I'm Not Scared (Recipe: Kale Chips)

I don’t scare easily – and certainly not when it comes to food. I’ve eaten snails and made my own rice paper.  I’ve even milked a cow.  But for some reason, the thought of making kale chips scared me.

I didn’t believe that something so simple and straightforward would really work. I even laughed at the recipe on Epicurious.com… underneath the ingredient “list” of kale and olive oil was a clickable button to for printing the recipe. But everybody was doing it, and I didn’t want to miss out.

Given the abundance in the kale patch, it seemed worthy of a try. What’s the worst that could happen? The seeds in total cost me $2, and the portion of kale required for the recipe was probably less than a dime. 

The technique is quite simple. Cut the rib out of the kale leaves. Toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them out on a single layer and bake at 250F for 30 minutes.

And that’s what I did.

Sure enough, it worked! The leaves dried to a translucent, deep green and showed no sign of gray – which I worried would be the case after 20 minutes in the oven. The chips are surprisingly light and delicate. And for the most part, they weren’t greasy.

The recipe from Epicurious recommended dehydrating the leaves for 30 minutes.  Perhaps it was my oven or the lighter texture of my home-grown kale, but they were ready in 20 minutes.

Comments

[Reeni]

I tried these too Julia! I will admit that I wasn't crazy about them. I much prefer it in salads or sauteed. Did you like them?

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

I have yet to try these, but you're right, everyone's doing it, so I think I have to get with it!

[T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types]

Okay, okay, I'll give it a try. There's certainly enough kale to go around this summer!

[Julia]

Reeni - I was on the fence about them. The flavor was nothing special but I liked the melt-in-your-mouth texture that reminded me of nori.

Lydia - I wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun ;-)

T.W. - If you're getting half as much kale as I am, you'll have plenty for this and about a dozen other recipes.