While kale has always been a superfood in terms of its nutritional value, it’s only in the last few years it has established itself as one of the most popular foods on the market. However, your kale intake needn’t be restricted to meal times. With the help of our kale chips recipe, you’ll soon have the perfect snack for when you’re on the go.
Why Kale Chips?
Kale isn’t only a superfood due to the combination of low calories and rich nutritional content, which includes being loaded with vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K. The food is gluten-free, gut-friendly, ketogenic, paleo, vegan and vegetarian. Whether you’re looking to follow a specific diet or just want to lead a healthier lifestyle, kale is a fantastic solution.
Making DIY kale chips (crisps for any US readers) brings even greater benefits as the healthy snack is a far healthier option than potato chips. It’s a quick, easy, and affordable way to lead a healthier lifestyle too.
Moreover, there’s the option make a huge batch or use a dehydrator. This way, you’ll keep the products good for several months.
Hint: Once you’ve tasted these beautiful homemade chips, you’ll be wishing you created more.
The Problem With Store-Bought Kale Chips
Store-bought kale chips are still a healthier option than potato chips. However, like many foods, they tend to be packed with salt and fats while some brands may have preservatives too.
Kale chips are healthier, tastier, and cheaper when made at home. Given how easy it is to make a batch, there really is no excuse for getting this wrong.
How To Make The Perfect Kale Chips
This simple kale chips recipe should take little more than 5 minutes for prep and roughly half an hour for cooking. Better still, it requires virtually no culinary skills, making it an ideal option for beginners as well as time-starved parents. After all, this can be a great way to get the kids eating a better diet.
What You’ll Need
Serves 2: Change quantities accordingly.
1 Bunch chopped kale
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
½ Teaspoon sea salt
The Method – Oven
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Before doing anything else, make sure that the kale leaves have been stripped of the stems. The leaves should be torn into large pieces but should be purely leaves for the best tasting kale chips.
- Wash the leaves, but make sure they have been adequately dried. Otherwise, the inevitable steam will leave you with soggy kale chips upon completion.
- Chop the leaves into pieces of roughly ½ an inch. There’s no need to be overly accurate with this, however, but you should use a sharp knife.
- Place the chopped kale leaves into a mixing bowl and mix with the coconut oil and lemon juice. While the oil is necessary for excellent tasting kale chips, you don’t want to drench them. Massage the oil and lemon juice into the leaves before sprinkling the salt on top.
- Spread the seasoned kale chips onto a baking tray that is topped with a baking sheet. Spread them out across one layer as to avoid the threat of uneven cooking. If cooking a bigger batch, use multiple baking trays rather than forcing too much food onto a single tray.
- Place the tray into the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Remove the tray and rotate it before putting it back in the oven. You can turn the kale chips over if you deem it necessary, but it’ll be perfectly fine to leave them the same way up.
- Return the kale chips to the oven for a further 15 mins, keeping the heat at 300 degrees F, before removing it from the oven.
- Let the chips sit and cool for 3-5 minutes on the tray. After this time, they will be ready to be transferred to your storage container – or eat right away!
The Method – Kale Chips Recipe Dehydrator Version
The preparation for using the dehydrator is exactly the same. If anything the cooking is even easier as you can spread the kale chips out across several shelf trays.
Cooking times will vary depending on the heat. A slower process can involve 2 ½ hours at 125 degrees F, but you can change this accordingly.
The Nutritional Info
Kale crisps are dry and crispy due to the loss of water but retain the same nutrients as eating it raw. As a rough guide, the nutritional values of this recipe are as follows:
150 calories per serving
2.41grams protein
14 grams fat
3.61 grams carbohydrates
2.4 grams fiber
377.5 milligrams sodium
2,108 IUs of Vitamin A
7.6 milligrams vitamin C
96 milligrams calcium
.93 milligrams iron
Of course, this can change depending on how much lemon, salt and oil is used.
Simple Tips To Get The Best Results Every Time
While the best tasting kale chips are a matter of personal opinion, there are a number of simple tricks that can be utilized to get the best results time and time again. Here are three of the best:
As mentioned, you don’t want to drown the kale in oils. Likewise, the clean leaves should be sufficiently dried, or else you’ll run the risk of having soggy kale crisps.
Aim for kale chips where the edges are browned but not burnt. This should provide the perfect texture and taste time and time again.
Leave any sauces or liquids for after the cooking process has taken place. Not only does this allow the individual to maintain control, but it prevents the soggy kale crisps situation too.
Mix It Up
If your taste buds get a little bored with these dried kale chips after a few weeks or months, you can keep things interesting by changing the seasonings. Trade salt for paprika or try using parmesan. Alternatively, if you’re not a fan of coconut oil, olive oil is an equally fantastic option. Likewise, the lemon juice can be used to great effect.
With a few variations up your sleeve, you’ll be munching on crunchy kale chips forever. For a winner with kids, health freaks, those with food allergies, and those that simply enjoy great tasting foods, you needn’t look any further.