I got inspired from one of my book club friends to try a new way of making Kale Chips. She brought a bowl of them to our meeting this week and they were spicy and delicious! When I asked her how she made them, much to my surprise, she said she microwaved them! Being one that seldom uses a microwave for anything other than re-heating or melting, I was intrigued.
I was fortunate enough to have received a beautiful bunch of Lacinato Kale from my Talley Farms Fresh Harvest CSA box this week. Perfect timing for me to try out this process. The results were fantastic! What I found with making kale chips in the oven was that they didn’t evenly toast, so some spots were brown and some were not crisp enough. Doing them in the microwave creates a nice even, well dehydrated, crisp chip!
The first step is to wash the kale well and dry it. I use my lettuce spinner for the task of drying and then store my kale wrapped with a paper towel in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This keeps it fresh for days, might I say…even weeks some times!
Remove the stems from a bunch of lacinato kale. (You can also use curly kale, but it tends to crumble and flake more than lacinato) Cut the kale leaves into 2 inch pieces and lay them on a microwave safe plate in one layer.
Spray them with oil (I used coconut oil) and then season lightly with salt or a spice mixture of your choice. I used a mixture of cumin, coriander, Aleppo red pepper flakes and kosher salt.
Microwave them for 3 minutes and check to see that all of the leaves are crisp. If not, remove the crisp ones and microwave in 30 second increments until the rest are done. Every microwave cooks differently, so it is best to cook less and continue if needed. I found mine to be perfect at 3 1/2 minutes.
These will store in an airtight container for about a week. However, I can’t imagine them lasting that long in my house! We finished a whole batch before I even got the container out!
Paleo, Super Quick & Easy and Delish!,