Easy Sea Salt Kale Chips are wondrously addicting and are a nutritious snack! Whip up big batches to keep them on hand!
Healthy, crunchy, and utterly addictive, my kale chips are the perfect superfood snack. They’ll satisfy those cravings without resorting to junk food and they couldn’t be simpler to make, either!
I adore kale. So much, in fact, that I’ve written my own cookbook dedicated to the stuff! This leafy superfood is loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Plus, it tastes great and is incredibly versatile!
I use kale in a number of different ways in my cooking. I’ve made kale and artichoke soup and whisked it into a zucchini breakfast frittata.
Today, I want to use kale to level up your snack game. Forget about potatoes, kale chips are the new kids on the block. They’re simple to make, healthy, and 100% addictive.
With a satisfying crunch and bundles of flavor, my kale chips are a guilt-free snack that you’ll be making again and again.
I promise!
Ingredients for Kale Chips
Unsurprisingly, there aren’t a whole lot of ingredients you’ll need to whip up a big bowl of enticing kale chips. The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity. It’s why I make them all the time!
Green Kale: Ah, kale. Easily one of my favorite produce staples, kale is a health food all-star. Along with all the vitamins and minerals, it’s also been shown to lower cholesterol and help your liver remove toxins! This wonder-food is kind of bitter when consumed raw. So, cooking it down to make chips mellows the bitterness and leaves a gorgeous, earthy flavor.
Grapeseed Oil: This oil has a very high smoke point, meaning it can handle the heat of the oven without burning. It also has a neutral flavor, which lets our leafy green friends remain the true hero of this recipe!
Coarse Sea Salt: Coarse sea salt adheres nicely to the kale leaves, and the salt crystals melt with savory goodness when they hit your tongue. Any other rough salt will work, too (like pink salt or kosher salt). Using fine or iodized types runs a greater risk that you won’t get a nice even coat across your whole batch of chips. So, don’t use ‘em!
Recipe Customizations
- I use grapeseed oil primarily for its high smoke point. However, you could easily substitute for any similar oil if there’s one with a flavor you prefer! Why not try avocado or sunflower oil? Experiment to see which you like best.
- There are many different kinds of kale, and they all create a wonderful bowl of kale chips. Lacinato (or Dinosaur) kale is milder than its regular, curly cousin. Or you could try Red Russian kale for a sweeter, nuttier taste.
- I tend to keep it simple and flavor my kale chips with salt. But nothing is stopping you from using whatever you like! Mustard powder or black pepper are great if you’re after a kick. Or, you could try paprika, cheese powder, or Old Bay seasoning. You’re only limited by your spice cupboard here!
Tips for the Perfect Kale Chips
- Take care to remove the stems when preparing your leaves. They won’t crisp up and you’ll be left with some rather underdone and oddly-textured mouthfuls!
- Make sure each leaf has enough space on the baking sheet! They’ll shrink as they cook. But you want to ensure that the heat from your oven is distributed evenly across the entire batch of kale. This way, they all crisp up the same amount.
What Do They Taste Like?
Satisfying. I can’t tell you how many cravings these kale chips have stopped dead in their tracks.
The bold, fresh taste of the kale works beautifully with the salt, and the result is so incredibly moreish. It’s a good job they’re healthy!
I love to dunk these in any of the classic chip dips.
You could even double down on the leafy goodness and pair them with my roasted garlic kale hummus!
How to Make Kale Chips
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and use some of your oil to lightly coat a baking sheet.
Give your kale leaves a good wash, then pat them dry. Then, tear the leaves off the stems and rip them into pieces. Try to keep the sizes relatively similar to help with an even cook, and remember that they’ll shrink as they roast!
In a large bowl, toss your kale in the grapeseed oil until all the leaves are well and evenly coated.
Spread the leaves over a baking sheet (or multiple, if required!) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the kale is nice and crispy. Make sure you check regularly to ensure there’s no burning!
Remove your kale chips from the oven, and let them cool to room temperature. Once they’ve cooled, they’ll separate from your baking tray much more easily.
Carefully lift your chips from the tray, and serve!
Your snack will last for 2 to 3 days before the chips start to soften. Storing them in an airtight container can help to prolong this. You can always re-crisp them with a short blast in the oven at 300 degrees for 5 minutes if they’ve just started to droop.
Nutritious, delicious, and totally addictive, these kale chips are a true snack game-changer. Let me know in the comments section if they ruin potato chips for you, too!
Obsessed with my kale chips? Here’s a load more ways you can cook with kale!
More Kale Recipes:
- Spicy Kale Caesar Salad with Roasted Garlic
- Pear Avocado Ginger Kale Smoothie
- Lemon Basil Kale Salad with Avocado
- Shakshuka with Kale and Mushrooms
- Kale Pesto
Kale Chips Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large head green kale
- 1 Tbsp grapeseed oil*
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and lightly oil a baking sheet
- Wash and pat dry the kale leaves
- Tear the leaves off the stems (save the stems for smoothies) and then tear them into pieces.
- Put all the leaves in a large bowl (or two) and drizzle oil over them. Toss the leaves using your hands in order to coat them.
- Spread the leaves over the baking sheet (I had to do this in two batches) and bake for 20 minutes or until crispy.
- Remove chips from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Some of the chips will likely be laying flat against the cookie sheet, but will come off easily once you allow them to cool off (trying to remove the chips before cooling them may result in a lot of breakage).
Congratulations Julia! I love pretty much all greens, so I can hardly wait for the book to come out!!!!!!!
woot woot! That is super news! I LOOOOOVE kale chips- like more than a person really should, actually. I’d love to grow them next year in my garden, so I’ll look forward to all your yummy ideas and tips!
This is beyond exciting, Julia! So pumped for you. I {heart} kale big time and cannot wait to get my hands on this!!
Congrats!!! How exciting a cookbook about kale! I am genuinly excited about that because kale is amazing and no doubt you will do the versitile vegetable justice 🙂
Congrats on the cookbook, that is truly amazing! The kale chips look great.
Congratulations!! That is so exciting! And I’m in love with these green chips