Everyday I’m more and more excited that I’m heading home SO soon (15 more sleeps but who’s counting lol!). I’m sure anybody who lives far away can relate. Are you travelling long distances over the holidays? I head home twice a year, once during the holidays and once during the summertime. And the couple of weeks before I head home it’s always soo hard to concentrate! I’ve been so giddy and excited lately it’s hard to keep it all in! I’ve been trying my best to harness all my excited energy towards getting every single one of my papers done before I head home. #gettingitdone
But enough about heading home. How about introducing a new appy to your Christmas round up? Christmas around our home there is just soo much food and my family takes appetizers very seriously. Not that I’m complaining, but sometimes there are so many appies being passed around that by the time dinner comes around I already feel completely stuffed. That’s why I’m seriously considering bringing in some ‘lighter’ appies this year that are fun to snack on but won’t leave you feeling so full it’s hard to enjoy the main course 😉
The Cheesy Oil Free Kale chips are getting made this Christmas and that’s final!
J was less than convinced when I told him I was making chips out of kale. And then he tried one. After one bite of these Cheesy Oil Free Kale Chips he was hooked and after a few minutes the entire bowl of kale chips was gone! Haha, his words not mind – “these are really addicting”. #boyfriendapproved 😉
These Cheesy Oil Free Kale Chips are:
Crunchy.
Savory.
Cheesy.
With a slight kick.
Oh-so addicting.
Betcha can’t eat just one!
- 350 grams/ 12 ounces kale, hard stems removed and torn into fairly large pieces
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- Juice from ½ lemon
- ½ - 1 tsp cayenne pepper*
- ½ tsp sea salt (optional)
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F/175C. Line a baking sheet with a slipmat or piece of parchment paper.
- Prep your kale. Wash it, remove the leaves from the hard stems and tear the kale leaves into fairly large bite size pieces. Dry the kale so it's no longer wet from washing it.
- Toss and massage the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and (optional) sea salt into the kale leaves. *do not over-massage the kale leaves - you don't want them becoming too soft. Just until the nutritional yeast is a bit "absorbed" into the leaves!
- Spread the kale leaves out on the baking sheet. Make sure the leaves are close together but not touching or overlapping in order to get a crunchy chip!
- Bake for 15 - 20 mins until the kale chips are perfectly crunchy and start to brown a bit around the edges! You may have to increase/decrease the time by a couple of minutes depending on how damp your oven is.
- Eat right away. Kale Chips are not as crunchy the next day.
If you do try these Oil Free Cheesy Kale Chips or any other recipes of mine, I love hearing about it! Insta or Tweet it to me (@cearaskitchen with hashtag #cearaskitchen) or Facebook it to me via the Ceara’s Kitchen Facebook Page! 
41 comments
These turned out great! I had to experiment a little with cooking time (accidentally burned my first batch!)…but second batch were perfect! I was always intimidated to make kale chips but this was super easy. Thanks for the great simple recipe Ceara!
OMG! These are soooo good! Thanks for the recipe! I added garlic and onion powder too.
This is my go to recipie! Try it, you won’t be disappointed. It’s so good.
Hi, I’m admittedly late to the game, but i was wondering if you think the results would be the same in a dehydrator instead of an oven? TIA!
Yes I do my kale chips in a dehydrator at 115 degrees and overnight and sometimes longer until they are crispy. Store them in an airtight cont
ainer and they will stay crispy.
Great tip! Kale chips are the best!
Looks great! I used some pre-cut and washed kale. I added onion powder, paprika, sea salt, black pepper, and nutritional yeast. Only a few more minutes! 🙂
Great tasting chips. Been looking for a way to cook without o
What a great idea. I once tried pureed chickpeas with kale chips but this looks simpler. Gotta try it. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thanks, Janet!! Chickpeas with kale chips sounds very yummy!! Let us know if you end up making these – we hope you love ’em!
I know I would love these as I adore all those flavors. So healthy and yummy. Well-done! Have a safe trip home and enjoy every holiday minute!
OMG! These look absolutely amazing, I’m going to have to try them soon!
Thanks, Zach!! They are soo easy and so yummy + SUPER ADDICTING 😀
I always make my kale chips oil-free and it doesn’t need oil at all! I have been seeing these cheesy kale chips around a lot and still haven’t gotten around to make them, but you may have convinced me! I’m totally obsessed with nutritional yeast, like a major obsession, haha! It just makes everything taste so darn good. Your chips look AMAZING!!!
They so don’t need oil! I’ve been experimenting more and more with oil free baking! It’s a learning curve but kind of fun too!! 🙂 And I hear you on the obsession with nooch – I can’t get enough 😀
I have always wanted to try and make kale chips but I never have! these look delicious though 😉
Ahhh!! That’s so great that your boyfriend loved they chips!! 🙂 SEE boys healthy CAN be tasty!! Great recipe girl! Can’t believe you made em oil free!! That’s so great because usually kale chips aren’t oil free and thus aren’t as healthy… and congrats on being able to go home soon!! So excited for ya!!
Hehe! Yes, healthy can be SO tasty 😀 Thanks for the kind words, Cailee! <3 Hope your having a great week!
these look super yummy! i love kale!
Thansk Caralyn!! Kale = THE BEST! 😀
I love this healthy, crunchy and spicy kale chips Ceara! So easy to make, too!!! Great use of nutritional yeast! Pinning!
Thanks for the love and the pin, Mira!!
I remember those days Ceara. Dorothy was right, there’s no place like home. 🙂
Hurrah for kale chips and nutritional yeast!! These look amazing, and your pictures are fantastic.
Dorothy was totally right, Linda!!! And now I need to watch that movie again – such a classic 🙂
Thanks for the kind words, Linda! It means a lot!! The pictures are something I’m always working on!
Yay, so glad you’ll get to go home soon! We miss a lot of our family too and always get excited when we get to see them 🙂 I love kale chips and the nutritional yeast and cayenne pepper sound awesome in here!
I love Kale Chips and these look so good yum!!
Thanks, Shundara 😀
These kale chips are about as beautiful as you Ceara.. and just about as good for you!
Did my work at a cheesy comment for your cheesy kale chips work? Fortunately, puns don’t come naturally to me, so I at least spared you that! My husband literally said to me, “I’m craving kale chips SUPER BAD right now” the other day–who is he?!–so looks like I know what I’ll be making soon! I can’t have much kale for a while–thyroid boohooiness, which blows because it is my FAVORITE veggie–so these are just a tease for me!
<3 I'm blushing, Cheryl!!! Tehe! I am very cheesy - so your cheesy comments did work for kale chips!! And I love that your hubby is craving kale chips - hope your thyroid is better soon so you can eat all the kale :D
Kale chips are one of my favourite snacks, but I still haven’t tried nutritional yeast – I really need to give it a go.
Nutritional yeast is awesome, Dannii! I am sure you’ll love it! It gives such an awesome cheesy flavour with so many added benefits and nutrients!
I write about cake primarily, but I actually LOVE kale (and brussels sprouts!). This looks amazing.
I love Brussel sprouts too!! One of my fave veggies and love that they are so abundant this time of year 😀 Thanks!
I absolutely LOVE kale chips! And that’s totally true: Once you try ’em you’re hooked just like that!
Couldn’t agree more, Sarah!! 😀
That’s so exciting that you will be going home in just 15 days, Ceara! Hopefully you’ll have a great visit. I live near my family, so I can’t really relate, but I can imagine you get homesick at times! These kale chips look amazing! I definitely think I found a new appetizer or snack. I’ve been wanting to try these for such a long time but just haven’t gotten around to it. I love your cheesy version! Can’t wait to try these out. Pinned!
Thanks Gayle for the pin and kinds words!! I honestly CAN’T WAIT to go home 😀 And kale chips are very addicting – my first time making them, after a few bites – I was hooked 😀
Love this! Nutritional yeast and kale are a super match, such a great appy idea.
Ps: why can’t I rate this 5 stars ?! 🙁 it won’t let me click past 4!
Ceara!!! I’m so happy this recipe doesn’t hav cashews or oil in it. I’m sick of buying 1oz bags of kale chips for 9 dollars an on top of that finding out that the calorie and fat content is through the roof. Errrr what’s the point I might as well buy kettle chips >.< I'm gonna make this for lev, he's on a diet and he misses his chips. 😀
Thanks for the kind words, Amrita!!! I know what you mean!! A *small* bag of kale chips is like 4 euros here!! I’m experimenting with more oil free recipes in the kitchen lately and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it! And it turns out the oil isn’t even really needed in the kale chips at all (I love when that happens!!) 😀 Let me know how they turn out – hope you guys enjoy them as much as we did!
And thanks for letting me know about the rating stars! I just switched to a new recipe plugin so I’m still trying to figure out a few glitches! Thanks for the rating 😀