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Fantastic for a healthy snack, or even a side dish, this Garlic Baked Kale is really easy to make and yet tastes amazing! This recipe takes around 20 minutes to bake, but you can pretty much forget about it for most of that time. Just remember to keep checking on it in the oven so you don’t burn it.
What is it?
As you can probably guess, this is simply kale which is baked in the oven with some extra flavouring from garlic and sliced almonds. The result? Crispy and delicious kale that you can use for a variety of purposes.
Baked kale is great as a snack, you can keep it for 2-3 days so make up a batch to have on hand whenever you want a tasty snack. You can also serve it as a garnish with lots of different foods – sprinkled on a soup, as a side dish or tossed into a salad.
Is baked kale good for you?
Kale is generally regarded as a superfood. It’s extremely nutrient-dense and packed with vitamins and iron. Plus it’s fat-free and low in calories so it’s a great food choice. This recipe does add some flavouring which does add some extra calories to the equation but it’s in the form of heart-healthy olive oil and almonds, both of which contain healthy fats.
With only 80 calories per serving you can enjoy a portion of this guilt-free. However, if you want to reduce the number of calories you could swap the almonds for something lighter. Chilli flakes are a good option that adds a lot of flavour.
How do you store it?
Once baked these kale chips will keep for 2-3 days before they start to go soft. They are at their best when served straight away, but I’ve tried and tested several different storage options to give you the best and most effective way to retain freshness. In short – store in a sealed jar with rice at the bottom. The rice actually made a big difference in absorbing the moisture and keeping them crispy, particularly after a couple of days.
I’ve also tested storing this in a sealed jar (without rice) and a food bag (both paper and plastic). By far the jar with rice works best.
Ingredients
You just need 4 simple ingredients for this garlic baked kale:
- Kale
- Garlic cloves – sliced as thinly as you can
- Flaked/sliced almonds (or swap with other ingredients if you prefer, such as chilli flakes, or spices such as cumin or paprika or even grated parmesan)
- Extra virgin olive oil
How to make them
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F.
Wash and dry the kale. You want to dry the kale really, really well, so drain it or use a salad spinner, and then transfer to some paper towels to blot out the excess moisture.
Strip the kale leaves from the stems and discard the tough stems. Cut the kale leaves so you have bite-sized pieces. Spread evenly on a baking tray so none of the pieces are on top of each other and then drizzle with the olive oil. Scatter over the garlic and almonds and use your hands to toss the oil and through the kale.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it while it is cooking. You don’t want them to cook too fast of they will go brown but not crispy enough. You also don’t want to leave them too long so they burn. As they cool they may lose a little crispiness so make sure they are very crisp when you take them out of the oven. They will be a deep green colour with a little browning on the edges when done.
Remove from the oven and season to taste. Serve immediately or store in a sealed jar with some rice in the bottom (to soak up moisture).
If you are looking for other great healthy snack recipes then check out this healthy homemade tzatziki (great for dipping the baked kale in) or these cinnamon apple crisps.
Products that work great for this recipe
Ball Glass Jars
Beeswax Food Wraps
Veggi storage containers
Garlic Baked Kale
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
This garlic baked kale makes the perfect crispy savoury snack that you can indulge in practically guilt-free. Stored well, it will keep for a few days.
The default recipe makes 2 snack-sized portions
Ingredients
- 50g (1.75 oz) kale (weight excluding stalk)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, very finely sliced
- 1 tsp flaked/sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150C/300F
- Wash the kale and then drain well. Place in between some sheets of kitchen/paper towel to remove as much moisture as you can – it should be as dry as possible before baking
- Strip the kale leaves from the stem and discard the stem. Chop into bite sized pieces and then spread out on a baking tray. Make sure pieces aren’t stacked on top of each other.
- Drizzle over the olive oil and scatter over the garlic and almonds. Use your hands to toss everything together evenly.
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it. It’s cooked when the pieces have turned dark green and there is a little browning on the edges. It should also be very crispy (as it will soften a little as it cools, so make sure it’s crisp when fresh out of the oven).
- Season the baked kale to taste and then serve immediately or transfer to sealed jars with a little rice in the bottom.
Notes
The rice in the jars will help to remove any moisture from the kale, keeping it fresh for longer. You can keep this kale for up to 4 days (although it’s best and most crispy on the same day as baking).
You can substitute the almonds for other toppings such as chilli flakes, spices such as paprika or cumin, or some grated parmesan.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Snack
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 80
- Fat: 6.5g
- Carbohydrates: 3g
- Protein: 3g
Keywords: kale, healthy, snack, garnish, side, vegetarian, vegan, garlic, keto
