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Something I’ve noticed about kale chips (that I’m sure hasn’t slipped past you guys either) is that they’re super expensive. Like, really, really prohibitively expensive. Would I love to be able to drop $5-7 on a bag so that I can enjoy a tasty snack that also looks great on instagram? Absolutely! Can I justify it? Only sometimes. Given that I want to eat kale chips more often than just “sometimes,” I figured it was time to make a vegan keto kale chip that tastes good and doesn’t cost a week’s salary.
Because I like being inclusive here with my recipes, this is also a nut free recipe, and is yeast free as well. I was inspired by Alive & Radiant’s superfood kale chips (ugh, I love them so much), and so I tossed some spirulina into this madness. Another added benefit to DIY kale chips is that the carb count is much lower than the store-bought varieties. Nutritional yeast, cashews and bell peppers frequently make an appearance in packaged kale chips, and while they are delicious and certainly have nutritional value, they also have a lot of carbs.
So, for now, I stuck with sesame seeds and hemp seeds, and went simple with the flavoring. I’m really excited about how these turned out, and hope you like them, too! Are you a fan of kale chips? Let me know in the comments!
Notes on Making Lemon Garlic Vegan Kale Chips
- I added spirulina to these because it’s a nutritional powerhouse, and makes things a nice color. It’s totally optional though, if you don’t have any on hand, but are super hungry. You could also sub in chlorella for this, or a greens powder that is both unsweetened and unflavored.
- I used raw garlic, but you could sub in garlic powder instead.
- I only used 2 tbsp of lemon juice, but for a tangier kale chip, you could bump this to 3 tbsp, and just add 1 tbsp less of water.
- In order to get the texture right, I recommend blending together the water and the hemp seeds first and then adding in other ingredients. I added the sesame seeds last, because I wanted them to be mostly whole. Yes, this was for visual effect.
- You can definitely sub the sesame seeds (or hemp seeds) for sunflower seeds, no problem!
- If you don’t have a dehydrator (I use this one!), you can put the oven on as low as it goes, and cook the chips for about 2-3 hours, checking on them after 2.
Lemon Garlic Low Carb Vegan Kale Chips (nut free, raw, yeast free)
Ingredients
- 8 cups ~340g chopped, raw kale
- 1/2 cup hulled raw sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup hulled raw hemp seeds
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped raw parsley
- 2 tsp spirulina
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- In a blender, combine lemon juice, water and hemp seeds. Blend until a pretty smooth mixture forms.
- Toss in garlic, parsley, salt and spirulina and continue blending until smooth.
- Add in sesame seeds and blend a bit more to chop some up, but keep some whole (or blend it super smooth, this is up to you!).
- Pour/scoop the mixture over the chopped kale in a bowl, and mix until the kale is coated with the mixture.
- Lay out on a single layer in your dehydrator (it can be over several trays, just make sure everything is relatively separate and not overlapping), and dehydrate until totally done - mine took about 8 hours to be totally good to go!