Actual 3-Ingredient Kale Chips

I live in Portland where kale grows in abundance. There are many different types and even more different ways to prepare it. But my actual 3-ingredient kale chips are my favorite. I say “actual 3-ingredient kale chips” because this is an honest recipe that doesn’t misrepresent the amount of ingredients. It’s one of my favorite snacks. If you prefer a more hearty kale recipe, check out my Purple Winter Soup with Kale and Chickpeas.

This recipe allows you to get all the prep done while the oven is preheating. In fact, it’s so easy to prep that you’ll probably have to wait for the oven to finish preheating even if you do all of the prep after you start preheating! Making these kale chips takes less than 20 minutes from beginning to end – at least for me!

I appreciate the taste of kale so I opt for only olive oil and kosher sea salt. I personally find that adding too many different spices takes away from the taste of the kale itself. And I’m not trying to mask the taste. I just want to enhance it. And honestly, as much as I believe that good food does take time and effort, it’s a little overkill to add a gazillion seasonings to kale chips. I am not a fan of the dehydrated kale with whatever additives there are that I find at the different stores around here so I prefer to make my own since it’s so easy and way more convenient.

So how do we make our actual 3-ingredient kale chips? Well first, we get one bunch of curly purple kale. My favorite is redbor kale. we remove the kale leaves from the stems. I usually just use my hands to remove the kale by wrapping my hand around the stem making a loose fist and sliding down. I used to use a sharp chef’s knife but I found using my hands to be just as efficient and it leaves me with less equipment to hand wash.

First, we rinse the kale well and dry it off as much as possible. I like to use my salad spinner to dry off the leaves as much as possible. Much more effective than just shaking it off and trying to use a towel to dry. While we do want the leaves as dry as possible, it’s not something to totally stress over if you only get it mostly dry.

Why? Because for the next part, we are going to massage olive oil into the kale and sprinkle salt all over it. We don’t skimp on the salt. We’re not doing that “pinch of salt” stuff here.

We then put the kale in one layer on a baking sheet and then bake it in the oven’s middle rack at 350°F for 15 minutes.

And what should come out should be the perfect, actual 3-ingredient kale chips

Some of them might look deceptively soggy but they’re not! They should be crispy. If any are slightly less than crispy, leave them in the oven with the heat turned off for a few minutes to crisp up without risking burning.

Enjoy and, of course, salt to taste if you find that you didn’t salt it enough before the cooking process!

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