Last Updated on February 15, 2024
Baked kale chips might become your new favorite snack! Not on the kale bandwagon yet? This incredibly simple, surprisingly delicious no-fail baked kale chips recipe might have you jumping on board, stat.
Kale has been a hot superfood for some time now, and if you haven’t found a way to incorporate it into your diet yet, you need to try baked kale chips.
They’re easy to make and very addictive, helping with salty-crunchy cravings while allowing you to get a green veggie rather than demolishing a bag of much more caloric chips.
Why Make Baked Kale Chips?
Baked kale chips are a great choice for gut health and your immune system, and kale is also a member of the crucifer family, which can play a role in cancer prevention.
Kids like baked kale chips, too. Well, some kids. Mine have yet to see the light. (More for me — hooray!)
Since I’m all about shortcuts to a healthy lifestyle, this baked kale chips recipe will probably be the simplest you’ll find, no fussing over blotting the kale or any unnecessary steps.
Bonus: The oven stayson a very short time, using less energy than many other recipes and keeping the heat out of your kitchen in summer. This also preventsyou from burning your baked kale chips, which is really easy to do when you leave the oven on and don’t keep a close eye on them.
Save money and time making healthy food while shrinking the footprint of your cooking? No fail baked kale chips are a win-win-win!
If you love to save money on healthy food, check out one of my absolute favorite places to get real food pantry staples for less, Vitacost. They often have sales that knock an additional 15-20% off their already terrific prices.
Some of the items I buy regularly from Vitacost:
- Organic oils, like olive oil for baked kale chips, as well as coconut, sesame, and avocado oil
- Organic whole wheat pasta
- Organic peanut butter
- Organic dark chocolate
- Vinegars, including balsamic, apple cider, and wine vinegar
- Organic nuts, including almonds, Brazil nuts, and walnuts
- Organic seeds (like chia, sunflower seeds, and pepitas)
- Roasted nori (when we don’t have kale chips on hand, seaweed makes a tasty stand-in!)
and much more! Check them out and you might become a devoted customer as well.
If you have broccoli or cauliflower leaves, you can add them to your kale and make mixed chips.
Find more than 40 additional ways to make the most of your food with root-to-stem recipes here.
Get more savvy tips to help you live greener and healthier every day by following HealthyGreenSavvy on Facebook and Pinterest, where you’ll find easy health hacks, eco-living essentials, and simple healthy recipes shared daily.
Baked Kale Chips Recipe
No-Fail Baked Kale Chips Recipe
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
This no fail method for perfectly crispy kale chips will be your go-to for this crunch, delicious, and super-healthy snack.
Ingredients
- Large bunch kale
- About 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Wash your kale and give it a good shake to remove excess water. No need to bother patting dry, but feel free to spin in a salad spinner to get more water off if you're so inclined. I never seem to be.
- Tear up kale into 2-inch pieces and spread in a single layer on cookie sheets. Discard stems, unless you'd like to try stirfrying them.
- Drizzle or spray with olive oil, shake a little salt on and mix the whole lot up well with your hands. Massaging kale is actually kind of enjoyable.
- Put your oiled kale in the oven and set to 300 degrees (no need to preheat).
- Turn it off about 5 minutes after it hits that temperature.
- Check after 10 minutes. Your kalelikely will need a little mixing up.
- Leave kaletill the heat dissipates; I often leave it in the cooling oven overnight and check in the morning. You can turn the heat back on again briefly if need be
- Kale chips are done when they're crispy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
- Allow to cool, then put in an airtight container right away to keep your baked kale chips fresh. (If there’s any left, as it's really easy to chow an entire tray of these things, which is totally ok.)
Notes
If your baked kale chips get soggy before you finish them, you can returnthem tothe oven, turn it on briefly, cut the power, and let them recrisp. The oven doesn't need to get very hot for thisto work.
When kale is coming in great quantities at the farm, I make batch after batch of baked kale chips and generally eat through most of each week’s allotment before the next one comes in. I started growing some of my own so I can put up extra for winter.
All my kale gets turned into baked kale chips, but this collection of healthy kale recipes can give you great ideas for using any you have left.
If you have other green leafy veggies around, you can try making them into chips as well. Edible broccoli leaves and leaves from cauliflower work also, and apparently even dandelion greens make a tasty chip also!
Do you love crunchy, salty snacks, too? Make sure to try these incredibly easy & super-healthy zucchini chips and spiced roasted chickpeas.
Kale chips are an affordable way to get some extra healthy into your diet. Want more tips for making the healthiest food fit your budget? Grab The Savvy Guide to Eating Healthy on a Budget here.
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Baked Kale Chips Recipe Photo credit: PingPongCat
Susannah
Susannah is a proud garden geek and energy nerd who loves healthy food and natural remedies. Her work has appeared in Mother Earth Living, Ensia, Northern Gardener, Sierra, and on numerous websites. Her first book, Everything Elderberry, released in September 2020 and has been a #1 new release in holistic medicine, naturopathy, herb gardening, and other categories. Find out more and grab your copy here.
