Salty Sweet Kale Chips are a fantastic way to get healthy, quality greens into your diet without even realizing it—except for the color, of course. They are a splendid combo of salty sweet crunch, and yes, kids love them. I will sometimes eat a whole head of kale in one sitting they are so delicious. Munch. Munch. Munch. Pack ’em up in your purse, in your car and at your desk so when hunger hits, you are satisfied with real, quality, delicious food instead of junk.
Makes: approx: 3 cups | Preparation Time: 20mins | Dehydration Time: 6-8hrs
Tools:
Dehydrator*
Ingredients:
1 head of organic kale
2 1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt or more to taste (can substitute Celtic sea salt)
1/2 cup maple syrup, raw yacon syrup or raw honey to taste
2 tsp fresh organic lemon juice
Let’s Get Started:
Wash your kale. Using kitchen scissors, a knife or your trusty hands, separate the leaves from the stems.
Place your leaves in a large bowl and pour remaining ingredients over the leaves and start bruising the kale until it becomes “wilty.” Like this:
Once wilty, load up your dehydrator screens on trays and place in a dehydrator set to a temperature of 95-100°F for 6-8 hours or until desired crispiness is achieved. Enjoy immediately or store in am airtight glass container on the counter or in your pantry for weeks.
*No dehydrator? Bake the kale at 200°F in the oven until dry and crispy. About 1 hour, just keep an eye on it.
I made these in the oven and they are great! So deliciously crispy! I baked them at the lowest setting (170) for about 45 minutes and then upped it to 250 for another 30. Next time I will go straight for 250 so it doesn’t take as long! Great snack!
If you want to do these in the oven, bake 12-15 minutes at 350. 12 minutes usually works perfectly for me. Do not allow kale chips to turn brown, they will taste bitter. I also like to add sesame seeds as a topping to this recipe.
I tried these in a dehydrator and after drying the chips were glued to the trays and had to be scraped off, turning them into useless flakes. What did I miss??
Hi there Linda,
I am not sure what went wrong for you, while sometimes there is a bit of stickiness, I haven’t had the disappointment of useless flakes. A few thoughts: maybe they were dried too long? Too much agave on them? Try drying them on the teflex sheet versus the screen next time, just flip with a spatula halfway through the drying time. They should come right up from the Teflex sheet. Good luck!
I absolutely love kale chips. I’m a small girl and I can eat 2 heads of kale chips in one sitting. I use olive oil, salt and vinegar. I will try them with raw honey next (: thanks for your recipes.