Dehydrated Kale Chips (raw, vegan, gluten free and oil free)
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If you haven’t had kale chips yet you are missing out big time. These crunchy little snacks taste like junk food (well, maybe not quite JUNK food…we are talking about kale, after all) and are packed with nutrition. We could all use more greens in our diet and this is a great way to get them. There are a plenty of kale chips that you can buy in the store and many of them are quite delicious. They are also really expensive. Making your own will save you money and I think you will be shocked at how much better they taste when they are fresh.
There are many types of kale. For this recipe, I prefer to use curly green kale but free free to play around! I prepare these using my Excalibur Dehydrator but any dehydrator will work. The Excalibur is great because you can control the temperature. Dehydrating at a low temperature preserves the flavor, nutrients, and enzymes in these tasty chips. Raw cashews and sunflower seeds are soaked and blended to create a creamy vegan cheese sauce that coats the kale chips.
If you have questions about preparing raw foods, please visit this post where I go over soaking nuts and seeds and dehydration temperatures for raw foods. If you are looking for a nut-free kale chip recipe, check out these lemon tahini kale chips.
Kale Chips (raw, vegan, gluten free and oil free)
Equipment
- Blender
- Dehydrator
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1 carrot, large
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 bunch curly green kale (approx 10 large leaves)
Instructions
- Cover the cashews and sunflower seeds with water in a large bowl. Soak for 3 hours (up to overnight).
- Strain and rinse the soaked cashews and sunflower seeds and place in a high speed blender along with the carrot and bell pepper (both coarsely chopped), nutritional yeast, lemon juice, water and salt. Blend until smooth.
- Chop the kale leaves in large pieces after removing the center stems.
- In a large bowl combine the kale and the blended mixture. Stir so the kale leaves are coated.
- Spread the coated kale in single layers on dehydrator trays. Try to keep the kale leaves from touching.
- Dehydrate at 145 degrees F for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 115 and dehydrate for an additional 9 hours or until kale chips are thoroughly dry.