Skip to Content

Easy Air Fryer Pita Chips (From Scratch or From Store-Bought Pita)

Update: The original recipe here makes pita chips that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, which make for perfect dippers. However, many people have asked me how to make crunchy pita chips (like Stacy’s Pita Chips) so it is now included here as well!

——-

These air fryer pita chips have officially become my favorite appetizer.

They’re not pita chips like you’d buy from a bag at the grocery store. Oh no, these air fryer pita chips have a crisp on the outside, but they’re still light and fluffy on the inside.

The inspiration for these pita chips came from a local Greek restaurant here in Michigan. Shoutout to Kouzina for having an incredible pita chip dish on the menu, but Olga’s deserves an honorable mention as well!

These homemade pita chips can be ready to serve in under 30 minutes (yes, completely from scratch) and pair perfectly with my spicy feta dip.

If you need an appetizer to impress your guests with, whip up some of that spicy feta dip and serve with these pita chips, and they’re going to think you are a culinary genius.

But wait, I prefer crunchy pita chips!

I hear you. Stacy’s Pita Chips are easily one of my favorite snacks out there, so I’m including instructions on how to make your own crunchy pita chip snack using store-bought pita. It couldn’t be easier!

Holding a crunchy pita chip

We ordered Mediterranean food recently, and we were left with a whole bunch of leftover pita. Rather than let them go bad, we turned them into crunchy pita chips!

Instructions on how to make crunchy pita chips are now included below!

 

How to make air fryer pita chips from scratch

These homemade pita chips are going to be made the same way as my simple Pita Bread Without Yeast recipe, with one tiny difference.

For the original pita bread recipe, we let the dough sit for an hour before baking the pita, which is how we achieve that “poof” we’re after.

Pita bread without yeast

For these air fryer pita chips, we’re not after that same puffiness, so we don’t have to let the dough sit at all.

That means that these pita chips can be whipped up in a matter of minutes!

Or, if you want to take the ultimate shortcut, you can buy pita bread from the store and use that here instead. However, store-bought pita is generally much thinner, so they lend themselves better to crispy crunchy pita chips (more on that in the section below).

To make our own pita bread, all we have to do is mix up the pita bread ingredients until it forms a dough, then break that into 6 smaller pieces of dough.

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin, then add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

I didn’t worry about each pita being perfectly round, because I’m never chasing perfection. If you want to smooth out the edges, you certainly can, but I didn’t worry about it.

Bake for 8 minutes, then let the toasted pita cool for a few minutes. You’ll get a slight puff to some of the pitas, but not a whole lot, which is to be expected.

We want these to be thicker than the original pita bread recipe since we’re going to be eating them as chips.

You can cut the pita bread into as many pita chips as you’d like. You want to cut these similar to tortilla chips by cutting each into pita triangles. I tried two different ways: 8 smaller slices, and 4 larger slices.

Depending on how large you made the pita to begin with, that will likely dictate how many pita chips you cut.

No matter how many you cut, the rest of the process will be exactly the same.

We’re going to toss the pita chips in a little bit of olive oil to lightly coat them before air frying. You may be tempted to skip out on this to save some calories, but trust me, the final texture is going to be much better with a little bit of olive oil (bonus points if you have a quality seasoned olive oil).

Plus, it’s only one tablespoon for the whole recipe, which only adds 120 calories in total.

I didn’t want to overcrowd the air fryer, so I air fried my pita chips in two batches to make sure they would cook evenly all the way around.

3 minutes in the air fryer (at 370 degrees F) is all it takes!

Once the air fried pita chips are ready to go, we just need to give them a quick toss in our seasoning.

Add the toasted pita chips to a large bowl and toss them around while sprinkling the seasoning on top until they are coated as much as you’d like.

Let the pita chips cool for a few minutes on a cooling rack, then they are ready to serve.

Serve these air fryer pita chips with my spicy feta dip for the perfect snack or appetizer!

Get the spicy feta dip recipe right here!

Or if you want to try out a different dip, check out my friend Mason Woodruff’s Whipped Feta Dip which may just become your new favorite dip.

 

How to make crunchy pita chips from store-bought pita bread

These air fryer pita chips have a crisp to the outside but are soft and fluffy inside. Trust me, the texture is incredible!

But fear not; if you want to create your own crunchy pita chips like Stacy’s Pita Chips, you can easily accomplish that with the air fryer.

Take your pita bread, cut it into strips, then cut across to create square chips. If the pita bread you are starting with is very small, you can cut it into slices like our original recipe, but I chose to go with squares to be like store-bought pita chips.

Add the diced pita bread to your air fryer, creating one single layer in the air fryer basket. Be careful not to overcrowd the air fryer basket or the pita chips will cook very unevenly.

Lightly spray with cooking spray, sprinkle salt over the top, and air fry at 350 degree F for 5-6 minutes.

The exact cook time will depend on how thick your pita bread is and how full your air fryer basket is, so you may need to slightly adjust. I open the air fryer basket and give it a shake every 2 minutes to see if it needs more time, but 5 minutes was nearly perfect for every batch I made.

Continue for as many batches as needed!

Allow the pita chips to cool for about 10 minutes, then enjoy! Some of the thicker pita chips may not seem extremely crunchy right out of the air fryer, but they firm up once cooled.

If you want to save these pita chips, portion them out into bags or store in an airtight container to enjoy throughout the week!

This is actually a bag of some homemade cinnamon sugar pita chips, which I enjoy even more than plain pita chips…

 

How to make crunchy cinnamon sugar pita chips

If you’re in the mood for a sweet snack, you can very easily turn your pita bread into cinnamon sugar pita chips as well!

Simply lay your pita bread out on a plate (either your homemade pita bread or store-bought) spray with cooking spray, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Flip over each pita chip and repeat the process to fully coat the other side.

You can make your own cinnamon-sugar coating by just mixing together sugar (or sugar substitute) with a little bit of cinnamon until you have the desired ratio you’re after.

For these, I took a shortcut and just used “Cinnadust” as my coating.

Following the air fryer directions above, air fry these cinnamon sugar pita chips at 350 degrees F for 5-6 minutes, shaking the air fryer basket halfway through.

Let the pita chips cool for about 10 minutes to fully crisp up, then serve ’em up!

 

More air fryer recipes to enjoy

I love using the air fryer because it makes recipes so quick and easy. Here are a few more simple, delicious air fryer recipes to try:

 

Air Fryer Pita Chips & Spicy Feta Dip

Air fryer pita chips

Air Fryer Pita Chips

Yield: 48 Pita Chips
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 24 minutes

These homemade air fryer pita chips don't require any yeast, and you can have them ready to serve in under 30 minutes- completely from scratch! Serve alongside my Spicy Feta Dip for a real crowd-pleaser.

Ingredients

Homemade Pita Ingredients (See notes below for using pre-made pita bread)

  • 180g (1.5 Cups) All-Purpose Flour (can also use self-rising flour)
  • 180g (2/3 Cup) Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder (omit if using self-rising flour)
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil (for tossing pita chips)

Seasoning Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 Tbsp Paprika
  • 1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt (can use regular or sea salt)
  • 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/4 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1/8 tsp Chili Powder

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
  2. Add all your dry pita ingredients to a large bowl and mix them up.
  3. Add the Greek yogurt to the bowl, then use a silicone spatula to mix everything up. Once it starts to come together, use your hands to form it into a ball of dough in your bowl.
  4. Add the dough to a lightly floured surface.
  5. Break the dough into 6 equal-sized pieces. You can weigh the dough out and divide that by 6 if you want to be exact, but I typically just eyeball it because I don't mind if they are slightly different sizes.
  6. Knead each piece of dough for just one minute and roll them in your hands until they become smooth dough balls.
  7. Use a rolling pin to roll out each pita. Don't worry about rolling them out super thin- we want some thickness to them. Unlike my pita bread recipe, we're not looking for a ton of rising with these.
  8. Bake for 8 minutes. After 4-5 minutes, rotate the pan if you notice some pita cooking faster than others.
  9. While the pita bake, mix together all of your seasoning ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
  10. Remove the pita bread from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. While the pita cools, plug in your air fryer and let it preheat at 370 degrees F.
  11. Slice your pita. You can slice each pita into 4-8 chips, depending on how large you'd like them. Add half of the pita chips to a large bowl and toss them in 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.
  12. Air fry the pita chips for 3 minutes at 370 degrees F.
  13. Remove the pita chips from the air fryer and add them to a bowl. Sprinkle in some of your seasonings and toss to coat, then let the pita chips cool on a cooling rack. Repeat for the rest of your pita chips, then serve with my spicy feta dip.

Notes

How to make crunchy pita chips from store-bought pita bread

If you want to make crunchy pita chips like Stacy's Pita Chips, you can easily accomplish that using any store-bought pita bread.

Cube up your pita bread into squares and add to your air fryer basket. Lightly spray with cooking spray, sprinkle with salt, then air fry at 350 degrees F for 5-6 minutes, shaking the air fryer basket halfway through.

Allow the pita chips to cool for about 10 minutes to crisp up, then enjoy! More notes on crunchy pita chips, including how to make them into cinnamon sugar pita chips, above the recipe card.
-----------------------

  • These pita chips are meant to be crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside, which is perfect for dipping into hummus spicy feta dip.
  • You may be tempted to skip the olive oil to save calories, but trust me on this one. Without the small bit of oil, we won't achieve that texture we're after.
  • If you don't want to make your own pita bread, you can use the air fryer instructions to fry up pita chips using store-bought pita bread. I recommend a thicker flatbread like Naan to get the proper texture.
  • You can use any seasoning you'd like here if you do not want to make your own!

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Servings Serving Size 1/6 of Recipe (8 Pita Chips)
Amount Per Serving Calories 140Total Fat 2.5gCarbohydrates 23gProtein 6g

Did you make this recipe?

Share your photos and tag me on Instagram!

 

Share The Love

About Matt Rosenman

With over 15 years of experience in health and fitness, Matt Rosenman is the expert voice behind cheatdaydesign.com. Matt’s philosophy is simple: no foods are off-limits, and a healthy lifestyle shouldn't be complicated or restrictive. As a certified personal trainer with a bachelor’s degree in Health Behavioral Sciences, Matt brings well-rounded expertise to his blog. From revamping classic recipes with a nutritious twist to debunking health myths, he guides his readers through the maze of fitness fads with science-backed advice. Featured in major publications and with a strong following on social media, Matt is committed to making “healthy” uncomplicated—proving there's no need for a cheat day when you’re enjoying delicious, better-for-you meals every day. Join Matt on his mission to simplify health without sacrificing flavor. Learn More

Skip to Recipe