28 Aug Baked Pesto Kale Chips
I finally got around to making pesto kale chips!
After my family and I had a pizza night, we were left with extra pesto to use up. I have been making this pesto so often that I almost just opted to throwing it out. My mom, being a mom, took it and stuck in the freezer instead (thank you mom, this recipe would not be here without you!).
So one day, when scouring through the freezer for some frozen fruit for an afternoon snack smoothie, I found a jar filled with something green. I had no idea what it was and to my pleasant surprise it was the pesto that was left over from pizza night. This gave me an idea to make a new snack that I had never made before, and these chips were born!
I grabbed some kale from the garden, washed it, removed the stems and tore it into medium sized pieces. I dumped the pesto over it and massaged massaged massaged until the kale was soft and the pesto was well incorporated. I pre-heated the oven, lined my baking sheets, and baked the kale until crispy.
This was actually the first time I have ever made kale chips with oil and salt. I know it may be shocking to most as kale chips traditionally use oil to make them light and crispy, but think again! I have made numerous flavors of kale chips without oil and I usually use my green salt in place of normal salt. One of my favorites is my Spicy Cheezy Kale Chips, which was actually the first recipe I ever posted on my blog. Let me tell you that salt or no salt, oil or no oil, all the homemade healthy kale chips you will make will turn out equally as delicious.
These chips were a good change to my normal no-oil chips, but I can honestly say that these won’t take the top spot over the oil-free ones! I follow a low fat, oil free diet in my Raw Till 4 lifestyle, and I feel my best when I keep the oil and salt to a minimum.
I baked these instead of plopping them into the dehydrator because I know that not all of your have one. Just know that if you have a dehydrator these work great in there as well. Try this recipe out, and let me know what you think!
Baked Pesto Kale Chips
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4-6
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1/2 recipe of Vegan Garlic Basil Pesto
- 5 cups curly kale, destemmed and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F. Line 2 large baking sheets.
- Prepare the pesto. Set aside.
- Wash and throughly dry the kale.
- Massage the kale with the pesto until soft and completely covered. Make sure to try and open each leaf up as they tend to fold onto themselves and prevent pesto from getting into the inside.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Make sure to keep an eye on them as they can burn easily.
Kim
Posted at 19:19h, 14 Februaryyum! I haven’t been able to find any vegan pesto here in Chicago yet. I need to spend more time searching.
Susann
Posted at 01:15h, 02 MarchI definetly want to try this recipe, because I need a healthy option to oily potatoe chips. And it`s better for my wallet wehen I make my own kale chips instead of buying them. Thanks a lot for this delicious recipe Jasmine. 😀
Jasmine Briones
Posted at 07:25h, 02 MarchThat sounds like a plan, enjoy Susann! 🙂