Kale Chips: A crispy, crunchy, January snack

Kale chips are the crispy, crunchy, salty, addictive snack for January.

Whether you’ve gone all out with a January Whole30 or you’re just trying to be a little healthier in 2021, you’re probably hungry right about now.

We are halfway through the month, and according to the Whole30 calendar, that’s about when most of us are going to give up (although if you read that calendar, it looks like just about every day is when most of us are thinking about eating the cookie).

Kale Chips to the rescue. Do not stop reading. We have been making these daily in our house, and they fly off the sheet pan before they’ve had a chance to cool. I am not kidding, nor am I exaggerating. People love these. Even when they don’t love kale. 

To make this “recipe” crazy easy, buy the bag of kale that is pre-washed and pre-torn. (If you tear up your own leaves, be sure to keep them about 2 to 3 inches long; you want them to crisp, but if the leaves are too small they’ll burn.) Toss it around on the sheet pan with a little olive oil and seasoning, and you are a few minutes away from snack time.

These are the crunchy, crispy, salty, you-can’t-eat-just-one chips of your detox dreams. Then we amped them up a little bit with some toasted sesame seeds. Try making these and keeping them around for more than an afternoon. 

P.S. – Kale Chips would be great with a cocktail, if we were drinking.

Kale Chips

5 cups torn kale (pieces should be about 2 inches long)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment or foil (to make clean-up easy).

You can do this in a large bowl, or you can do what I do, which is toss the whole mess together on the sheet pan. However you do it, toss the kale, olive oil, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds. Pour the kale onto the prepared sheet pan, and spread it into one layer. You want the leaves to crisp, not steam. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until the edges of the kale are crisp and beginning to brown.