Wondering how to keep your kale chips nice and crispy instead of faded or mushy? Find our How to keep kale chips crispy (step by step guide!)
To keep kale chips crispy, thoroughly dry the leaves using a salad spinner and cook them at a low temperature for a long amount of time, being sure to store them in a dry, dark area instead of refrigerating them.
In this article, we’ll provide you with a step by step guide on how to make sure your kale chips stay fresh and crispy.
How to Keep Kale Chips Crispy
Below, you’ll find the best way to prevent this in the form of a series of steps for keeping your kale chips crispy!
- Wash the Kale – Before you can engage in the most important step, which is drying the kale, you should first wash it off. Try rinsing your kale with cold, filtered water over a strainer, gently massaging the leaves to get rid of any dirt or grit thoroughly.
- Dry the Kale – By far, this is the most important step in keeping kale crispy. Kale only gets soggy when trace amounts of water are left in the leaves, causing the leaves to steam rather than crisp during the cooking process. Dry kale in a spinner, or by leaving it out on a dry baking sheet after shaking the leaves gently but thoroughly.
- Season the Kale – We recommend massaging the kale with oil only after it is completely dry and adding salt and pepper to taste. The oil will not result in soggy kale, so don’t worry!
- Spread the Leaves on Baking Sheets – After tearing them up into more manageable pieces, the leaves need to be completely spread out across baking sheets with as little room to touch one another as possible during the cooking process. Kale will not crisp up correctly if the heat cannot move thoroughly around the leaves.
- Cook the Kale – The cooking is where the crisping process begins and ends! Your kale chips should be cooked at a low temperature for 15 minutes; around 225 degrees is the best option. After these fifteen minutes, use tongs to gently toss and disturb the kale and rotate the baking sheet, then bake for another five to ten minutes.
- Let the Kale Sit in the Tray – Even after you remove the tray from the oven, you should not remove the kale from the tray immediately! Your chips will become even more solidly crispy if they are allowed to cool on the baking sheet for around ten minutes.
- Store Properly – Part of making sure kale chips stay crispy, even after being washed, dried thoroughly, and cooked to chip-like perfection, is storing them appropriately. Never put kale in the refrigerator, as this can result in condensation and moisture, which leads to soggy kale chips! Instead, choose a dry, airtight container in a dark, cool place.
Read also >> How Long to Air Fry Kale (Low Carb, Keto + Helpful Tips)
Read also >> How To Make Kale Chips in an Oven? (Baked Kale: Helpful Guide)
What to Serve With Kale Chips
The best things to serve with kale chips are something to counter and accompany the earthy but salty flavor, and even the crisp texture of the kale itself.
You can also dip kale chips in a whole variety of sauces to enhance their taste, with the most popular being ranch dressing.
Some of our favorites for serving alongside kale chips as a main course are roasted chicken, pimento cheese salad, tuna melt sandwiches, or even salmon.
The kale chips will be a nice change for many who eat these types of meals with regular potato chips or simple French fries!
How to Store Leftovers
If you have leftover kale chips, you certainly don’t want them to go to waste! In addition, proper storage is the majority of winning the battle to keep kale chips crisp.
Find an airtight container, such as a sealed plastic bag or even a mason jar with a well-fitting lid. Store as many kale chips inside one container as can fit without crushing one another.
Then, place the container in a dry, cool space that is not much colder than room temperature. Usually, a dark area like a pantry or cupboard works just fine.
The main point is, do not place the kale chips in the refrigerator! They can last for up to one whole year without going bad if they were washed and dried properly before being cooked.
Ingredients
The ingredients found in Kale Chips are limited to just kale itself sometimes, but you can also add seasoning.
The only way to make this seasoning stick is to use olive oil or another type of oil, like coconut or avocado vegetable oil.
We recommend the following seasonings:
- Pepper
- Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Cayenne Pepper
Nutrition Facts Per Serving
Kale is definitely one of nature’s superfoods. However, what exactly is in kale chips in terms of nutrition? Find out in the table below, which will provide you with the nutrition facts per 1 serving of kale chips.
| Nutrition Facts | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Carbohydrates | 3.5 Grams |
| Calories | 50 |
| Saturated Fat | 2.8 Grams |
| Fat | 3.7 Grams |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 0.2 Grams |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.2 Grams |
| Sodium | 15 Milligrams |
| Fiber | 1.4 Grams |
| Potassium | 196 Milligrams |
| Calcium | 60 Milligrams |
| Iron | 0.5 Milligrams |
Kale chips are one of the healthier options when it comes to satisfying your craving for something crunchy and salty, thanks to being made primarily from dried kale leaves, which are high in nutritional value.
Crispy Kale Chips FAQs
Looking for the answers to more questions about kale chips and how to keep their texture intact? Read on to see more information!
Why are my kale chips soggy?
After being exposed to the proper amount of heat for an appropriate amount of time, nothing is stopping all of the moisture from leaving kale and giving you delicious crispy kale chips! However, that moisture will go right back into the leaves if they are not dried before going into the oven.
This is because the heat may cause the water left on undried leaves to evaporate, but they’ll steam right back down again eventually, and you’ll have soggy kale chips.
Do homemade kale chips need to be refrigerated?
Although regular kale may benefit from staying fresh if kept in the refrigerator, you should never refrigerate or even freeze homemade kale chips.
This is because homemade kale chips are dry, meaning they oxidate much less than regular moistened kale leaves. However, they could become wet and soggy in a refrigerator.
They should also still be stored in a dry, airtight container when not being snacked on!
How long does dried kale last?
Your dried kale chips should last a whopping total of one whole year, as long as they have been dried appropriately!
This means you can look forward to creating kale chips in bulk and enjoying them as a tasty, healthy snack for months on end.
Provided you stored them correctly and dried them sufficiently, as previously mentioned!
The Best Homemade Kale Chip Recipe Ever! >> Check out the video below:
In Conclusion
To sum it all up, the best way to keep kale chips crispy is to make them correctly. Kale chips must first be completely dry before going into the oven, then cooked at around 16 minutes in an oven, or 10 minutes in an air fryer!
When kale chips are cooked correctly and stored appropriately, they remain crispy instead of steaming and getting soggy.
They should provide you with a crisp, tasty snack for as long as one whole year, and give you plenty of health benefits like rich vitamins along the way.
References
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-proven-benefits-of-kale