Spicy Baked Kale Chips
I eat an embarrassing amount of cookies, I have four cookies recipes in the draft section of this blog waiting to be unleashed on the world for some holiday season baking, I have cookies in front of me right now, I will make more cookies tonight before I even start cooking dinner but right now in my oven sits another joyful little snack that I crave almost (almost) as often as cookies.
they usually don’t make it to the bowl but this picture is special for the blog
Behold the kale chip. Crispy, crunchy, salty and indefinitely crave-able, kale chips. It’s a snack with a satisfying crunch, a perfect vehicle for any melody of spices and unlike cookies increases my vegetable intake for the day. (It’s not often that I’m going to compare kale to cookies so let’s just roll with it.)
freshly washed dinosaur kale
My favorite kale to use for this is lacinato kale which is often called dinosaur kale, cavolo nero or tuscan kale. It’s dark nubbly leaves become a canvas for my spicy oil mix and provide just the right audible crunch and texture for a perfect snack.
first remove the center spine
cut into manageable sized pieces
double down with chili oil and chili flakes
Baked Kale Chips Recipe
- One bunch of lacinato kale
- 1 tbsp chili oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ - ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 pinches powdered ginger
- 1 pinch powdered galangal
- ½ tsp red chili flakes
- a couple turns of black pepper from the pepper mill
Preheat the oven to 350˚F
wash and dry the kale very thoroughly using a salad spinner and or patting dry with towels
remove the center spine by running the knife down both sides of the spine
cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
in a small bowl stir together spice and oil mix
toss kale and spices together in a large bowl just enough to lightly coat the kale (be sure not to drown the kale in oil if you have a smaller sized bunch)
lay out in an even layer on two sheet trays
place in the oven for 15 minutes tossing and rotating half way through
*most chips don’t make it to a snack bowl in my house and are usually eaten hot from the tray
* Note curly kale crisps up very nicely too but be sure to drop the temperature to 330˚F and bake for 12 minutes. Expect browned edges with curly kale.
*this recipe is spicy, to cut the heat factor, reduce the chili oil but leave the chili flakes
