Elana's Pantry

New York Times Bestselling author Elana Amsterdam founded Elana’s Pantry, the go-to website for easy, healthy, grain-free, Paleo recipes, in 2006

Barbecue Kale Chips

Barbecue Kale Chips

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Like all of my recipes, these Barbecue Kale Chips are a breeze to make, with only 5 ingredients. To assemble them you’ll need kale, olive oil, macadamia nuts, nutritional yeast, and Primal Palate Barbecue Rub.

My boys and I love kale chips. We’ve been making them for quite some time, since around 2008. My younger son and I worked on this Barbecue Kale Chips recipe for around a year, testing it dozens of times, perfecting it until it was just right. We were driven to create perfect kale chips. It’s been super fun working on recipes with him and collaborating in the kitchen with a teenager!

I’m so happy to share this recipe with you after all of your requests for savory paleo snacks and low-carb recipes. So many of us in this community are now following a low-carb diet, which is very helpful for neurological conditions. If you need more support be sure to check out my Keto Diet Recipes page.

Barbecue Kale Chips
Serves: 3 cups
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Tear kale into 3" pieces, discarding stems
  2. Place kale in a large bowl
  3. Massage oil into kale
  4. In a food processor, pulse macadamia nuts, yeast, and seasoning until ground into a paste
  5. Massage seasoning into kale
  6. Spread out kale on a baking sheet
  7. Bake at 300° for 30 minutes until kale is dark green and crispy
  8. Cool
  9. Serve

I use curly kale in this recipe because it crisps up quite nicely. The nutritional yeast gives these keto kale chips a wonderful cheesy, tangy flavor, and the olive oil and macadamia nuts add a nice helping of fat.

The amazing barbecue flavor in this recipe comes from the Primal Palate Barbecue Rub. I love this rub because its intense flavor is so delightful. I haven’t tried making Barbecue Kale Chips without this rub so not sure if, or how that would work. If you do experiment with creating your own flavor profile, or swapping out any of the other main ingredients please let us know how it goes!

Here are links to some of my healthy paleo dinner recipes that complement these kale chips!

Comments

    • Nora, thanks for your comment! Nutritional yeast is not associated with the candida albicans strain related to yeast infections, and is in fact a potent source of the nutrients that candida robs from the body :-)

      Reply

  2. Oh my, this is SO good! I can’t have macadamia nuts so I decided to sub cashews. But, I was out of cashews so I used raw cashew butter, nutritional yeast and sea salt (unfortunately I can’t have the spices in the rub). This is the first time my kale chips tasted this good. Thanks so much, Elana!

    Reply

  3. I’ve not had success in past attempts in making kale chips but look forward to trying your recipe. I can’t have macadamia nuts – would pecans, pistachios or cashews work as a substitute? Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Hi Elana, Do you put the kale pieces directory on the cookie sheet to bake or you put on a baking mat/ parchment paper? Thank you!

    Reply

  7. The link that you give for the food processor, is that the actual one you use? I am in the market for one and would love to know how it has worked out for you.

    Thanks!!!

    Reply

  8. Now I know why Kale chips are creating a lot of buzz lately. They’re truly a nice alternative to potato chips and corn-based chips. For people who are trying to be healthy, like me, this is a great recipe

    Reply

  9. I bet they taste great! But Elana…. it looks like your drying some MJ. Ha ha.
    But seriously! I’m gonna make this recipe. Thanks!

    Reply

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