These kale chips are made with cashews, nutritional yeast, fresh lemon and spices. IMPORTANT NOTE: These kale chips are HIGHLY addictive.
To prepare the dressing, first soak the cashews for a couple of hours, or overnight. Once they are soft, drain.
Next, juice the lemon and add to a high speed blender, along with the next 5 ingredients.
Add about half of the non-dairy milk and blend to combine. Add more liquid as needed. The dressing should be thick, but still somewhat pourable.
If using the oven to make the kale chips, preheat the oven to 275°F (135°C) and line two large sheet pans with parchment paper. (See notes, below, for using a dehydrator.)
*Note: You can use either curly green kale or the longer, flatter Italian kale, also known as dinosaur kale, black kale or lacinato kale.
To prepare the kale, simply wash and tear into large pieces. The trick is to remove the leaves from the stems, keeping the pieces of kale as big as possible. The pieces will shrink considerably once dehydrated or baked in the oven.
To prepare the kale chips, place the kale into a large bowl and pour the dressing over the kale. Using your hands, coat the leaves evenly with the dressing.
Depending on how much kale you started with, you may not need all of the dressing. However, this dressing is meant to be quite heavy, so don’t be afraid to really coat the leaves well.
Next, place the leaves onto the prepared sheet pans. Be sure the leaves are not overlapping, otherwise they will cook unevenly. Depending on the size of your sheet pans, you may have to cook the kale in multiple batches. Bake for about 45 minutes or until crispy. Turn the leaves over halfway through cooking to ensure they bake evenly.
Using a Dehydrator—
Alternatively, place the kale onto dehydrator trays. Make sure the leaves are in a single layer, otherwise they will not dehydrate evenly. Dehydrate at 115°F (46°C) for approximately 7-8 hours or until crispy. Depending on your machine, it may take more or less time.
Indian Kale Chips
Omit the lemon juice, hot sauce and nutritional yeast and replace with:
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1 pitted date
1 1/2 tsp curry powder or garam masala
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
Italian Kale Chips
Omit the lemon juice, onion powder and hot sauce and replace with:
3 tbsp chopped green onion
1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1 tbsp chopped sage leaves
1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional)