Garlic & Parmesan Kale Chips
I’m sure you all have heard of Kale chips, but have you tried them?!  They are so awesome and our new favorite snack. How many crunchy snacks can you eat a massive bowl of with hardly any calories and almost zero carbs?   I guess you could have carrots, cucumbers or peppers. But can you make those with garlic and parmesan? Not so much….
They are a super flavorful light and clean snack that would rival any potato chip. In our opinion anyways…  Kevin tried them and made a funny face, but Mark, our favorite taste tester, loved them!
Debbie and I tried a salt and vinegar flavored kale chip first, and they were good, but they didn’t quite have the salt and vinegar flavor that you crave when you want Miss Vicky’s salt and vinegar chips. So we started thinking about what flavors we could use that would be better. Is it any surprise that we came up with something garlicy and cheesey?  Certainly not to anyone that knows us…
To make these kale chips you have to sort of start off a day ahead, or at least 12 hours. We didn’t want to put garlic on the kale chips because it could get bitter in the oven if it got a little scorched and we didn’t necessarily want a bite of garlic. So we sort of made a paste with the garlic and then dumped it in a small bowl of olive oil and let it sit overnight.  You could also use a store bought garlic infused oil.
Then the rest is incredibly easy! Just tear up your kale, take the spine out and get rid of it, wash it well, throw it in a bowl and toss with the garlic infused olive oil, a fair helping of freshly grated parmesan cheese, and a little salt.  Spread them on a parchment lined baking tray or two and bake them for 6 to 7 mins and they are ready to eat right away.
So there are a couple things to know when you are making these that will make or break your results. First of all, you have to make sure to space them out on the baking trays. Just make sure that they are not crowded and barely touching each other. If they are crowded, they won’t crisp up.  Also, make sure to keep an eye on them. They cook really quick and you don’t want to over cook them or they can get bitter. If the edges get scorched, they don’t taste great.  So start with 5 mins even and then check them again at 6. In my oven they take 6 mins, in Debbie’s they take 7.
We also tried them in Debbie’s dehydrator which worked awesome as well. There’s no chance of them getting scorched in there. They were super crispy and awesome that way too. We used a premixed marinade on those ones. A cabernet roasted garlic marinade along with some parmesan cheese. Yum Yum!
You can be sure there will be more of these kale chip recipes coming your way, but for now, try these ones. Your gonna love em!
Ingredients
Instructions
- When you are ready to make your kale chips preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Start by removing the spine of the leaves by either cutting them out with a knife, or tearing it out. Then cut or tear the leaves into bite sized pieces and give them a good wash and dry them well in a salad spinner or in a tea towel.
- Throw your kale into a large bowl and drizzle in the garlic olive oil. Toss it well and make sure all the leaves are coated.
- Next put the salt and parmesan in the bowl and toss well again.
- Lay the kale pieces on parchment lined trays making sure to keep the pieces separated so they aren't touching and crowded.
- Bake in the oven for 5 to 7 mins, checking them every min after 5 mins. Be careful that they don't burn!
- Remove them from the oven and serve immediately.
