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