Kale Chips

I’m coming off of a four day Superbowl weekend, which means I spent the last 96 hours cooking, eating way too much food, and drinking way too much beer. It snowed pretty aggressively all day today and I was home alone so I got a bunch of cooking and cleaning (and more eating) done. And I mean a BUNCH. I made three loaves of banana bread… nothing makes me happier than having a productive day!

This morning I made kale chips. I know they can be made in either the dehydrator or the oven, but I was already going to be using the dehydrator (and my oven was going to be full anyway). It was super super easy, and they turned out delicious – flavorful and crunchy – even Nick admitted to liking them.

What I used:
1 bunch of kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ginger
½ tbsp red pepper flakes
(okay, so I’m guesstimating how much of everything I used, but this should be close)

How:
Start by washing and thoroughly drying the kale – I washed it a few hours before and wrapped it in paper towels while it dried. This was more important than I realized – the one piece that was left wet turned out soggy.

Rip the kale into pieces, being sure to remove the middle vein. How big you make them depends on your preference, just remember that they’ll shrink up when they’re drying.

In a large bowl, toss the kale with the olive oil and all of the spices. I set it up in the dehydrator and continually taste-tested while it was drying – it ended up taking about two hours until they were crispy.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can do this in the oven on 350 for about 10 minutes.