Kale Chips with Nutritional Yeast

Made in under 20 minutes, these crispy kale chips with nutritional yeast make for the perfect savory snack! All you need are 4 ingredients and you’ll have these “cheesy” kale chips in no time! They are an easy healthy snack that your whole family will find irresistible.

I can down a giant bowl of kale chips when given the chance. However, have you noticed that they’re always sold in tiny bags, and they cost an arm and a leg? I can polish off a $8.99 100g bag in two seconds, so making my own has been such a better alternative.

 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• They make for a great healthy snack! I love snacking, and a family-sized bag of sour cream and onion chips is my weakness. While kale will never be a replacement for that, it keeps me from eating a giant bag of chips! Their crunch is so satisfying and always hits the spot for me.
• It’s much more budget-friendly making it at home than it is buying it at the store.
• You can easily customize these kale chips. I love mine “cheesy,” so I’m very heavy-handed with the nutritional yeast. I’m also not super shy with the salt, and I love the end results.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• kale — curly or dinosaur kale is perfect for making kale chips. I almost always use curly kale, though. Curly kale seems to be the most popular variety stocked at my local grocery store.
• oil — I use olive oil, but you can use any neutral oil, such as avocado oil.
• nutritional yeast — this is what gives the kale its irresistible cheesy flavor! It has a savory, umami flavor that really helps flavor the kale. You can use nutritional yeast that’s closer to a powder or large flakes. It’s up to you! You might have guessed from its name that it’s full of healthy goodness as well. I always have a few bags in my pantry as I put it on everything. If you want to try another recipe that uses nutritional yeast, try my nutritional yeast popcorn!
• salt — kosher salt or flaky salt it perfect for kale chips. You can also omit salt altogether.

How to Make Kale Chips with Nutritional Yeast

• Prepare the kale by cutting or ripping the stalks away from the kale and then cutting or ripping the leaves into medium/large pieces.
• Wash and thoroughly dry the kale pieces.

• Heat the oven to 300F.
• Combine the kale and oil and lightly massage everything together with clean hands.
• Transfer leaves to a large sheet pan in a single layer, using multiple sheet pans or baking in batches if needed. Sprinkle on as much or as little nutritional yeast to the kale and a sprinkle of salt.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the kale chips are as crispy to your liking. Top with more nutritional yeast and additional salt, if desired.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• Careful not to cut or rip the kale into too small pieces as they’ll shrink in the oven.
• To make sure my kale is fully dry, I run them through a salad spinner and then roll them up in paper towels to absorb any leftover water. You need to remove as much moisture as possible so the kale will crisp up.
• Feel free to cut this recipe in half. I always make as large of a batch as possible because I eat them so quickly! So I usually have to bake this recipe in three to four batches.
• Keep a close eye on the kale chips around the 10-minute mark, as they can go quickly from crispy to burnt, especially if you have smaller pieces of kale. I usually pick those out once they are crispy.
• Don’t skip removing the stems, as they’ll become tough and chewy.

Storage Tips

• I almost always finish all my kale chips, but if you have any leftover, I’ve had luck keeping them tightly wrapped at room temperature for a day. I usually polish off whatever’s left at breakfast when I see it on the counter haha.

More Healthy Snacks to Try

• Matcha Balls
• Pumpkin Protein Balls
• Cheddar Popcorn
• Strawberry Yogurt Bites
• Black Pepper and Parmesan Popcorn
• Garlic Basil Roasted Chickpeas

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