Written by Rachel, Contributing Writer
I have been hearing about kale chips a lot lately. Growing up in a traditional American home I was raised eating potato chips at 4th of July celebrations, picnics and just because sometimes, a lot like some of you, so deep down I like them or at least the memories associated with them!
Being a real food advocate however, we don’t really eat potato chips anymore, sometimes on a rare occasion you might catch us with regular plain potato chips… but shhh! don’t tell!
That crunchy, salty taste is something I still desire, so I decided to make kale chips which are extremely frugal and have many health benefits instead of health detriments like traditional potato chips fried in unhealthy fats, usually have preservatives, loads of table salt and other questionable ingredients.
I bought the Kale for 88 cents a pound recently. Kale is all you need because you probably have the other ingredients on hand. You will also need olive oil which is always in my cabinet, sea salt and some seasoning. We happened to be visiting my family in Arizona when I made these so I used my mom’s garlic & herb seasoning. The ingredients in the seasoning were dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, orange peel, paprika and red pepper but you could use what you have.
Here are the 6 simple steps I followed to make the kale chips:
- Buy 1-2 bunches of kale from the grocery store, local market or farmer’s market and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Wash the kale & dry it, if you have a salad spinner that would probably work great, otherwise pat dry.
- Pull leaves off the stalks into chip sizes and place in large bowl.
- Get your oil, salt & seasoning and pour or shake while in bowl and mix well with your hands.
- Place on a baking sheet and put into the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
- Shake sheet and if the kale is crisp, place on a plate and enjoy!
Kale is full if antioxidants, is anti-inflammatory and packed with several vitamins. Olive oil is a healthy fat that helps with cholesterol and blood pressure and has many nutritional benefits and sea salt is alkalizing to the body and contains many essential minerals. So with all of those benefits I don’t think you can go wrong with kale chips!
Plan It- Don’t Panic Meal Planning Challenge (And Recipe for Okonomiyaki)
Wow! Those look yummy…we are def going to try. I make something similiar only with collards and in a deep pot. I steam the collards in just a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the pot. Take the lid off when they are tender, let the water cook off, and add a little canola oil and salt/pepper. They get crispy and sweet. I am also going to try the collards in your oven method. I am from the south and we love greens…..Thanks for sharing!
@Ashley, I’m not a huge fan of collard greens but would love to try & make your version! Do you have a post about making them on your blog? I also live in the South (or South East in TN)
Wow! What a great idea! I’ve recently decided to not buy chips very often, as well as MANY other packaged products because almost everything contains MSG, which I have learned, kills brain cells. I love the idea of using vegetables to make chips! I’m going to try this soon! Thank you, Rachel!
@Angela, Try it soon, hope you’ll let me know how it turns out! I can’t believe how so many things contain MSG- it’s crazy! MSG even has hidden names it goes by to make us (the consumers) think it’s not in the products.
I love Kale Chips, and so do my kids. I usually use salt and garlic powder. Yesterday I used Purple Kale because I thought the color would be nice and different, but they didn’t turn out as well. I would definitely stick to Curly Kale.
@Leigh, I’ll be aware not to use the purple kale, thanks for the tip!
Could this be done in a dehydrator?
@Bethany W, I think you could, but you might want to research it, we don’t have a dehydrator. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!
@Bethany W, Yes, you can make kale chips in the dehydrator. I personally prefer them this way – very crispy without any chance of burning them. I actually just wrote up my kale chips recipe – feel free to check it out! I am seriously addicted to them.
I like kale chips too. Only I don’t add as many spices. Just salt.
I chop kale up finely and put in soups like chicken or turkey and I also put it in smoothies and green drinks. You have to be careful not to add too much unless you don’t care as it tastes a bit kaleish with too much but that is a way to get it into my kids more.
Oh and this past weekend I totally caved and ate some potato chips after not doing that in a LONG time (can’t remember when) and you know what they tasted awful especially afterwords and they weren’t even a particulary “bad” ingredient-wise type but it just so wasn’t worth it to me. I would have been better off eating some fruit. Its funny to me that they tasted so awful!
@Nola, I read about just using salt but I wanted to make them as much like potato chips so that my family (we are visiting in Arizona right now) would eat them, my dad is so particular but I made him try a bite, he’s worse than a kid.
I think they’d probably be fine with just salt and they’d probably cook a lot faster. BTW, we all cave sometimes! shhh! lol!
I am NOT a fan of kale, but I like Kale Chips. 🙂
This year I started decreasing our chip intake and this would be great to help subsidize them! Thank you for the recipe, it looks easy. I pinned this on Pinterest!
@Vicki B., hope you will try them, you will probably love them as a replacement! Thanks for pinning this! (I am still very new to pinterest & understanding it)
After these are made how long do they last? Shelf life wise? I’d like to make up a bunch for the winter!
I stopped eating potato chips and started eating rice chips or bean chips, they are good but expensive! This seems like a much better option, thanks for sharing!
@Sarah, I believe they will be fine for about a week, we ate them fast so didn’t make it that long. hehe! I don’t think they are something you can make a whole bunch of ahead of time, I’d ask a kale chip veteran though, lol.
I hope you’ll try them! what are bean chips?
@Rachel @ day2day joys, I made some and forgot about them for about 4 weeks and they were fine, even crispy still.
How funny! I just made a big batch of spicy kale chips yesterday for my husband. It’s a slightly different recipe then yours. We use olive oil to coat the leaves then add a few teaspoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, and 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Put all ingredients into a ziplock bag to evenly coat. Place kale chips on a teflex sheet and dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 6-8 hours.
Another version has a cheesy taste to it. Take 1 cup of cashews and soak for an hour. Place the cashews in a food processor with 4 oz of pimentos and a dash of lemon juice, salt and 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Process until fairly smooth. Place all ingredients in a ziploc bag and coat the leaves with the “cheese sauce”. Place the chips on a teflex sheet and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 8 hours.
@Charise Cole, Your spicy recipe looks amazing! When I get home I will have to try your recipe! We are in Arizona right now so my mom’s trying not to run the oven very much. I would say your recipe with the cashews, pimentos & lemon juice would be good for a dip but kale chips not very strong so coating it sounds great! Thanks for the ideas!
I’ve tried making kale chips a few times, but can’t seem to get it quite right. By the time they get crunchy, some parts are too dark, not the lovely green shown in your pictures!
Any ideas?
@Deoxy, I am no expert but I would try & check on them every couple of minutes once you pass 10-12 minutes. If some are done and don’t need to be baked any longer, pull those out and leave uncooked ones in oven longer. Thanks for your sweet comment about kale in my pictures.
My four and two-year old love Kale chips, but to be honest I have never made the connection to potato chips. We don’t eat potato chips, but I’m afraid my kids would be disappointed if they thought the other option would be potato chips. I use these as a side dish for dinner and feel good that my kids are eating their greens.
I have never tried the nutritional yeast, but I’m going to next time. Sounds good.
@Nicole, that’s great your kids have never had potato chips! We should have never let them have any, not that they get them very often. Served as a side dish is awesome! My mom & I had sandwiches the other day and I actually put the kale chips in the sandwiches for some crunch and it was AWESOME!
store bought potato chips-gross, kale chips-yummy!
We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE kale chips at home! We grew our first garden this summer, and kale chips has to be the favorite harvest goody. When I make the chips, my girls (2 and 7) think it is a special occasion that we must be celebrating…because this is their favorite treat. We visited family this weekend and I made some kale chips for my mom-in-law and she really liked them too. I only wish I could fit more onto my cookie sheets at one time 🙂 BTW, we just use olive oil and salt…I may try our Jane’s Krazy Mixed-up salt next time for a twist after reading all of the different ideas here.
I’m totally going to make these. I love and kale and I love chips (yes I know they are bad but they are so tasty!). Sounds like a winning combo to me! Thanks for this.
I’ve heard lots about kale chips lately! Definitely will give these a try 🙂
I grew up eating kale in a Dutch dish called boerenkool. It is cooked kale mashed in with potatoes. It is usually served with farmer sausage and gravy. I haven’t had it for years, thanks for reminding me to introduce it to my kids!
@Mom of 4, that sounds fabulous! You should write a post about that!
i am danish. i grew up eating a homegrown organic kale, nitrate free bacon, organic onion, or on occaasion some organic beets thrown in. very nutricious and very tasty. a bit of sea salt and it all you need.
Your email came at the perfect time! I had bought kale planning on trying to make chips, but hadn’t found a recipe. We tried it, and i accidentally almost burned it all! I put it in the oven and started dinner, got wrapped up in my recipe and forgot. But what was not burned was pretty good, we might try that cheesy recipe next! Thanks!!
@Allie, oh goodness! Glad you got to taste some! Good thing is that kale is pretty cheap (hopefully where you live too!) and you can try it again real soon!
I wasn’t sure I would like these, but I tried them and love them! Can’t believe how good they are and satisfying too! All I can say is try them before you poo-poo them. 😉
I made Kale Chips, and my whole family loved them! My recipe was only olive oil, salt and lemon juice. The lemon juice really made it for us! It was simple and really good! I am hoping to go to my organic farmer this week to get more kale! I wish it was 88cents a poundthough!
@amanda, I actually made a typo, it was 88 cents per bunch but that still isn’t bad. I’m glad your family loved them!
I wonder if swiss chard would work, now that I have a lot of!
@Lorie, If you try it let me know!
I am making these for the first time tomorrow! Trader Joe’s had a good deal on a bag full of kale! 🙂
I just made some Kale chips. I coat them with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and nutritional yeast. I sat down with my 1.5 year old twins and we devoured the whole bowl. The twins were covered in green specks and they wanted more. They are so delicious and nutritious. This will be a snack my children and I will eat forever!!
try lowering your oven temp to 200F or lower. It will take longer but you won’t burn the chips.
PS: where do you shop? Our Kale on sale is 2 bunches for $4.
i grow my own. it is SO easy-easier than growing lettuce. territorial seeds company has some tasty varieties.
I am waiting for my kale chips as i type. My first time. I tried 2 of them. WOW delicious!!! I got a recipe off of All recipes.com and it said to add vinegar. I didn’t have any olive oil so I used grape seed oil. I also used my peach and chocolate vinegars that I love. 1/2 tablesoon each cause I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to use. I can’t wait to take these to work in th morning. If I have any left. I made 2 trays :)))
I love to add fresh lemon juice, fresh garlic and olive oil. I bake on the lowest possible heat with the door ajar to preserve some of the nutrients and avoid burning them. A food dehydrator is the best, but I don’t have one..yet! I am about to make some now…and will try with nutritional yeast this time!
love kale chips, i researched recipes, i actually undercook them, crispy on the outside and the inner leaf is soft. i also added a small amount of baking soda to the oil tehn mixed in the kale, it reduced the bitterness of the leaves.
Will this method work with Chard or any other greens?
Thanks
Catalina, I’m sure it’ll work, it works with other greens like spinach.
We add vinegar for Vinegar and Salt Kale Chips. Yum. 🙂
These were so good. I picked fresh purple kale from my garden for this. I ate the whole bowl myself. Great snack.
Robin, yum! I’ve never had purple kale!