Paprika Potato Chips

These paprika chips are made with store-bought chips and just a few ingredients. These chips will spice up your next cocktail party and make you feel like you took a little trip to Spain!

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Sometimes you want to doctor up store-bought potato chips, but you don't want dip. So what do you do? Make paprika chips with this recipe for a vinegary Spanish paprika condiment. It's kind of like a hot sauce, but with more smoky flavor than heat.

Just dump everything into a bowl, whisk it together, drizzle it over chips and there you have it. Your friends will be amazed. Plain old potato chips transformed.

This recipe is based on something I had at a tapas restaurant in Barcelona. Serve with chilled vermouth over ice and enjoy!

Jump to:

• Inspiration from a trip to Spain
• Ingredients you'll need
• How to make paprika potato chips
• More Spanish recipes
• Recipe

Inspiration from a trip to Spain

In Barcelona a couple of years ago we had dinner at Bodega 1900, one of Albert Adrià's many restaurants there. The concept takes you back 100 years, to a neighborhood vermutería, serving up small dishes (including the famous elBulli "olives") and house-made vermouth amid white tiled walls and mosaic floors, with Iberico ham hanging from the rafters.

One of the first dishes they brought to the table were these paprika chips. They were tangy, salty and smoky - the perfect bite to go with our cocktails.

The flavor of the paprika was a revelation. I just couldn't get over it. And thankfully, they sold bottles of this stuff to go. So I came back with my small-enough-that-I'm-not-worried-about-it-exploding-on-my-clothes-in-my-checked-baggage bottle, determined to recreate it.

When we first got home I yelled at my husband more than once for dousing the precious liquid too liberally onto plates of chips. "You can't use all of that up before I learn how to make it!"

But, what was it CALLED? I really struggled with the title of this post, because I literally do not know what this stuff is. I just know it's delicious. The bottle simply says 'aliño para apertivo', which means a seasoning or dressing for appetizers.

Soo... dressing. I can't call it dressing... I went with paprika chips because, really, that's what you're tasting - paprika and chips.

So, thank you, ingredient label - it's literally just red wine vinegar, smoked sweet and hot paprika and black pepper. I just fiddled around with the ratios, comparing my mixture to the taste of the bottle I bought.

I don't know. Maybe everyone doesn't freak out over the taste of paprika like I do. But who doesn't like vinegar on chips? These paprika potato chips are my new favorite cocktail party food.

Ingredients you'll need

• Store bought 'classic' potato chips: These are the kind that are just chips, with salt. No ridges, no kettle-ness, light and crisp.
• Smoked hot paprika and smoked sweet paprika: You need both to give the seasoning the perfect balance of flavors. You have to use the good Spanish paprika. The average stuff in the spice aisle just will not do.
• Red wine vinegar: This will be the base of our 'sauce' and provide the perfect, acidic bite.
• Freshly ground black pepper: The pepper balances out the paprika and adds a bit of texture.

How to make paprika potato chips

Step 1: Make the paprika sauce

Add paprika to a small mixing bowl.

Add red wine vinegar and whisk gently to combine.

Add a few turns of cracked black pepper. Pour the mixture into a squeeze bottle.

Step 2: Drizzle the paprika sauce over the potato chips!

Drizzle over classic potato chips and serve with vermouth over ice.

More Spanish recipes

Try these Spanish recipes and make a complete meal!

• Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo) can be made in no time in one skillet. You'll be swimming in garlicky goodness.
• Chicken Escabeche is a fabulous dish with a vinegar-based sauce. It has some heat and some sweetness.

Recipe