Crispy Kale Chips



Believe it or not these are super crispy!!



Sometimes I just feel like snacking on something salty but I am loathe to sit down with a bag of potato chips because I know I won't be able to stop after just the one serving. (BTW who makes the serving sizes nowadays? I am not a big girl but I eat WAY MORE than 8 chips in a sitting...) So this week, after FINALLY finding kale in my market, I decided to experiment with kale chips. I have bought them from health food stores before but they are really expensive and I can't find them anywhere in Europe. Anyway, the experiment was a success and it is really easy to do. I love having a snack which is really healthy for you (did you know 1 cup of kale has 1327% of your daily vitamin K, 354% of your vitamin A, 89% of your vitamin C, 10% of your fiber, and 5% of your protein?) and still salty and crunchy. And, I swear, it doesn't taste like "vegetables."

Crispy Kale Chips

Ingredients:

-lots of kale (washed)

-salt

-olive oil

-any other seasonings you want (powdered)

Method:

Preheat oven to 300F. After washing the kale, you should make sure it is REALLY dry. This is because if there is even a little water on them when they go into the oven, it will produce steam and that will result in wilted kale chips instead of crispy. To do this, I tore the kale into roughly 2" segments (discarding the large spine in the middle) and laid them out in single layers on paper towels. Then I put more paper towels on top, added more kale pieces, more paper towels, etc and let them sit like that for a while, gently patting.

Then once they're dry, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and pour about 1 tbsp olive oil over them, as well as a healthy sprinkling of salt (and whatever other spices you want, such as onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, etc). Now here is the key - unlike with other roasting veggies, you really need to use your fingers and pick up each leaf and massage the oil and salt into each one to ensure it's oiled up nicely and shiny. (Not dripping with oil, just a light sheen.) This is because without the oil and salt the leaves will just go really dry and not taste very good. 



About to go into the oven - oiled and salted up

Put the baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove, let cool slightly on a rack, then carefully remove each leaf with your fingers (not a spatula!) and lay on some paper towels to absorb any extra oil. I needed to do a few baking sheets worth because I had a lot, and they do need to be in a single layer. You won't believe how crispy they are when they come out of the oven!

Finished product - crispy and salty