Salt and Pepper Chips Recipe with no MSG

Salt and pepper chips are chunky potato sticks fried with a generous dose of salt, pepper, Asian spices, onion, and chilli. Served on a plate of colourful chilli, they’re a Chinese takeout favourite and a great example of British-Chinese fusion food.

Our homemade salt and pepper chip recipe uses no added MSG and frozen fries to save time. We’ve also included instructions for using an air fryer for a healthier, crispier version.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Salt and Pepper Chips Recipe (No MSG)
• Cooking Tips
• Using An Airfryer
• Using An Oven
• Variations

Ingredients

You'll need the following ingredients to make this popular Chinese takeaway dish. 

• ½ tablespoon Chinese five-spice
• ½ tablespoon salt
• 1¼ tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup chillies mixed red and green, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 4 spring onions sliced
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

Fresh onions, spring onions, and garlic are used as aromatics. For a spicy kick, you can use fresh chilli.

Fries

To start, you’ll need to get thicker, chip-shop-style frozen chips. You can choose skinny fries if you prefer, but the spice kick will be stronger per piece of fry. We like chunky as skinny fries tend to get overwhelmed by the mixture of spices and vegetables.

You can also use freshly made potato fries, but to save time, we like to use frozen.

Seasoning

One of the most important flavourings for this dish is Chinese 5-spice seasoning powder. Just a little bit tastes incredible, lending your dish a lingering sweet yet slightly smoky flavour.

Some recipes call for using MSG to make your fakeaway taste similar to the real deal. We don’t think adding it’s necessary, and most people won’t have this in their pantry either. Therefore, our recipe doesn’t use added MSG. However, if you want to add it, you can add a pinch or two to our recipe and use less of the seasonings we’ve provided.

Although not traditional, you can add chicken powder or vegetarian seasoning powder to the 5-spices powder. This adds another level of umami to your dish.

Cooking Tips

Here are some tips to make our salt and pepper chips recipe successful at home.

Prepping

For starters, when chopping chillis and onions, you can save them in an airtight box so you can easily use them for the next round of cooking.

If you use chillis, you can remove the seeds and membranes for a gentle, spicy sensation. However, we prefer to keep the seeds in for a spicy kick.

With the salt, opt for salt flakes, as they give the fries a nice crunchy texture.

How to serve

Serve them with another sprinkling of sea salt on top, alongside a garnishing of spring onions and your selected vegetables on the side. You can also add sweet chilli sauce or crispy chilli oil as a dip.

How to reheat

After cooking, it is best to serve immediately while your dish is hot. We highly recommend eating them hot; we found reheating them less crunchy.

If you have to reheat this dish, we recommend spreading it evenly out in an oven or air fryer to reheat. If you don’t spread it out evenly, the onions and chillis will begin to char while the fries are warming up.

Don’t use the microwave, as your fries will come out more soggy.

Using An Airfryer

One way to eat healthier and still enjoy salt and pepper chips is to make them using an air fryer. Since the air fryer cooks by drawing in heat from the air rather than oil, you’ll enjoy less greasy fries.

It does mean washing an extra piece of equipment, but you do get a crunchier and healthier dish than deep frying. This is why we prefer using the air fryer for our recipe.

If you are using an air fryer, we recommend checking the frozen chips pack to see how long you need to cook your pack. Otherwise, we recommend cooking it at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes and tossing it around at the halfway mark. Make sure to preheat the air fryer for a few minutes before cooking the chips.

Using An Oven

Another option is to bake the fries instead of frying them. The baked fries do not contain as many fats or calories as the fried version and can taste crunchier, too. We suggest baking it at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes, flipping it around at the halfway mark.

Variations

This salt-and-pepper dish is a variation of the popular salt and pepper chicken wings and ribs that attracted British customers in the late 1900s. Using fries allowed Chinese restaurants in the United Kingdom to entice British diners with conservative tastebuds to try their food. They capitalised on the British’s love for chips and dipped fried potato sticks into salt, pepper, and a mixture of Asian five-spices.

Since then, so many more variations have been, including squid, king prawns,  chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, beef, tofu and even onion rings. We love that you can substitute the fries with so many different ingredients, and our recipe still works with charm. It’s like learning one recipe to master many.  

We hope you have tried the recipe and now have a fresh batch of hot, piping salt and pepper chips to serve. If this recipe has been successful for you, why not share the joy with your friends by sharing this article? 

Feel free to tag us on Instagram @honestfoodtalks so we can see your delicious creation.Looking for the fried chicken version instead? Check out our recipe for salt and pepper chicken at home.