If you’ve never liked kale chips, I urge you to try these. Massaging lemon juice into the kale takes away the bitterness, and the ranch seasoning + nutritional yeast is a delicious combination!
Kale chips are soooo 2012. I tried making them in 2012 and thought they were bitter and weird. What was all the hype? Were kale chips just a weird hipster thing that everyone pretended to like but no one actually liked them?
Like quinoa?
JK. Quinoa’s OK. Sometimes.
A few years ago I grilled kale for my Chimichurri Steak and Potato Salad with Grilled Kale, and mixed up with that cilantro dressing, those crispy greens were actually pretty tasty.
I didn’t give kale chips another thought until a few weeks ago when a friend suggested I make ranch kale chips with my Paleo Dry Ranch Seasoning. I figured it was worth a try, I mean I love that ranch seasoning a lot. She also suggested putting nutritional yeast on them to give them a “cheesy” flavor.
Or was that my idea? (Do you remember, Kristi?) Anyhow, after our conversation I felt like tackling kale chips again.
I made a trip to the farmer’s market and picked up a couple bunches of kale from my friend Elizabeth who runs a local farm. You can use lacinato/dinosaur kale like these or you can use the curly kind.
The seasoning that goes on this is really simple and only a few ingredients. To solve the bitterness problem, I remembered a technique I learned to help reduce bitterness in kale when making a salad — you massage the kale with some acid and a little oil.
I massaged kale in these recipes, too: Massaged Kale Salad, Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Apples, and Kale Caesar Salad with Garlic Shrimp & Prosciutto.
Have you tried any of those salads? They’re all pretty amazing. I never thought I’d EVER eat raw kale, but rubbing lemon juice on those leaves calms that bitterness right down. It’s magical.
One thing.. I noticed that the curly kale crisps up better than the dino kale, but after the dino kale chips sat out for a while (*cough* overnight on the counter) the softer kale chips had crisped up, too.
What’s nutritional yeast? It’s deactivated, dried yeast. It has a “cheesy” kind of flavor, and it’s great to use in paleo, vegan, or other dairy-free recipes where you need to add a little savory flavor and cheese is off limits. I actually used it quite a bit in my cookbook, The Big Book of Paleo Slow Cooking.
It sort of looks like fish food, but don’t let that scare you off. I buy mine at a grocery store with a large bulk section, but you can also find it at health food stores, on Amazon, and even at Trader Joe’s now!
Cheezy Ranch Kale Chips
If you've never liked kale chips, I urge you to try these. Massaging lemon juice into the kale takes away the bitterness, and the ranch seasoning + nutritional yeast is a delicious combination!
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small bunches of kale, any kind
- Juice from 1/2 of a lemon, about 2 tablespoons
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 Tablespoon Paleo Dry Ranch Seasoning, or other clean Ranch-type dry seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Tear the kale leaves from the stems and chop or rip the leave into smaller, "chip-sized" pieces. Discard the stems. Spread the leaves out on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl, then drizzle it over the kale. Use your hands to spread and massage the seasoning mixture into the kale leaves, for about 1 minute.
- Spread the kale out evenly on the pan again and bake for 12-14 minutes until the kale begins to turn golden brown and most of the chips are crispy. They'll continue to crisp as they cool and sit for a while.
- Allow them to cool on the baking sheet instead of dumping them, hot, into a serving bowl. They'll crisp up better this way.
- Serve!
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