Homemade Breadfruit Chips or Nachos Recipe

We love breadfruit! It’s sometimes crispy and sometimes mulchy snack, depending on how you cook it. It’s also really a perfect family member of the jackfruit, although like every cousin, it’s really different.

We only get breadfruit in Mumbai, India during Feb or March. It’s locally called नीरफणस or nir phanas in Marathi. It’s also called bakri chajhar in Hindi, but we go by the local name of neer phanas or breadfruit. I mean whatever you call it, nir phanas or uru or kada chakka or l’arbre à pain or l’fruit à pain it’s still the same thing right, yummy doughy breadfruit.

And each tree gives about 50 to 200 breadfruit, which is quite a good amount, isn’t it? I mean, each breadfruit weighs about a kg alone, so just think how full your kitchen will be with 100 or 200 of them. Makes me want to plant a breadfruit tree soon. Or maybe I just want to plant the tree, because it looks really nice when it’s heavy with fruit?

Breadfruit! Why is it called breadfruit? Well, because when you cook it, it gets mulchy and tastes just like bread. Simple ain’t it?

And breadfruit flour is the perfect substitute for anyone on a gluten-free diet. It can be used instead of rice flour, cornflour, and others. So there’s another plus for this mighty fruit. Anyways, here’s how to make breadfruit chips, a spicy Indian version of this food.

How to clean breadfruit?

Here we have a handful of breadfruit just off our friend’s tree.

Here’s my dad trying to chop them. They are seriously tough to chop! Seriously times ten tough to chop!

Anyways, the breadfruit leaks a sort of goop that gets you itchy. So it’s best to chop them or better yet touch them after you have lathered your hands with coconut oil.

First off, start by slicing them into apple-like wedges. Then skin the breadfruit. Here’s mom helping dad to skin ’em. If you take a close-up pic of the breadfruit once they’ve been exposed to air, you’ll find they look just like a honeycomb.

Also, they turn brown after being exposed to air. Don’t worry too much about that.

What Ingredients Do You Need to Make Breadfruit Chips?

Breadfruit of course, and then the spices to marinade like turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, salt, pepper, asafoetida, vinegar, and oil for frying.

How to make breadfruit chips?

Okay, getting on now. Chop the breadfruit into wedges. We choose one-inch wedges because they’re easier to fry and perfectly bite-sized, but you can try long potato chip-sized wedges if you want to. Or even round chips like we do for sweet potatoes.

Don’t they look lovely once they’re all chopped up?

Carrying on! Add your spices to the chopped breadfruit. There are really no fixed measurements, we just throw some in randomly. But each breadfruit weighs between half a kg to 1.5 kgs, so keep that in mind while figuring out how spicy you want it.

We marinate our breadfruit with vinegar, turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, salt, and pepper. And if you want that extra zing, add some hing (asafoetida)!

If you’re not too fond of spices, just make the chips with plain old salt. That tastes great too!

We leave it to rest for an hour and see that the breadfruit has captured the colour of the turmeric.

Next step! Fry the breadfruit in oil. Deep frying is best. But given the quantity of oil it uses, we prefer to shallow fry. Another difference – deep fry the breadfruit if you want them extra crispy, shallow fry if you like them crispy outside and mulchy inside taste.

After frying, the breadfruit loses oil and turns a darker yellow colour almost like a pineapple.

Once fully fried, the breadfruit turns brown and crispy, and not to forget yummy! Place them on a paper towel to drain and then serve!

What to do with leftover breadfruit chips?

If you have leftover breadfruit after a few days, (which we sometimes do, because we make a lot of chips at once), here’s what you can do with them.

Dice a few green peppers and grate mozzarella cheese over them. Heat it in an oven or frying pan for 5 to 10 minutes and it’s ready to serve. It could be a meal just by itself.

And that’s it! Our breadfruit nachos are ready!

Do you use breadfruit for making nachos or chips? What’s your recipe? Or if this is the first time you tried making breadfruit nachos, did you like my mom’s recipe? Comment and let me know. I’ll make sure she reads it!

Cooking Tips & Tricks

• Lather your hand with coconut oil before you chop the breadfruit, as the pulp it secretes can cause itchiness.
• If you want crispy breadfruit chips, deep fry them.
• If you want the chips crispy outside and mushy inside, shallow fry them.
• If you do not like it too spicy, just add salt or pepper, this taste good too!
• Use the breadfruit chips as Nachos if you have extra leftover.
• Breadfruit flour is gluten-free.

Questions about Making Breadfruit Chips at Home

How Long Can You Store Cooked Breadfruit Chips?

Breadfruit chips can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks in a refrigerator and 3 months in a freezer. Reheat before serving. But also remember that when you store the breadfruit chips, they lose their crispiness, and are best used as breadfruit nachos when reheated.

Can Breadfruit Chips Be Re-Heated?

Yes, you can reheat breadfruit chips that have been refrigerated or frozen after they thaw for a while.

What Are The Other Names For Breadfruit?

Breadfruit is called नीरफणस or nir phanas in Marathi. It’s also called bakri chajhar in Hindi and also uru or kada chakka or l’arbre à pain or l’fruit à pain in other languages.

Can Breadfruit Be Eaten Raw?

Breadfruit can be eaten raw if it is ripe but has to be cooked if it is unripe.

Is Breadfruit A Fruit Or Vegetable?

Breadfruit is a fruit that is eaten as a vegetable.

Other Recipes You Might Like

• Raw Mango Salad
• Purple Cabbage Stir Fry
• Boiled Egg Chilly Fry
• Savory recipes using cottage cheese or paneer
• Mustard Chicken