This kale chips recipe is easy to follow and creates a surprisingly crispy and delicious appetizer.
I’ll be honest with you: As a general rule, I’m not completely in love with kale.
There are other green leafy veggies out there that I find much more appealing, both in flavor and texture. But I can’t stand ‘not liking’ foods and I refuse to ever consider myself a picky eater. I pretty much forced myself into liking beets. To me, beets had always tasted like dirt. That is, until I discovered that roasting them and putting them on a salad with crumbled goat cheese made them, well, heavenly. Goat cheese has magical powers like that.
Anyway, back to kale and my skepticism. The first several times I had kale it was just…ok. But, there are so many people that rave about kale, I needed to keep trying it to see if there was a way that kale and I could be friends. I was very close to smothering with goat cheese, until I came across kale chips.
There aren’t a lot of chips that I dislike, so I figured that kale chips might be a pretty good idea, too.
It turns out, that tough, bitter tasting kale takes on an airy crispiness as well as a mellow flavor when it’s roasted with just a bit of olive oil and salt. The first batch of kale chips I made, I stood over my stove eating them straight off the baking sheet trying to ‘decide’ whether or not I liked them.
Well, an entire baking sheet of kale chips vanished in about two minutes so I guess I had my answer. I liked them. More than liked them, actually, because I promptly made another batch and proceeded to stuff my face with them again. Needless to say, I ate a lot of kale that day.
It was such a simple and tasty snack, I had a hard time believing it was really that easy. Kale, olive oil and salt. Boom, done. You can even throw some other seasonings on there as well, like garlic powder, chipotle chili powder or my favorite, Old Bay Seasoning.
So, I’m glad to finally have a delicious way that kale and I can be friends. I don’t know if our friendship would have been strong enough to survive another batch of sauteed kale. I’m fairly confident that we would have parted ways.
What’s your favorite way to prepare kale? Have you tried this kale pesto recipe?
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Kale Chips Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Kale
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- Sea Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 °F.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Remove ribs and tough stems from kale and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
- Place kale in a large bowl and toss with olive oil.
- Spread kale in a single layer on prepared baking sheet, taking care not to overcrowd the kale. You may need to use two baking sheets or bake the chips in two batches.
- Sprinkle kale with sea salt and seasonings (if using).
- Bake kale for 22-25 minutes or until crispy, flipping chips halfway through. Watch kale closely during the last several minutes of cooking. If smaller pieces are cooking faster, remove them from the sheet to avoid burning.
- Allow chips to cool on baking sheet.
- These kale chips are best served within a couple of hours. If storing for longer, cover chips loosely to avoid the chips getting soggy.