Baked Garlic & Parmesan Kale Chips

File under: New Year’s Resolution Recipes That Won’t Make You Want To Sneak Off To McDonald’s At Midnight And Eat French Fries In The Dark

I’m just going to come out and say it: kale is pretty fucking trendy these days. Everywhere you look it’s all, “kale smoothies!” and “kale salads!” and “kale chips!” But guess what? I don’t care. I’m a sheep. Everyone else is eating kale and I’m eating kale and now you’re going to eat kale, too.

::steps off weird vegetable-y soapbox::

Seriously though, these chips are gooooood. Crispy, salty, and a hell of a lot healthier than potato chips. But hey, before you start yelling at me, no, I’m not saying these are a direct substitute for potato chips because a potato chip is a potato chip and this is fucking kale, and anyone who tells you that “They’re, like, almost exactly the same thing!” is a dirty dirty liar. So no, these aren’t the same as potato chips, but they’re delicious in their own way.

And they’re healthy! Kale is a great source of important shit like vitamin K (good for your bones!) and beta carotene (good for your immune system!), and it’s also been shown to help protect against cancer.

Dude, you’re welcome.

Baked Garlic & Parmesan Kale Chips

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale; about 6oz
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tablespoons shaved or grated Parmesan cheese

First, you want to make sure that you’ve washed and dried the kale. Washing it is important so that you’re not eating dirt, and drying it is important because wet kale won’t become kale chips in the oven, it’ll become, well, steamed kale. You can use a salad spinner to dry the kale, or you can use paper towels, or you can let it air dry. Whatever you do, just make sure it’s as dry as possible before getting started.

Next! Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Then, chop the kale into nice bite size pieces, keeping in mind that it’ll shrink when it bakes because of the water content. When you’re chopping, feel free to remove some of the tougher and stem-ier pieces; the leaves are really the best part for chip-making.

In a large bowl, toss the chopped kale leaves with the olive oil, sea salt, and garlic powder, and then spread in an even single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet (you might need two baking sheets, depending on size). Bake for about 20 minutes, until crisp but not browned, and then remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool slightly on a wire rack. After a few minutes, sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the kale chips and serve immediately. These can be served at room temperature too, but I like them better straight out of the oven.

PS – If you somehow manage not to eat all of these at once (ha, good luck), I should tell you that they don’t save very well in a Ziplock bag. Kale chips + Ziplock bag = soggy. And no one wants that.

PPS – The best thing about these kale chips is that you can really flavor them however you want. Do you like red pepper flakes? Use red pepper flakes. In the mood for something sweet? Try 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Endless possibilities here, people!!