Kale Chips

I guess I've been living under a rock with respect to the kale chip fad that has been going on for the last few years. I sampled some at a Whole Foods a couple weeks back and they were quite tasty but also cost more than my car! Okay, bit of an exaggeration there, but at $6.99 for a bag, they must be very complex and time consuming to make, right? WRONG! Couldn't be easier. The process boils down to four steps: clean, tear, season, and bake (maybe 5 steps if you count eat). I’m not sure why they cost so much in the store, but if kale chips are something you enjoy, then you should try making them yourself. Spend $2 on a bunch of fresh kale and put the $5 you saved towards some other overpriced food fad that you can’t quickly make at home.

Share contents used:
All the kale

Heat your oven to 300 degrees.  Wash and dry the kale, remove and discard the stems and then tear the leaves into bite sized pieces.  Toss the leaves with just enough olive oil to give them a light coating.  You want them covered, but not dripping with oil.  Toss the oiled leaves with salt and/or other seasonings (see below) then spread in a single layer on a sheet pan.  Bake for around 20 minutes, or until crisp, keeping an eye on them to ensure they don't burn.  Once cool, store in an airtight container.

Here are the other seasonings I tried with this batch in addition to the salt.
Garlic powder
Chili Powder
Cider vinegar (add with the oil before baking)

My personal favorite were the garlic chips, but they all had nice flavor to them. Go easy on the salt and seasonings, as a little can go a long way. An added bonus was that my almost 3 year old daughter seems to like them as well. Anything to get her eating more vegetables!