Saturday, July 21, 2012

Baked Kale Chips


Baked Kale Chips
Kale is a very nutritious green, however some people don't find it to be tasty or dislike that it is kinda touch to chew.  It has a pretty mild flavor, we add it to smoothies when we don't have spinach on hand (see our post; Spinach and Fruit Smoothies). I have heard a great way to eat Kale is to make chips out of it, baked Kale chips.

Kale grows well and will grow in the heat of summer.  I see it planted all over as an ornamental, but it is really a nutrient rich food.  As with any veggie the gain the full nutritional value, it needs to be eaten raw (smoothies, salads etc).  Beyond being full of antioxidants, one cup of raw Kale will give you your full daily recommended value of Vitamin A, C and K.  It also contains calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, copper and manganese.
Remove stem, cut in pieces

Making baked Kale chips is really simple and quick.
  1. Set your oven to 350 degrees
  2. Wash and clean your Kale
  3. Slice into strips or chip size
  4. place on baking sheet after coating with Olive Oil (I did it by hand in a bowl)
  5. Cook til crispy and still green, top with your favorite seasoning.
toss in olive oil
My first batch burned in only 10 minutes, watch it closely.  For my stove it took about 8-9 minutes to make it crispy but still green.

The verdict: it's really tasty, the burnt batch was okay and tasted a bit like slightly burned popcorn.  The next batch still has a bit of a popcorn flavor and is really good, they are very crispy and the season salt I used was the right amount of flavor and bit of salt.  This is a great alternative to potato chips, you get that nice crunch and the bit of salt. 


Lay out on cookie sheet

Finished Product, Yummy Kale Chips
Burnt popcorn, avoid this.



2 comments:

Grammy said...

It looks icky, but I'm willing to try it! Love the antioxidants!

Shaun-ta' said...

When it starts to brown a bit they don't look all that appetizing but they still taste great. The trick is to cook them till crispy, still green, though the edges might be a little browned.