How to make pita chips (and devour them)

I had forgotten that a package of pita bread was tucked away on a shelf in the refrigerator. I came across it last night while making dinner. I don’t remember exactly when I purchased it, but it didn’t appear to be sprouting anything green or fuzzy. I must have committment issues with finishing foods, and always have half a package of something laying around.

I decided to take the opportunity to make something useful of the pita bread before it was lost once again to the nether regions of my fridge. Crispy, crunchy pita chips seemed like the best, no fuss option.

I stacked up the four pitas and cut them into quarters, then disected each quarter into thirds. For those of you counting along, 48 triangle pieces in total. Then, I dumped them onto a large cookie sheet where there was enough room to spread them into a single layer without too much overlap.

I poured about 1/4 cup olive oil over the pita pieces and tossed with my fingers to evenly coat every piece. Next, I sprinkled with 1 teaspoon garlic powder, a few twists of black pepper, and a pinch or two of salt. One more toss with my fingers to get the spices all over each piece.

You can see there are many possiblities for flavoring — I’m a big garlic fan, so decided that was best for last night. In the past, I’ve tried out red pepper flakes, cumin, chipotle pepper, and various italian spices. A sprinkle of parmesan isn’t bad either. But, I always return to just garlic.

I set the oven to 350 degrees and baked for 7 minutes. Then, I took out the pan and flipped the pieces, baking for an additional 7 minutes. At this point, they were nearly done so I turned off the oven and let them set for another 30-60 minutes while I finished making and eating dinner.

The chips turned out perfectly crisp, no moisture remained and they were nicely browned. I placed into an airtight container and have been munching on them every since. There aren’t too many chips left … and I have really bad garlic breath :-)