
Arun kg
Kindly let me know how to make the toast coconut Chips in large scale
Tracy Ariza
Hi Arun,
I’m sorry, but I only make them for my own home so I have no idea how to make them in large scale effectively.
Stephanie Brown
I add grated ginger and honey to my grated coconut. before drying in the oven. Delicious snack✌
Tracy Ariza
That sounds delicious, Stephanie! 🙂
I love ginger.
I was going to make new posts with some of my favorite combinations, but I think I may just update this post and add in some of my favorites. I really like with smoked paprika- I also like with matcha with lime, and raspberries with honey or maple syrup.
Erry
Hi Tracy, I wonder how long can you keep the coconut flakes?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Erry,
Assuming you’ve completely dried them out and store them in a tightly sealed container that doesn’t allow for humidity to enter, you should be able to keep them for several months without any problems. I think when you buy commercially dried coconut flakes, they normally give a shelf life of about 6 months. As long as they are well dried and well conserved, yours should keep for as long as theirs.
zahra
hey! i didn,t see seasoned chips. how can i season coconut flakes?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Zahra,
I was just going through these recipes this week (I’m going through all older posts as I change my recipe plugin), and realized I never got around to posting very many of them.
I posted the recipe for coconut bacon, and posted a recipe for smoked paprika coconut chips on the Rubies and Radishes blog, but am planning on posting that here, along with a couple of others over the next few weeks. (I already had a few other posts planned first, but it’s definitely on my to-do-soon list.)
zahra
thank you for your answer. I have coordination on a web page recently. can i share your posts about coconut flakes? it’s in persian language
Evans
Pls apart from the dehydrator and the oven what can you use to toast the coconut?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Evans,
Theoretically, you should be able to dry it out in the sun outside. I’d cover it with some mesh, to keep any bugs from getting on the coconut chips, leaving some space between the mesh and the coconut for good airflow.
Once dried, if you want to further toast them, you could toast them in a pan over the stove, being careful not to burn them.
I hope that helps!
Tracy Ariza
Hi Evans,
You can theoretically dehydrate the coconut in the sun. (I’ve done this with other things, but haven’t personally tried it with coconut.)
To keep bugs away, it’s best to have some sort of mesh fabric that you can cover the coconut with, but leave a bit of a space above the coconut so air can move over it and it can dry more easily.
Once dried, if you want to toast it, you can lightly brown it in a pan over the stove.
I hope that helps!
Debbie
I would love to try the recipes for your flavoured coconut chips that you mention in this post but nothing shows up when I search – would you be so kind as to share the recipes please?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Debbie,
I think I never got around to getting very many up.
I did put up my recipe for coconut bacon on the blog, which is one version of seasoned coconut chips.
I also shared my recipe for smoked paprika coconut chips on the Rubies and Radishes blog, where I used to contribute recipes.
I’ll have to look up some of the other recipes and post them. The raspberry and matcha coconut chips were really good, so thanks for the reminder!
Danielle
I don’t see any “link” in your comment, Tracy. I tried googling how to open a coconut but I really wanted to see what your links said because I would trust them more.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Danielle,
I added it to the “how to open a coconut“- if you hover over it, it should open. (It should be in a different color to show it’s actually a link, but that could also depend on what you are using to read the blog.)
In any case, how about I just paste the whole link here: https://thethingswellmake.com/choose-coconut-open/ 😉
You can also do a search on the side panel of my blog. When I do a search of open coconut, it comes up right away. I’ll admit, it’s a bit more hidden if you are on a phone, and I’m looking at doing a new re-design of the blog soon to help make things easier to find everything.
I have to admit, that by now I’ve opened the coconut so many different ways. I drink the “water” out, and have been known to even open them by throwing them on the pavement outside when hungry and in a hurry. 🙂
The method in the post is a lot less messy, though, and I also give my tips for choosing a decent coconut. That’s the most important part of the whole process, I think!
Good luck! If you have any questions, I’m here to help. 🙂
Danielle
Your “links” don’t work? Can you please send me them in a comment! I have a coconut but can’t get the darn thing open! I want to make these so badly haha I bought some coconut chips from Maui and sons and my daughter absolutely LOVES them so I want to try making them at home 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Tracy Ariza
Hi Danielle,
Sorry about the link to the coconut post not being there! I must have meant to put it in later and overlooked it. I just updated the recipe with the link, so it should work now.
That said, this is how I choose a good coconut and open them.
Thanks for letting me know so that I could fix the problem and save others the same frustration! 🙂
I hope it goes well for you. I love making coconut chips- and then seasoning them! I need to put up more of my favorite flavors up soon.
Victoria
this is interesting, but what can I use instead of vegetable peeler
Tracy Ariza
Hi Victoria,
I think that the cheapest, easiest way to get the chip shape is the vegetable peeler. You could also try a mandolin vegetable slicer or food processor on the slicing position. If you don’t have any of those things and you’re handy with a knife, you could try that, but I imagine it would take a lot longer. I haven’t personally tried any of those methods.
I do use a grater, though, to make shredded dried coconut, so I’d imagine a vegetable slicer would work quite well for making chips too.