Homemade kale chips are easy to make and in my opinion, way more tasty (and less expensive) than store bought! The key is to bake them low and slow. Some recipes out there call for baking them for 10 minutes at a temperature such as 350 degrees. But in my experience, these chips burn easily and the moisture doesn’t come out completely, making them soggy within 30 minutes. Who wants soggy chips? Not me!!
These crunchy, spicy kale chips are seasoned with nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. For those of you following a low FODMAP diet, you may be wondering if nutritional yeast is low FODMAP? At the time of this writing, nutritional yeast has not yet been tested by Monash University. So the short answer is that we don’t really know. The primary reason it is used in this recipe is to help the seasonings spread more evenly. Nutritional yeast is also a nutritional powerhouse (as the name implies!). To read more about nutritional yeast, click here. But if you want to leave out the nutritional yeast, feel free. You will just need to be more detail-oriented when sprinkling on the seasonings so you don’t end up with a super salty or super spicy kale chip!
Now, let’s talk about KALE. Kale is a cruciferous vegetable rich in vitamins K, C, B6, E, B2, manganese, copper, calcium, potassium, fiber and provitamin A carotenoids. Wow- that’s a lot of nutrients! It is also low in calories, so for those of you who are incessant snackers, these kale chips are a great substitute for other snack foods. So go ahead- whip up a recipe, and start snackin’!
- 1 bunch curly kale
- 1.5 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Wash kale, pat dry, then remove thick stems.
- Roughly chop or tear kale into a little bigger than bite-sized pieces (they will shrink when baked).
- Place kale in a single layer onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. See photo below.
- Drizzle with olive or avocado oil. Use clean hands to gently massage kale to more evenly distribute oil.
- In a small bowl, combine nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
- Evenly sprinkle spice mixture over kale chips (it helps to hold hand at least 6 inches above baking sheet).
- Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven, let cool, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
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