Roasted Kale Chips
Unbelievably. Easy. And. Delicious. Best four words I can come up with to describe roasted kale, my latest culinary adventure.
I’d been meaning to try making my own kale chips for almost a year and hadn’t gotten around to it. (Even though some good friends of mine always have kale on hand to feed to their lizard, and every time I see the lizard, I think he must be on to something.) But in a recent burst of fulfilling my gastronomical to-do list, I decided to finally try making my own kale chips. I’m happy to say that the kale experiment yielded a far more impressive result than the rutabaga one. Not that there’s anything wrong with rutabaga — it certainly has a whimsical name! — but it isn’t nearly as tongue-teasing as kale chips. Even a recent bag of East of Eden tortilla chips seasoned with Mexican spices couldn’t trump the kale chips.
The secret is tri-fold: tear the kale into smallish pieces before baking them, don’t overcook them, and use a full-flavored, unrefined oil like peanut to give them fantastic crunch and flavor. You’re ten minutes away from chip nirvana!
Roasted Kale Chips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Thoroughly rinse kale, shake off excess water, and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel. Tear the hard “spine” free from the leaf and discard, then tear up the leaves into smaller, chip-ish pieces. Place pieces on a baking tray or cookie sheet that has turned-up edges (as opposed to a completely flat tray or sheet). You’ll probably be able to fit about 4 torn-up leaves on a standard-size tray.
Drizzle about a tablespoon of unrefined peanut oil onto the leaves. (If you use another type of unrefined oil, read the label and make sure it can handle the heat — otherwise, it’ll burn and throw off the flavor of the chips. Peanut goes up to 395 degrees F, but sesame only handles up to 350 F. Coconut oil can easily handle 375 F.) Season chips with sea salt.
Using your fingers, carefully swirl each chip in the peanut oil until each one is well-coated on both sides. Bake for 4 minutes, then promptly remove chips from oven and use tongs to turn each one over. Bake for another 4 minutes.
Serve immediately…and beware! Homemade kale chips are highly addictive and will probably wind up supplanting your potato and tortilla chips.
Enjoy!
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Tags: kale, kale chips, peanut oil, snack
Hey Lis,
This sounds delish!
I’ve made some kale “chips” in the oven, but at a very low temp (which took forever) as I read cooking over a certain temp kills enzymes or something.
Your recipe is a higher temp, but a much shorter period of time (YAY). So maybe it doesn’t kill whatever it was that can get killed. (I need some kale for brain power!)
Any idea on the validity of that? This would be great if I could do them this way & NOT have to buy a dehydrater!
Thanks!
Very valid point about the low-heat, it-takes-forever dehydrator method — “cooking” the kale that way will definitely preserve more enzymes and make the end product more nutrient-dense. (Enzymes start dying off at 118 degrees F.) On the not-so-great side, though, I don’t think the chips would be as crispy with a dehydrator. I don’t claim to be a dehydrator expert, but the items I’ve sampled that were made that way were more chewy than crispy…which can also be great. All depends on what you’re going for. For me, if I’m in the mood for a quick/crispy treat, baking the kale is perfect. Then again, if I’m going for maximum nutrient density, I’d opt for dehydrating. Maybe you could switch between the two — make it the long way when you have time and the short way when you don’t.
Fresh Basil chips are awesome too!
Wow, there’s a great idea, and seeing as summer is finally on its way, soon my garden will be overflowing with basil (I hope). Thanks for the suggestion!
That paints a funny picture…Where, exactly, does your garden overflow to?
Digressing…I bought a bundle of live basil yesterday at Henry’s along with a big-ole bundle of kale. Having chips tomorrow after work for a snack while I make dinner. Thanks for the motivation!
Oooh, forgot to mention… I’m reusing an old pump bottle that used to have “diet” salad dressing in it for spraying the oil evenly on the leaves. I’ll let you know how it works. It has a super fine, wide angle mist action!
Just wanted to add that kale chips DO get crispy in the dehydrator! They are delicious! Very light and crispy… mmmmm….
My method is to tear all the kale into the “chip” size pieces you mention, put in a bowl, drizzle a little oil and sea salt, then toss with fingers to coat each “chip”. Then load up all the dehydrator trays and let ‘em crisp! Also, that way you could use olive oil or other lower-temp oil.
But, you could also use a lower-temp oil in the oven at a lower temp.
Hadn’t thought of basil chips, I’m so going to try that when basil is back! I have used this method with kohlrabi leaves, and beet leaves, both were good! Kale is by far the best, though. Can’t figure out why, since I really don’t care for kale prepared in other ways. : )