Raw Food: Kale Chips 9 Ways!
Until yesterday, I had never created a raw food recipe for kale chips. I couldn’t bring myself to take a veggie that I consider a bit bitter and try to turn it into something yummy. My friend, Joanna kept insisting that they were fab so I decided to give it a whirl. They turned out better than I could have hoped for. Which is great because Kale is incredibly healthy.
Kale, which is actually a form of cabbage, is loaded with fiber. One cup of kale provides you with twice your daily requirement of vitamin A, tons of vitamin C and has over a thousand times the RDA for vitamin K! Kale helps keep your body strong and also helps prevent damage from other forces that are constantly attacking our bodies.
Kale is full of fiber and phytonutrients. It produces sulforaphane which is a natural cancer-fighter that signals the liver to produce cancer fighting enzymes. Kale has high amounts of carotenoids that protect your eyes from ultraviolet light and other major issues. It even helps prevent cataracts.
There are many different kinds of kale out there. I wanted to know how each one tasted, and how it adapted to different recipes. I bought dinosaur kale, purple kale and green kale. Then I came up with three different recipes. So, we have 9 different outcomes.
For the first batch I simply used olive oil and salt. For the second batch, I added garlic and thyme. The third batch, one of my favorites, is a spicy combination of chipotle and smoked paprika combined with some nutritional yeast, cashews and garlic. I think this hot version is my favorite.
The difference between the kale, after all was said and done was negligible. The dinosaur kale has a flatter shape and kept that through dehydration but the curly kale was fine and actually held a little more of the flavor mixture.The taste was pretty much the same for all. You can go very easy on the olive oil. They dehydrate very quickly (4-5 hours) so, start them early in the day and you will have a great snack for later. My biggest challenge with these was to not eat them all before I got the picture taken! Make a lot as they dehydrate down quite a bit.
Kale Chips
For all versions: wash and spin dry 2 bunches kale. Remove the tough spine and tear into bite size pieces, keeping in mind that they will shrink in size as they dehydrate.
Kale Chips Three Ways
Version One
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
Combine olive oil and sea salt in large bowl. Stir in kale and coat. Place on dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115 for 4-6 hours or until crisp.
Version Two
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Thyme
With food processor running, drop garlic in. It will mince. Add oil and thyme. Place mixture in bowl and follow directions above.
Version Three
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup Cashews, soaked at least 8 hours, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast*
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon Chipotle (spice)
- Pinch Sea Salt
With processor running, drop in garlic and mince. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth. Pour over kale chips in a bowl and massage until kale is coated. Dehydrate on screens at 115 for 4-6 hours or until crisp. *Nutritional yeast is not raw but used frequently in raw food recipes.
Blanka wrote on October 5, 2010
How much kale have you used for each flavour recipe, Susan?
My dehydrator arrived today!! – so I can now make my own kale chips. Can’t wait!
Kathy wrote on August 9, 2010
Kale chips, made with a dehydrator, are fool-proof. And SO delicious…if they don’t come out exactly “perfect” I have an excuse to eat them all myself..! 🙂
Laura wrote on August 1, 2010
What is the self-life if stored in an air-tight container?
Susan wrote on August 1, 2010
If you dehydrate them completely dry, over a week. But you probably won’t have to worry about that. 🙂
Susan wrote on June 23, 2010
You can make them in the oven but you will have to experiment as I use they dehydrator to make sure they stay in the raw category.
Susan wrote on June 23, 2010
Robin…I think that was my spell check…lol.
Robin finke wrote on June 23, 2010
Great I needed some new recipes! (phytonutrients though, not photo nutrients)
Annice wrote on June 23, 2010
I love kale in any form, but some years back I had crispy kale in an upscale restaurant and it was fantastic. Problem is the method for making it is to flash-fry it. I’m glad to find these raw recipes that will give me my crispy kale fix an a much more healthy manner. Thanks!
gloria Sayles wrote on June 23, 2010
I have been making kale chips for about a year and a half. I use red bell peppers , I just learned to keep the door cracked a little and thats makes them real chrispy. I love kale salad and kale chips. Thank you for posting ur recipes.
pam wrote on June 23, 2010
i want to know if you can dehydrate these in the oven ? i new and learning about all this great stuff…thanks