Cheesy Vegetable Kale Chips

Those delicious cheesy kale chips you can buy at the store are delicious and oh-so-healthy, but at about $5 a bag they are quite an investment. This is a pretty easy batch you can whip up for about half the price, yielding about 3-5 times as many chips. SCORE!

(If you want a simpler, faster roasted kale recipe without all of the cheesiness, I gotcha covered too)

This recipe is super fleixble. You can make them in the oven or dehydrator, using a blender or food processor, and you can even mix up the ingredients if you want. Swap lime juice for the lemon and squirt in some sriracha sauce. Use sun dried tomatoes instead of a carrot. Go nuts and be creative and enjoy the magical disappearing act that follows (read: these taste great and you will eat them quickly).

Onward to the recipe!

Cheesy Vegetable Kale Chips Recipe

Serves 1-6, depending on how much you like kale chips

• 1 large bunch or pre-cut bag of kale, rinsed, stems removed and chopped
• 1 cup cashews, soaked in water at least 1 hour (but up to a day), rinsed and drained
• 1/2 red bell pepper, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1-2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, or vegetable bouillon + water
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce, tamari, or liquid aminos
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• juice of 1 lemon (or 1/4 cup)
• salt and pepper to taste, if desired
• A packet of silica gel is handy if you plan to store these. It will help them stay crispy longer. No need to buy new packets - I recycle mine from other food products like seaweed snacks.

1. Prepare your kale pieces. Removing the stems is tedious, but worthwhile. Stems get chewy and weird while the rest of the leaf gets crispy and delicious.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Start with just a cup of the broth and add more if needed to reach a creamy consistency. 
3. Combine the kale and sauce in a large bowl and stir until coated evenly.
4. To dehydrate them: spread kale pieces in a dehydrator and dehydrate at 135°F until crispy (about 4-6 hours). You can cook them at a lower temp if you want to leave them longer, or have them be truly raw (115°F, and probably closer to 8 hours)
5. To bake them, preheat your oven to the lowest setting and spread the kale onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 2-4 hours and check often so they don't burn, flipping chips once after about an hour. 
6. Devour them immediately or store in an airtight container (with a silica gel packet if you have it!)

Dig in.