Step 1

Trim the beets of greens and the roots. Scrub the beets well under cold water, but leave the skins on. Use a mandoline to slice the beets 1/16” thin. If you don’t have a mandoline, use a very sharp knife to thinly slice the beets.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Drizzle a very scant amount of olive oil to a baking sheet pan, then rub the oil over the pan with your hands or a paper towel. You want this to be a very scant layer, just enough so the beets don’t stick, but not enough so they cook in the oil or they will steam instead of bake and come out limp instead of crisp. Layer the sliced beets onto the pan being careful not to overlap. You will need more than one sheet pan, and/or reuse the pans in batches of baking.

Step 3

Bake the chips on the bottom rack of the oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on how thin the beets are cut and how large they are.

Step 4

While the beets are baking, pour the salt into a small bowl and crush the dried chives into the salt. You could do this step ahead of time as the longer the herbs are in the salt, the more flavorful the salt becomes.

Step 5

Remove the rack from the oven and sprinkle with the chive salt. Allow the beets to cool on the pan, they’ll crisp as they cool. Once cool, transfer to a cooling rack to continue to dry and crisp. Repeat with the remaining slices of beets.