How to reheat chippy chips in the air fryer

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Reheating chip shop chips is a great way to cut down on food waste and save yourself a little money too. I'm not sure about your local chip shop but ours gives HUGE portions - but given they are so expensive they probably should!

Recently, to celebrate a great school report, my daughter asked for fish and chips. So we ordered our 8 and 3 year old daughter's two children's meals, alongside two fish & chip meals, on a deal at our local chippy, and we were left with enough leftovers to last for absolutely DAYS! We will definitely order half the amount of food next time we stop by that's for sure.

Anyway, not one to waste food we wrapped the chips up and put them in the fridge - something for future me to deal with... Do you ever do that?!

The next day I had a Gousto box delivered and realised that we really needed the space back so I decided to knock some nice chip wraps up for us all for lunch, so I popped half the chips in the freezer and the other half were reheated in the air fryer, a Ninja Foodi AF300UK, and they were absolutely delicious reheated.

I was really skeptical that they were going to be nice to be honest, and I almost didn't bother reheating them at all, because I usually make chips from scratch, or use frozen french fries in the air fryer when I'm short on time or effort.

I've re-heated chips in the oven before, and they were fine, but they also took quite a bit of time which is not ideal with hungry little ones. Using the air fryer cuts this reheating time in half and is much more convenient as the air fryer is just sitting there on the worktop.

In this post I'm going to cover the exact time and temperature to help you reheat leftover chips, some great serving suggestions and also cover a few other things that you can do with those leftover chips if you want to jazz them up and turn them into more of a substantial meal.

I hear some people like to use the microwave to reheat chips however I've found that this makes them a little soggy. Air fryers are my favourite way to reheat foods and work so well for me!

I'm a lover of using the air fryer, and have 100s of air fryer recipes here plus lots of great air frying tips, air fryer desserts and a full post on what you can cook in an air fryer too.

Ingredients you'll need to reheat chip shop chips in the air fryer:

300g leftover chip shop chips

Salt

Optional: Baking paper

How to reheat chippy chips in the air fryer:

If there are lots of crispy chips, or even scraps, mixed in with your chips then you'll want to place some baking paper in the bottom of your air fryer basket first.

Place a single layer of chips in your air fryer basket.

You won't need any additional oil for this recipe because the chips are already fried so they will have lots of grease and this will heat back up and help the chips crisp up beautifully.

Air fry at 190C (375F approx) for 5-6 minutes. Shake once during the cooking time.

If you like extra crispy chips then you'll want to go for 8-10 minutes of cooking time instead, so an extra 3-4 minutes on the initial cooking time.

Sprinkle the chips with a little extra salt as you're serving them if you like.

Serve and enjoy right away while they are piping hot.

What to serve with reheated chips?

Personally I love to keep it nice and simple. You can't go wrong with salt and vinegar, lashings of it. Tomato ketchup is always a hit in my home too. Check out my sides for fish and chips post if you want some other inspiration too and this curry sauce is pretty nice too!

These are always tasty by themselves, but you can make them the side dish for a main meal of your choice. I love to enjoy with air fryer hunters chicken and a side of baked beans for a nice easy meal that's budget friendly too.

Can you freeze chips from the chippy?

Absolutely. I did this with half of my leftover chips and they've reheated straight from frozen great.

Freeze flat, on a baking tray, open in the freezer and then place them into a bag. You can cook them from frozen, by adding another 3-5 minutes to the above cooking time, at the same temperature. Alternatively you could defrost in the fridge overnight before cooking as per the method in this recipe.

Other uses for leftover chips:

If you can't face the thought of just having plain chips again then here are some great ways to liven up the chips and make them a little different:

Squash them down into a little patty shape, dip in some flour and then pan fry for a few minutes on each sold until golden brown. A little like a hash brown.

Loaded fries are a great option. I love to use any leftover beef mince recipes I have on hand such as 15 minute spaghetti bolognese or even just nacho cheese sauce.

Salt and pepper chips are delicious, packed full of flavour and great with some battered chicken or chicken tenders too.

A chip butty is a classic. These air fryer bread rolls are tasty. A homemade tortilla wrap is a good shout too and you can serve with a nice beef gravy or onion gravy for a dipping sauce.

Poutine is one of my favourite dishes too, melted cheese fries with gravy. Yum!

Be sure to check out some of my favourite potato dishes for some inspiration: 

• Air fryer lemon pepper fries
• Cheese fries in the air fryer
• Air fryer mashed potato balls
• Air fryer hasselback potatoes
• Sliced potatoes in the air fryer
• Air fryer parmentier potatoes
• Air fryer diced potatoes
• OXO roast potatoes
• Marmite roast potatoes
• Rosemary and garlic roast potatoes

Something to note about air fryer recipes is that all air fryers have different sizes, depths and as such the cooking times can vary. All air fryer recipes on this website are intended as a guide, and not a guarantee that the timings will be perfect. Enjoy!

How to re-heat chippy chips in an air fryer:

Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.

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