I’m always being asked about healthy snacks for kids, in fact I have a whole class devoted to healthy kid snacks in the curriculum I’m developing. One of my favorite vegetables for snacking is kale. Sounds strange right? Like chomping on leaves for a snack? But crispy kale chips are a perfect snack. I like them better than popcorn! Roasted kale chips are crunchy salty bites of goodness that will disappear fast and make your kids beg for more. Here’s a step by step photo tutorial for a healthy snack that’s ready in 15 minutes.
Kale is pretty affordable. I usually get a head of kale for $1-$2 at the most. There are a couple different varieties, and they all work well. Just make sure to get one that’s a dark green or bluish green with out any yellowing leaves. I usually make one leaf of kale per person, but if you want to make more it will get eaten!
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Then begin ripping the leaves off of the tough main stem, and tear those leaves into bite size pieces.
Press the leaves between paper towels to absorb any water. You don’t want any moisture on the leaves because then they will steam and get soft instead of crispy.
Place the kale on a cookie sheet (one with rims is easiest) and drizzle them with olive oil, about 2 TBS worth. Use your fingers (freshly washed!) to mix the leaves and coat them with the oil.
Once the leaves are well coated, place them in a 350 degree oven for 8-12 minutes. I check them starting at 8 minutes and every minute after that. You want them crispy, but not turning brown.
Sprinkle the crispy kale chips with salt and eat immediately! When my doctor told me I needed to get more leafy greens in my diet (which I forget sometimes in winter when we don’t have a CSA), I was excited to have an excuse to eat kale chips as often as I wanted. Every movie we watched last week we snacked on these babies!
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I remember trying kale chips once. I thought it was the oddest thing at first, but now I really enjoy it. I’ll have to tyr and make a homemade version one of these days.
Our kitchen at school made these as a snack for the kids. About 6 kids loved them and the rest wouldn’t touch them.
Of course, we didn’t get them freshly prepared. I think they were done in the morning.
I’ve never heard of kale chips but I will definitely make them for my kiddos. They guzzle the green smoothies that I make every day so they are definitely not scared to drink green – hopefully they won’t be too nervous to try it crunchy! What an awesome idea and I can’t wait to try them myself. I’m adding kale to my grocery list right now.
Jenn and Abigail, you’ll have to let me know how they turn out when you make them!
Karen, I think they’re much better fresh from the oven. They can get a little soggy and bitter after sitting out. It’s all in how you present it too. I’ve had kids get so excited when I tell them that they can make their own chips, or given them fun names like “Mean Green Crunchy Chip Things”!
So, Diana I think you are amazing if you can get kids to gobble these up. As a child I had an adversion to food with chorophyll. You do the world a service in helping them eat better!
I’ve been meaning to make some kale chips, but I was never really sure exactly how to go about doing it. Great tutorial! These will be a great snack.
Can’t wait to buys some Kale tomorrow! I’m wondering if I can get my three year old to buy into them! =0)
Just made these as a pre-dinner snack – me and my 2yo daughter love kale (although she has no idea what it is, just that she loves it in soups) so it was not a big surprise that we both scarfed these down right from the baking sheet LOL Thanks, Diana for this yummy (and super nutritious) snack
Btw, maybe my oven runs hot but i found lowering my temp by 10 degrees and taking them out at 7mins worked best (my first batch at 350/9min tasted bitter and slightly burnt – not that dd minded, she still ate them 
. Great recipe!
I made them but I think i left them in a little too long. They turned slightly brown. My 2 year old loves them! He said, “Don’t you dare eat all of em.”
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