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This baked kale chip recipe is perfect for when you want an easy healthy snack. Low in calories and high in nutrition, this quick to make snack is sure to satisfy! Roasted in the oven for deliciously crunch chips that are made for dipping!
If you’re doing Whole30 or just looking for more ways to eat whole foods and fruits and vegetables, you gotta try these oven baked kale chips. Kale chips have been popular for more than a decade, but their addictive crunchy texture doesn’t get old!
They are a low calorie, low carb and low fat snack that are also loaded with lots of nutrients. I pair mine with a vegan dipping sauce, so it makes for great party food!
Health Benefits of Kale
- Kale is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet!
- It is loaded with powerful antioxidants.
- It’s an excellent source of vitamin C and K.
- It can help lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease.
- It is low calorie but will make you feel full.
How to make oven baked kale chips
Start with a fresh bunch of kale. Look for curly sturdy leaves at the store that will hold up after washing, drying and baking.
Next, use kitchen shears or your hands to cut the kale into bite-sized pieces. And then wash and dry the kale leaves thoroughly. It helps to use a salad spinner to make sure there’s no moisture left on the kale leaves. You can also lay them out on a kitchen towel to dry them.
Using your hands, massage the kale leaves with a just a tablespoon of olive oil so that each leaf has just enough oil but is not drenched in it. You’d be surprised how little olive oil you actually need.
Then it’s baking time. Watch them closely in the oven and turn then halfway through to make sure they are crispy and not burnt. You want the leaves to become dark green but not brown. If any leaves are brown, they will have a bitter taste.
How to make the dipping sauce
While the kale chips are in the oven, you can make the dipping sauce. It only needs 4 ingredients: almond milk, tahini, lemon juice and cumin (or you can substitute another herb or spice). Just whisk them together in a small bowl until well blended.
If you have any of the dipping sauce leftover, it makes for a great salad dressing as is or thinned out a bit with milk or water.
When they come out of the oven, sprinkle some salt on them, crushed red pepper or even parmesan cheese or other herbs. And just like that it’s dipping time!
Tips to make this recipe
- Buy the kale on the day you plan to bake it, or the day before at the earliest. This way it guarantees that you have fresh and crisp kale that won’t wilt after you wash it and bake it.
- Make sure the kale leaves are thoroughly dried. In fact, it might even help to wash and dry the kale the day before to make sure there’s no moisture left on the leaves. This will help when it comes time to baking so they don’t wilt.
- Don’t use too much oil. It’s easy to think that adding oil will add to the crispy factor. But becauses we’re dealing with a leafy green, too much oil can actually backfire in this situation because it adds too much moisture to the kale. Depending on how large the the kale bunch is, you can use more or less than a tablespoon. But just use enough to barely coat the leaves.
- Add salt after baking. Usually adding salt before baking helps with the best flavor. But in the case of these baked kale chips, the salt dissolves and can also lead to too much moisture on the leaves. So salt immediately after they come out of the oven. The kale chips will be salty without being sad and wilted!F
Frequently Asked Questions
Cooking kale in this way, means that you don’t lose any of it’s amazing health benefits, you are simply just getting rid of the water in contains to get them nice and crispy. By making your own, you can control the amount of salt added and cut down on the fat content compared to store bought varieties.
You can store baked kale chips in an air tight container for a day at room temperature, or in the fridge for 3-4 days. They can lose their crisp and go soggy after this time, at which point you can try to reheat them so they become crispy again.
Kale chips are great on their own, but I highly recommend serving them with my creamy dipping sauce. Feel free to experiment with different seasonings to sprinkle over or serve with your favorite ranch dressing.
For more healthy snacks, check out:
- Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
- Simple Guacamole
- Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Best Hummus
- Roasted Chickpeas
- No Bake Energy Bites
I love these baked kale chips as a healthy snack to have at parties, get togethers or even for your mid-day munchies! They are a great snack for anyone looking to add more vegetables to their diet. They’re especially great if you’re vegan, doing Whole 30 or trying a ketogenic (keto) diet. I found that even my kids enjoyed them because they have a salty flavor and crunchy texture that is so great for snacking!
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Baked Kale Chips recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Baked Kale Chips
Ingredients
- 1 head kale
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Sea salt for sprinkling
Dipping Sauce
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a knife or kitchen shears, carefully remove the ribs from the kale and cut into bite sized pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry the kale with a salad spinner.
- To make the dipping sauce, whisk all the ingredients together and set aside.
- Lay kale on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil.
- Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt as soon as you remove from the oven.
- For the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, whisk the almond milk, tahini, lemon juice, cumin and some salt and pepper until combined. Serve with the kale chips.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
I was wondering if the calorie count is with the dipping sauce or without? I’m trying to find calorie count for homemade kale chips minus sauce.
Thanks!
The nutrition value is for one serving with the dip, but this is likely more dip than you’ll need for the amount of kale.
I’ve been making these before I found this recipe.
Wegman’s grocery stores sell cut up Kale in bags for easy storage.
I don’t add salt, do baked kale chips contain any sodium?
That’s great! If you add salt, there’ll be a little bit of sodium. Considering you don’t add salt, probably not! Or, if there is, it’s a very minuscule amount.
I love kale chips! I put Nutritional Yeast and Everything Bagel seasoning on mine. 😊
Same here! Those are such great toppings!
We loved them! I had never heard of these before and was so excited to try!
Yay! I’m so glad you decided to give them a try!!
Turned out great. So nice to use an abundance of kale straight out of the garden.
Yay, so glad to hear it! What a great use for kale!
Made these as a side to burgers last night. (Trying not to eat so many carbs!) They were completely delicious and completely scarfed down by the family – including my son who had asked me to make sweet potato oven fries. I would have taken a picture but they disappeared too quickly!
So glad you liked them Maria!! Thank you!