Pear crisps – A delicious, fruity and healthy alternative to crisps for your little ones to enjoy. Really easy to make and no nasty added extras.
My little ones love crisps so I thought I’d have a go at making a fruity alternative which would contribute to their five-a-day.
I originally set out to make apple crisps but an oven setting error (I set it to 200ºC not 200ºF) meant that they came out black and made a strange crackling sound like they were just about to set alight (oops). It was my last apple, and determined to continue my fruit crisp experiment I settled for a pear instead.
The result was something crisp, sweet and really quite delicious. I tried them out on the boys and… result!
Since then I’ve had a go at apples and various other fruits and vegetables, but pear was by far my favourite and so that’s what I’m sharing here.
The apples crisped well but didn’t taste as sweet. They were also more liable to stick to the baking tray which was a bit of a pain.
The vegetables all seemed quite hard, so I think more experimentation is needed with oven temperature and cooking times.
The ginger and garlic, well they were definitely an experiment too far. I don’t think any amount of playing with cooking temperatures or oven timings will make those taste nice!
So anyway, back to the pear crisps. They’re really simple to make, you simply slice the pears thinly and put them in the oven, turning halfway through the cooking time. They are in the oven for a long time so I try and squeeze in as many trays as possible to make it worthwhile. If I use 2 pears, this spreads over 3 trays which is enough for Daniel to have a portion a day in his school lunchbox for a week (although I tend to snack on them during the day so they don’t always last that long!).
When you’re slicing the pear it’s important to try and get the slices as uniform in thickness as you possibly can. I use my food processor. However, you could simply slice them by hand, use a mandolin or a Y-shaped peeler.
A great way to use up pears that won’t ripen
I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I buy pears they just won’t ripen. It doesn’t matter where I keep them, they simply refuse to go soft and so are not pleasant to eat. These pear crisps work really well with those stubborn, hard pears (the hardness actually makes them slightly easier to slice thinly).
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Pear Crisps
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pears
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat the oven to 120°C/100°C fan.
- Chop off the top and bottom of the pears.
- Thinly slice (about 1mm thick) as uniformly as possible.
- Lay out the pear slices on a baking tray (I use three trays for two pears) ensuring that none of the slices are overlapping and place in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- After 1 hour 15 minutes, turn the pears and return them to the oven for a further 1 hour 15 minutes.
- After they have finished cooking, turn off the oven but leave them in the oven for a further hour to become fully crisp.
- Serve.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans
- Gluten-Free
- Egg-Free
- Dairy-Free
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Fish-Free
- Crustacean-Free
- Mollusc-Free
- Celery-Free
- Mustard-Free
- Lupin-Free
I’m sharing this recipe with #RecipeOfTheWeek with A Mummy Too.
PhilaBob says
Great, simple recipe that works with pears or apples. I tosed mine in ugar, cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of cayenne pepper before baking. I suggest laying the slices out on a baking sheet lined with parchment to avoid sticking.
Rhonda Copeland says
Thank you! Mine turned out perfectly. So crisp. I used almost overripe red pears. Yummy!
Linda L Cole says
can I use bottled lemon juice instead of ascorbic acid I have the lemon juice, and citric acid to dehydrate 24 pares. please help. I’m running out of time with these. Just picked them yesterday
Charlotte Oates says
I don’t use lemon juice or another acid in this recipe so I’m afraid I can’t help. I’d suggest asking on a page that uses the method you’re attempting.
CATHY TERRY says
How long can they be stored?
Liz says
It looks lovely and will try later tonight
Has anyone tried banana crisps/chips?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tried banana sorry. I’d imagine that as they’re quite different to pears in their make up they’d need a different cooking time and temperature.
Chanda says
My work colleague had an over abundance of pears and shared them. This is a lovely way to eat them. It was so easy to make. Thank you, my family loves them.
Naheed says
What gas mark would i need to cook them
From naheed
Charlotte Oates says
Hi Naheed, I’ve just checked the conversion and it should be gas mark ½ (although I had no idea the scale went down that low so I hope your oven does). I hope that helps.
:D says
What type of pears did you use? I tried red pears years ago and the texture was firm, crispy and chewier than apple chips so I never did them again. I may try your instructions again.
Charlotte Oates says
I use conference pears which are usually a little underripe. Make sure you slice them very thinly and leave them in the oven while its cooling as this will help them to crisp up.
I hope you enjoy them x
Laura @ Life with Baby Kicks says
Oh these look delicious I keep trying sweet potato crisps (and failing) so I must give these a go as I have some pears in the cupboard to use up! #recipeoftheweek
Charlotte Oates says
It’s a great way to use up old pears, and ones that flatly refuse to ripen.
I’ve only tried sweet potato once but I think I overdid them. I’ve been meaning to try this recipe from Le Coin de Mel http://lecoindemel.com/oven-baked-sweet-potato-crisps/ but didn’t have any leftover sweet potatoes.
Alison says
I love dried apples, these look really lovely as well. Will have to try them
Charlotte Oates says
I prefer them to dried apples as they’re a little sweeter. I hope you enjoy them too.
Mel says
These look really good! I quite fancy trying making sweet potato crisps. Might do this week-end. What on earth made you attempt garlic and ginger crisps (yuckedy yuck!).
Charlotte Oates says
I was hoping it was a flash of genius – it wasn’t!