Recipe: Kale Chips
Feb. 24th, 2009 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaBecause several people have asked!
These are so fast and so easy and so crunchy and tasty, it's amazing. They do still taste like kale -- but like light, airy, toasty-browned kale, slightly oily and salty (but only slightly). Like potato chips in texture and munchability, but not so much in flavor. Right now, when there's a ton of kale at the farmer's market, they're fun to make.
Basically, the principle behind kale chips is that kale is a fairly stiff/firm green -- so it doesn't immediately wilt in a hot oven -- that is both thin enough and low-moisture enough to crisp up quickly in a hot oven. Unlike potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc, which are thick and moist enough to be difficult to crisp in a home oven, kale chips are dead simple.
Be careful not to oversalt them, though. I did that, and wow, salty chips.
Kale Chips
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Tear the leafy part of the kale off the stem part and into pieces -- I usually tear them 1-2 inches on a side, but it doesn't really matter. They only need to be roughly similar in size, so just tear them up to something that looks vaguely bite-sized. (They shrink a little during cooking, but not terribly much.)
Toss the kale with olive oil, making sure they're all lightly oiled. (Depending on how big your bunch is, you might need 2 tbsp.) Then sprinkle with salt (and don't oversalt -- you can always add more salt to the finished chips, but there's no way to unsalt them!). You can add other seasonings now -- for instance, black pepper or cayenne pepper for spicier chips -- or even a tablespoon of vinegar for salt-n-vinegar kale chips. First time, though, I recommend just using salt, so that you can get a feel for how the chips taste.
Spread the chips out on the baking sheet in a more-or-less single layer. A little overlapping is fine, but if you've got the whole thing stacked two-deep, you'd be better off doing it in two batches.
Put them in the oven for 5 minutes. At the 5 minute point, give them a stir and put them back in. If they seem to be browning already, check them in 2 minutes; if they seem to still be pretty damp, give them 5. Give them a stir and bite one. (Careful, they're hot.) If it's dry, crisp and toasty, they're done. If not, give it a couple more minutes and try again.
Remove from the sheet and eat!
These are so fast and so easy and so crunchy and tasty, it's amazing. They do still taste like kale -- but like light, airy, toasty-browned kale, slightly oily and salty (but only slightly). Like potato chips in texture and munchability, but not so much in flavor. Right now, when there's a ton of kale at the farmer's market, they're fun to make.
Basically, the principle behind kale chips is that kale is a fairly stiff/firm green -- so it doesn't immediately wilt in a hot oven -- that is both thin enough and low-moisture enough to crisp up quickly in a hot oven. Unlike potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc, which are thick and moist enough to be difficult to crisp in a home oven, kale chips are dead simple.
Be careful not to oversalt them, though. I did that, and wow, salty chips.
Kale Chips
- 1 bunch kale (any kind -- I've used purple, green, curly, and flat)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (you don't need the good stuff for this)
- a couple of pinches of salt
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Tear the leafy part of the kale off the stem part and into pieces -- I usually tear them 1-2 inches on a side, but it doesn't really matter. They only need to be roughly similar in size, so just tear them up to something that looks vaguely bite-sized. (They shrink a little during cooking, but not terribly much.)
Toss the kale with olive oil, making sure they're all lightly oiled. (Depending on how big your bunch is, you might need 2 tbsp.) Then sprinkle with salt (and don't oversalt -- you can always add more salt to the finished chips, but there's no way to unsalt them!). You can add other seasonings now -- for instance, black pepper or cayenne pepper for spicier chips -- or even a tablespoon of vinegar for salt-n-vinegar kale chips. First time, though, I recommend just using salt, so that you can get a feel for how the chips taste.
Spread the chips out on the baking sheet in a more-or-less single layer. A little overlapping is fine, but if you've got the whole thing stacked two-deep, you'd be better off doing it in two batches.
Put them in the oven for 5 minutes. At the 5 minute point, give them a stir and put them back in. If they seem to be browning already, check them in 2 minutes; if they seem to still be pretty damp, give them 5. Give them a stir and bite one. (Careful, they're hot.) If it's dry, crisp and toasty, they're done. If not, give it a couple more minutes and try again.
Remove from the sheet and eat!