Fiesta Potato Crisps

Baked potato crisps, dressed with spiced nuts and a homemade sweet corn salsa is so delicious!  In fact, this might be my new favorite vegan appetizer for summer.  What am I saying?  Appetizer?  I scoop so many juicy vegetables on my crisps, it always turns into a very fulfilling meal on it’s own.



This recipe is inspired by Angela Liddon’s “Taco Fiesta Potato Crisps”  recipe of page 85 in The Oh She Glows Cookbook.  I really enjoy her approach to cooking plant based meals and I most certainly recommend her cookbook. 

What’s changed in the recipe?

I'm seasoning my potatoes prior to baking and I omitted the sour cream and scallions from the list of toppings in order to make the dish vegan and onion/garlic-free.  I did these omissions because I’m not a fan of faux-dairy products and because eating plants from the onion family makes me very ill.  I also changed the recipe of the spiced nut mix.  Finally, I omitted the store bought salsa and replaced it with a homemade salsa that’s bright and fresh with a mix of seasonal vegetables.
I mean, who wouldn't like fresh sweet corn in their summer salsa?  So good!

The following recipe serves two.  Please feel free to scale up the portion size as needed.




2-3 large Yukon Gold Potatoes

1 Tbsp. (15 mL) Cooking Oil (I used Spectrum’s Canola & Coconut Oil Blend)

Seasoning Mix (I used Back to the Basik’s in “Original Blend”)



1 cup (250 mL) of Walnuts;  soaked

1 Tbsp. (15 mL) cooking Oil

1/2 tsp. (2 mL) Ground Cumin

1/2 tsp. (2 mL) Ground Paprika

1/8 tsp. (0.5 mL) Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 tsp. (1 mL) fine-grain Salt (we used red Hawaiian sea salt)



1 large Tomato

1 ear of Corn

1/2 of a Red Bell Pepper

3 inches of English Cucumber;  unpeeled

fresh Cilantro;  as much as you like

1/2 Lime;  juiced

P R E P A R A T I O N S

Start this recipe by soaking the walnuts for a few hours.  Soaking nuts has many desirable effects, but for this recipe we are mainly soaking the nuts to improve texture.

Boil the potatoes for about 30 minutes or until tender.  Let cool and then evenly cut each potato into 1/4-inch (6 mm) round slices.  

Next, preheat the oven to 450° F (230° C).  Oil and season the potato slices before placing them onto a large baking sheet.  
Sprinkle another baking tray with oil for roasting the corn.  Husk the ear of corn, rinse to clean and then use a large chef’s knife to cut the corn off the cob before placing it on the baking sheet.

Roast the potatoes for about 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned.  Flip each slice once to bake both sides evenly.  Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the potatoes to cool for about 5 minutes before adding the toppings.

At the same time, roast the corn for 10-15 minutes and stir at least once to cook the corn evenly.

While the potatoes bake is a good time to prepare the nut and veggie toppings.  To make the spiced walnut, drain and then roughly chop the walnuts.  In a small bowl, add oil, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, and salt to the walnuts.  Stir the mixture until all the spices are evenly distributed over the nuts.  Set aside.

Wash and clean the tomato, English cucumber, red bell pepper and the cilantro before finely chopping each into small cubes and adding them into a small mixing bowl.  Stir the cut vegetables together and season with lime juice.  The lime juice will brighten and pull together the flavors of the vegetables.

To assemble the dish, top each potato slice with 1 Tbsp. of veggie salsa and a good sprinkle of the spiced nuts. 
Serve the dish immediately so that the potatoes are still warm and crispy. 

Please let me know what you think of the crisps and if you had the chance to try out the recipe.

       Nina