DIY Baked Kale Chips

After stuffing my face over Thanksgiving I found myself craving a healthy snack. I needed something salty AND healthy to wean me down from a weekend overeating. Enter Kale Chips!

I was originally inspired by a post on Kale Chips over at Wellness Mama. As Wellness Mama points out,  kale is extremely nutritious, readily available in the fall, and all around oozing with healthiness. On its own kale is a pretty dense leafy green, that can sometimes be a little bitter. Kale chips on the other hand are light, crispy and delicious. Unfortunately, in the store they are very expensive. The good news is that they can be made at home in about 20 minutes with really basic and inexpensive ingredients!

Read below for the recipe to make your own!

So here is everything you need for delicious kale chips:

Required:

• 1 bunch of Kale (I got mine at the farmers market for $1.00 a bunch)
• Olive Oil 
• Salt 
• Oven 
• Baking Tray 

Optional:

• Salad Spinner (This is what I use)
• Oil Sprayer (I use one like this) 

Directions on How to Make Baked Kale Chips

After you have gathered all of the ingredients, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Next, go ahead and clean and rinse all of the kale.

Next, cut or tear the kale into silver dollar sized pieces (removing the stems if you desire). Most importantly you need to dry the kale (use salad spinner, paper towel, or air dry) otherwise you will end up with soggy kale chips.

Next, go ahead and spread the pieces of kale onto your baking sheet. This is where you will apply the olive oil and salt. An oil sprayer helps make this quick and easy (I love this kitchen device, it's like a DIY version of Pam Cooking Spray, except you can use high quality organic olive oil).  If you don't have one you can just drizzle olive oil over the kale pieces and then add salt to taste. I found I didn't need to use much salt, just a light coating of olive oil and salt works wonders!

Now just stick the tray in the oven for about 10 minutes and enjoy! I would check them around 7-8 minutes just incase your oven cooks them too quickly. Once the edge of the leaves are starting to brown you will want to take them out so they don't burn. This is how my first batch turned out!

Kale chips are extremely crunchy and light. I have heard that they keep up to 3-4 days if you store them uncovered. The few times I have made them they usually last less than a few hours before my wife and I gobble them all up. Next time I plan on exploring using different spices, perhaps garlic salt, cayenne pepper, or curry spices. I will let you know how they turn out if I try a new recipe. Anyone else out there have a delicious kale chip recipe I should try?