Recipe: Kale Chips!

Kale Chips - They are crispy, packed with nutrition, and are surprisingly delicious. If you don't already know all the health benefits of kale, search it up!
When I first heard about Kale, I shrieked at the sound of it. This may sound bad, but if you knew me in person, you'd know I am NOT a fan of vegetables at all (except for french fries, because they're considered vegetables right?). 

Believe it or not, this was my first time eating kale and I am already addicted. This post was inspired by my friend Kiki who posted a picture of her kale chips on instagram. Being curious, I searched it up on youtube and found numerous recipes, so I got dressed, headed to my local grocery store, and bought myself some kale xD

This is an extremely easy and inexpensive recipe. All you need is Kale, olive oil, and salt! That's it!!

I already had salt and olive oil at home, so I just grabbed a bundle of kale at Superstore for $1.47.

When choosing kale, it's best to choose ones with big leafs, because once you bake it, it shrivels up a lot. My big bundle of kale was enough for me to make 3 separate batches and I'm glad I made them separately, because my first 2 batches didn't come out so well, but success comes through trial and error, right?

I started by taking the leafs off the big stem. You can either use scissors and cut along the stem, or just run your hands down the stem and pull the leafs off as you go. Once you have the leafs off, discard the stem and begin to rip the leafs into bite size pieces.

Keep in mind that the leafs will shrink up quite a bit, so don't make them too small. Try your best to make the sizes as uniform as possible so they all cook evenly.  

Next, wash your kale thoroughly! There are always going to be nasty stuff in the produce section at your grocery store that you can't see. Don't be surprised to find a dead fly or bug in your water, cuz that happened to me.. mhmm..

So after washing your kale carefully, give it a shake and lay them down on a surface. In my case, I used a cookie sheet lined with tin foil. For my first 2 batches, I had the tin oil shiny side up (as seen in the picture above) - bad idea, because they kept coming out burnt :(. So make sure you put the shiny side down!! 

Pat everything to dry with a paper towel. You want the kale to be as dry as possible before you proceed to the next step. At this point, you may preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once your kale is dried, take some olive oil and drizzle it all over your kale. You don't need much, maybe about 2 tablespoons.

Give your veggies a quick toss and then pick up each leaf individually and massage the oil onto them, gently coating each leaf with olive oil on both sides.

They should be nice and glossy.

Once everything is coated, spread your kale evenly onto the tray. Try your best to make sure that nothing is overlapped and that they are sitting in one single layer. That's what gives it the crunch!

If you have too much kale, make them in separate batches.

I know that some people like to put salt on their kale before baking, and some prefer to salt it after.

I have tried both methods and found that salting them after works a lot better.

So the final step is to put them in the oven on the middle rack. 

For my first batch, I put it on the top rack and it came out extremely burnt, you don't want to do that!

Most of the recipes calls for 10 minutes, but I find that my kale begins to crisp up and turn brown at the 5 minute mark for some strange reason. You don't want your kale to be brown otherwise it becomes very bitter. At the 5 minute mark, open the oven door to check up on your kale. Then, turn the baking tray around so that everything cooks evenly. Check up on your kale every minute at this point because it will begin to brown very rapidly. I wouldn't leave my kale in the oven for longer than 10 minutes in total. Once you see your kale shrivel up and begin to brown, remove it from the oven immediately.

Once your kale is out of the oven, sprinkle on some salt, toss it in a bowl, and serve warm!

If cooked right, kale chips should taste almost like roasted seaweed. Enjoy this inexpensive and easy to make guilt free snack!

Tips:

• If lining baking tray with tin foil, put the shiny side down.
• Put oven rack in the middle instead of the top.
• It's hard to tell whether kale is brown through the oven window even with the lights on, so don't be afraid to open the oven door when checking up on your kale.
• Majority of your leaf should still be green after cooking. If it's too brown, it's burnt.

Happy cooking!