If you’re thinking… seriously, another kale recipe? If I see one more kale recipe, I’m going to go crazy, I agree with you. The number of recipes with kale has exploded in the past year or two. Apparently the world has finally caught onto the wonders of kale.
But here’s a relatively new, just-off-the-press recipe that will knock your socks off. Kale chips with a twist. If you thought the kale chips your niece recently made you try—the ones with just olive and sea salt—were good, just wait ‘til you try these ones.
You may have spotted these “cheezy” kale chips in Whole Foods, as they are becoming a huge hit. I remember when I tried my first one. The chips were unbelievable—like eat the whole container in one sitting unbelievable.
The great part about it? They were so healthy I didn’t feel one iota of remorse about eating them all—the ingredients were red bell peppers, cashews, lemon juice, sea salt and kale (nothing like the long list of nonsense that goes along with typical Doritos). Of course, there was a catch… they’re expensive! No matter how great they were, I just couldn’t bring myself to keep buying them at such a high price. By making them on your own, which is a surprisingly easy feat, you can make the same tasty snack, but at half the price.
I can’t emphasize enough how easy this recipe is. For some foolish reason, I don’t make them that often be- cause I worry that the recipe will take too long. Then, when I decide that I better use that beautiful bunch of kale I just bought at the farmers market and make them, I get annoyed at myself for how long I’ve put it off. As soon as the subtle hint of cheesy, light crispiness hits my mouth, three thoughts enter my mind: 1) Why did I wait so long to make these again?! 2) Don’t eat the whole batch at once. 3) I need to go buy more kale.
Dorito Kale Chips
Makes about 4 cups.
Time: 6 hours, 5 1/2 hours inactive
- heaping 1/2 cup silken tofu
- 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 30 minutes and then drained
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 bunches dinosaur kale (you can use curly too, but dinosaur is better), roughly chopped and with rough stems removed
Combine tofu, cashews, lemon juice, salt, nutritional yeast, water and red bell pepper in a blender and blend until smooth.
No Dehydrator?
Ideally, you will use a dehydrator for this recipe. However, if you don’t have one- don’t wory! You can make do with an oven by baking the chips at the lowest temperature possible (ideally around 130 degrees) and with the oven door slightly open. Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature possible.
In a large bowl, toss kale in dressing. Rub dressing into the kale. It’s important to massage the kale a bit, as it helps make the kale less tough. Place kale on baking sheets or dehydrator sheets and put it in the dehyrator. Set the dehydrator at 140 (or if you want to go truly “raw”, 110 degrees) and dehydrate until crispy (about 5-ish hours). Use the oven-method as described above if you don’t have a dehydrator.
When kale chips are done, put them in an air-tight container to keep them crispy. You can easily re-dehydrate them if they lose their crispiness.
