You have probably heard about the wonderful benefits of kale. Sylvia Rector recently wrote in the Freepress about the spread of kale salad across Detroit. Kale is constantly making top lists for healthiest food, and for good reason. It is packed full of seemingly every vitamin and nutrient around. It is also available at farmer’s markets and backyard gardens in abundance right now! So it’s here, it’s good for you, but what do you do with all this kale?? I love kale salad but I can’t eat it everyday! Enter the kale chip. These are so easy to make and I believe they are literally, not figuratively, addictive. I was very skeptical when told that kale chips could be eaten as a substitute for potato chips. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to trick my body into eating kale – the healthiest of the healthy food – instead of a deliciously greasy junk food like potato chips. But after testing it out, I am a convert!
Kale chips can be made just by tossing the leafy greens in some olive oil and sea salt, but the recipe below is my fave. It also doubles as an amazing salad dressing.
I made this in a large quantity for the restaurant, so it will fill 2 large sheet pans. For personal consumption you may want to adjust for a smaller batch, but if you do make the full recipe I’m confident that none will go to waste!
Set oven to 250 F
3 large bunches of kale – tear the leaves off the stems and into large bite-size pieces, wash by soaking in cold water and spinning dry.
Dressing
1/2 cup tahini
1/4 apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp maple syrup
Whisk all together until completely combined. Adjust to taste, add more maple syrup for a sweeter taste or to cut the acidity of apple cider vinegar, add more tamari for a saltier flavor. If you’re a fan of salt and vinegar chips you may want to add more apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
Pour half the dressing over the kale, toss the kale to coat, and add more dressing as needed to fully coat the kale but without being soggy. Save any extra dressing for another batch of kale chips or a salad!
Line a baking tray with parchment paper, arrange kale in a single layer on pan. Bake at 250 F for 40 min turning kale every 15min or so. Watch them closely at the end as they will go from perfectly crisp to burnt in a very short amount of time!!
Happy eating!
