A lovely and healthy alternative to traditional potato chips that is every bit as tasty and addictive!

In France people eat late. Well apparently it is even worse in Spain or Portugal, but still! People usually have dinner at around 8-8.30 pm which would be ridiculous back in Estonia where I come from. Here it is completely normal and since we have a gaggle of small kids around the house that we like to put to bed before starting the meal (everything is just soooooo much calmer this way), in our house the dinner often starts even later.

Any time I have friends or family over from back home, they are a bit confused. When you’re accustomed to eating at about six and then have to wait another couple of hours if not more, it is not funny! This is why aperitif is almost compulsory. On the other hand it may be a bit dangerous because people tend to snack a lot if they are really hungry.

I really like fancy appetizers and they have their place on special occasions. On a regular evening though, I usually like to have around some fresh vegetables (like carrots, cucumber, radishes, cauliflower maybe some red bell pepper) that I can chop up and serve with easy homemade dips. This way people keep their appetite. But the truth of the matter is that everybody loves good potato chips so quite often there’s a variety or two of these as well placed on the aperitif table.

To try and prevent this I have tried oven-baked alternatives and discovered these kale chips! They are every bit as crispy-salty-addictive as regular potato chips but on the other hand they are not deep-fried and kale itself is packed with everything that’s good for you. And even my five-year-old declared them delicious! A win-win solution to the aperitif question in my opinion 🙂

Kale chips recipe

Ingredients

A small bunch of kale (about 4-5 bigger leaves)

2 tbsp of olive oil

Flaky sea salt or Fleur de sel

Instructions

Carefully wash and dry the kale leaves. Cut out the stems and cut the leaves into chips sized pieces. Place the kale leaves on a parchment covered sheet pan, drizzle over the olive oil and massage it into the leaves. Sprinkle flaky salt all over the leaves.

Bake at 165°C (325° F) for 10 minutes.

Take the sheet pan out of the oven and let the kale chips cool down a few minutes on the pan. This way they will stay crispy and will not get attached to each other. Pour in a bowl and serve.

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know about new blog posts and follow me on Instagram for everyday tips and recipe ideas.