Kale Chips

[Crankin]

I've been eating a lot of kale, so I decided to buy some kale chips at Trader Joe's. I loved the taste, but the bag was really small and half of the chips were smashed to dust.
Any recommendations for other brands to try?

[ccnyc]

Can't recommend another brand, but they're really easy to make.

Baked Crispy Kale

The biggest secret to getting the kale super-crisp is to dry them in a salad spinner. If there is moisture on the leaves, the kale will steam, not crisp. Also, do not salt the kale until after they have come out of the oven. If you salt beforehand, the salt will just cause the kale to release moisture...thus steaming instead of crisping.

ingredients:
1 bunch of Lacinato (Dinosaur of black) kale, torn into bite-sized pieces and tough central stem removed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or oil the baking sheet.

2. Place the kale leaves into a salad spinner and spin all of the water out of the kale. Dump the water and repeat one or two times more just to make sure that the kale is extra dry. Use a towel to blot any extra water on the leaves. Put the kale pieces into a bowl and add olive oil. Massage oil into leaves until all surfaces are coated with the oil. Place the kale on the baking sheet.

3. Bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes until leaves are crisp. Take a peek at the 5 minute mark - the timing all depends on how much olive oil you use (and your actual oven temp). Just use a spatula or tongs to touch the leaves, if they are paper-thin crackly, the kale is done. If the leaves are still a bit soft, leave them in for another 2 minutes. Do not let the leaves turn brown (they'll be burnt and bitter) Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and serve.

[murielalex]

Just put some in the oven. That took five minutes :) Thanks!

[Catrin]

I cook them in the oven all the time, and Lacinto Kale appears to be the best type of kale to roast. I've conducted experiments ;) Then again, dino kale is always my "go to" for kale anyway.

I've considered eventually buying a dehydrator for kale and other veggies. The kale chips you got from Trader Joe's weren't roasted but dehydrated chips. I just tried them last week and never did decide if I liked the seasoning they used. My bag was also half full of dust...

[murielalex]

I'll try the Lacinto next time. All I had in the fridge was Rainbow. Turned out okay.

[Catrin]

I'll try the Lacinto next time. All I had in the fridge was Rainbow. Turned out okay.

Any chance it was Rainbow Chard rather than Kale? They look a lot alike - I am not familiar with Rainbow Kale but of course that doesn't mean anything :)

[Crankin]

Well, whatever kind of kale I had did not turn into chips. I buy it pre-shredded, in a huge bag. I cooked it for 22 minutes, and while it got crispy, it basically is like a bunch of baked veggies, not chips. Perhaps I used a bit too much olive oil, but, I think I will try the Lacinto kale and also go to the natural foods store and see if there is another commercial brand. While I sometimes make baked tortilla chips from corn tortillas, those come out like real chips and I would say my kale experiment was a big fail.
Not sure how much effort I want to put into this.

[OakLeaf]

There's something instinctual that tells me it isn't going to work with pre-shredded packaged kale, but I can't articulate a guess as to why - or whether that's even accurate. Cell wall deterioration, excess moisture, incipient decomposition, ???? I'm assuming you did make sure that the leaves were in a single layer with good separation between them so the air could circulate.

I've never heard of rainbow kale either, though it would surprise me that chard would be chip-able :) since the leaves are so delicate and moist. I might have to try chard chips. Leaves of root beets are tougher than leaf beet (chard) ... might try that too.

I haven't tried it again since we talked about kale chips the last time and I mentioned that I always have an issue with some (sometimes most) of the chips coming out very bitter. I wonder now whether it's because I didn't get them completely coated with oil. Still, I've had enough fails that at this point I consider it a waste of good kale - which is one of my favorite vegetables.

[Crankin]

That was another thought, Oak. I buy the large pre-packaged kale, as I seem to end up using it every day in some way and the regular kale bunches were quite small at my store.
The leaves were spread out fine, though. I am leaning to try and buy a different brand of chips; I love to cook, but I just don't feel like experimenting with this.

[murielalex]

Any chance it was Rainbow Chard rather than Kale? They look a lot alike - I am not familiar with Rainbow Kale but of course that doesn't mean anything :)

I'm only reading the package I got a Whole Foods. "Rainbow Kale" It made chips, but they were mostly too small, more like tasty crumbs. I used verrry little olive oil and garlic pepper after baking. I'm going to buy other next time I hit the grocery store.

[tulip]

They are so delicate; I imagine they are difficult to package. But they are SO easy to make, why bother with packaged ones anyways? CCNY gives a great recipe; I would only suggest cooking them for 15 minutes, making sure the oven is properly pre-heated before putting them in. You need very little oil, cook them on parchment, and make sure they are not touching. Drain on a paper towel.

And definitely use fresh kale. Those pre-packaged lettuce/kale/spinach/whatever need to be washed anyways (even if they are pre-washed) and they are never as fresh as un-packaged greens.

It's hardly any trouble at all, especially if you have 2 cookie sheets going at he same time (because you do have to bake them in batches because they cannot touch).

I made a mountain of them from one bunch of kale yesterday...they are all gone today!

[Catrin]

I want to try this approach - raw kale chips (http://plantpoweredkitchen.com/oven-dehydrated-kale-chips-no-dehydrator-needed/). This is using the oven as a dehydrator rather than roasting them at a high temp. I need to actually get to the store and replenish my perishable veggies to try this - hopefully I can get out of my parking spot tomorrow. I don't know about the nutritional yeast in this recipe but I will use the cooking method with a different mix of spices.

[murielalex]

Just want to say that you've turned me into a homemade kale chip monster. Can't stop making/eating them, which is good because I soooo love salty crunchy chip things, and this has saved me from some horrible binges into pretzel land, and tortilla chip land, and kettle chip land and..........

[Catrin]

I tried a lower temp route tonight and made kale chips while braising beef shanks. It took longer but I liked the texture better. I've always roasted kale chips at very high temp but this was better I think, fun experiment!

[emily_in_nc]

I made kale chips for our dinner tonight (the "greens" in the NY's dinner, representing prosperity/money in the new year), and they were YUMMY. Even our dog liked 'em! :D

[snapdragen]

I got my first CSA box today, it has a bunch of kale. Now I know what to do with some of it!

[Crankin]

My second attempt at kale chips was a big fail. I used fresh kale, the parchment paper, preheated the oven well, etc. Again, they came out like cooked veggies, not chips.
I give up.

[tulip]

My second attempt at kale chips was a big fail. I used fresh kale, the parchment paper, preheated the oven well, etc. Again, they came out like cooked veggies, not chips.
I give up.

They have to be dry, or else they end up being steamed.