Kale Chips - Plain

Kale is something that I always cook. I have tried to add kale to my green smoothies, and lets just say even I have my limits. Raw kale is not something that I enjoy. This is why I was curious to taste kale chips. I see kale chips on blogs everywhere and decided that I had to give them a try.

I put these together last night before bed. In the morning I got up and tried one and thought “I don’t know about these they taste green”. However each time I went by the dehydrator I grabbed another “chip”. The next thing I knew I had eaten an entire tray of kale chips. That was when I knew these were actually good. I am going to say they are an acquired taste, but it didn’t take long for me to come around. Here is what I did.

Kale Chips - Plain
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale, destemmed and leaves torn into large pieces (about 8 cups)
olive or canola oil in a mister
1 pinch of dulse granules

Directions:

Place the kale on a half sheet pan in a single layer. Spray the kale with oil and sprinkle with dulse granules. Toss the kale and return it to a single layer and spray it a second time and sprinkle it again with dulse granules.

Put the kale pieces in your dehydrator and let it dry overnight. In the morning you will have crunchy kale chips.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 48.11
Calories From Fat (18%) - 8.59

Total Fat - 1g
Saturated Fat - 0.11g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 39.12mg
Potassium - 402.05mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.98g
Fiber - 1.79g
Sugar - 0g
Protein - 2.95g

I assumed that I used ½ teaspoon of oil when spraying the chips. That is probably overstating the fat content but the recovering accountant in me needs to be conservative.

Comments:

Given that I don’t like raw kale these are much better than I expected them to be. In fact they are sort of addictive. I love the texture and crunch. They are light, airy and crispy. I used dulse granules on these chips to keep the sodium level down but you can use salt if you prefer.

Nutritionally this snack is a powerhouse. Each small serving has over 13,000IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 120mg of calcium, and 700mcg of vitamin K. Needless to say kale has now gone on my permanent grocery list as something to buy each week. Expect to see flavor variations on this recipe in the coming months.

If you are looking for a crunchy snack but don’t want kale I posted a interesting recipe for sweet potato chips with lime and chipotle chili powder that you might was to try instead.