How to Make Baked Crispy Kale Chips
This year, Gursheel and I have decided to eat healthier. For him it means to cut out cookies and chips, and for me… well… I have not been doing so well… whoops (still having cookies for breakfast some days, shhh, don’t tell him that) š But don’t worry, I’m going to start eating kale, in the form of chips, in particular baked crispy kale chips. But we will get to that!
I know I know, I can’t be a hypocrite and should join him in healthy eating. So, I’ve been looking up some snacks that we can eat that are healthier and delicious and oily? Because I sure do love my oily, fried foods. One thing that I have started making is baked chickpeas and they are delicious (I may do a recipe post on those in the future), but the snack I’ll be talking about today is kale chips! And they are not fried!! Way to be healthy! And did I tell you they are delicious?
When I think of kale, I think super healthy, iron rich, and bitter, extremely bitter. That’s because a while ago, when I first heard of kale being a super food and was a good vegan (:P), I used to eat it in salads and smoothies. But, honestly, I never liked it. It had too of much of a strong bitter flavor that was very hard for me to get used to. But then, a little while later, when I worked at a cafe, I made kale chips and they were amazing!!
Kale chips at this point were quite trendy and you could get them anywhere. But I couldn’t justify spending a bunch of money (because, yes, they are expensive) on a snack that was made of kale that I already didn’t even like. So, when I made them at work and tried them and realized how great they were, I knew I had to make em again and try the ones that came in packages at the grocery stores.
I think now it’s probably been a little over two years since I last had kale chips, let alone kale. I’m not sure why, but I am gonna change things around and start making them again! Starting today!
So, I didn’t follow any recipe, I didn’t even google how to make kale chips, I just used what I remembered when I made them at the Boulevard (the cafe I worked at). It’s a simple recipe for these crispy baked kale chips and just has three ingredients: kale, oil and salt, but to make it taste amazing, there are a couple of tips to remember.
The first thing is to make sure you buy some nice looking kale, by that I mean kale that is not pre-cut or pre-washed. Kale that is green in color (not yellow or brown), and kale that is not wilted. So just some nice looking kale š
The second tip is to remove the stems of the kale. These tend to be quite thick and are not really what kale chips are all about. You just want the leaf part of the kale.
The third tip is to wash it really well and then dry it completely. You want to make sure you wash off any dirt there is on the kale, because some bunches of kale have a LOT of dirt! And you want to make sure the kale is completely dry because if it isn’t, the kale chips won’t crisp up as much. So I recommend taking the time to wiping the kale dry (this is probably the only time consuming part of the recipe anyways).
And the final tip is to MASSAGE the kale with the oil! Get both your hands involved and use some of that elbow grease to really massage the oil into the kale. This step is crucial because this is how your kale chips will get crispy and delicious.
Once all the oil is massaged onto the kale, lay them out onto a cooking tray. Make sure to give the kale some room to breathe (:P). Then sprinkle the kale with some salt. And remember, a little salt goes a long way!
Bake the kale at 350’F for 15-20 minutes until the kale has crisped up and you’ll notice that the kale shrinks in size a considerable amount. I thought we started off with a lot of kale, but it shrank down to just a cup of really delicious kale chips.
And the ultimate critic, Gursheel, who’s never had kale or kale chips for that matter before, thought they were really good as well!!
INGREDIENTS – Baked Crispy Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
DIRECTIONS – Baked Crispy Kale Chips
Preheat oven to 350’F and take out a couple of baking trays.
De-stem the kale, wash well, and then completely dry off the water from the kale.
Tear off the kale into bite size pieces and massage the oil into the kale.
Lay out the kale onto the baking trays and lightly sprinkle with salt.
Bake at 350’F for 15-20 minutes, flipping the kale after 10 minutes.
Let cool completely before enjoying.
I hope you all try and make these delicious crispy baked kale chips and if you’re looking for more recipes, check out the Kamfort Food section of the blog!