Kale Granola
The combination of kale, oats, and nuts is crunchy and satisfying. Everyone likes to munch on this as a snack – it doesn’t even seem to last until breakfast to top yogurt, mix with fruit, or serve with milk. It’s easy to vary the nuts and the dried fruit with your favorites.
Ingredients
5 cups curly kale (stalks removed, rinsed, dried)
6 tablespoons virgin coconut oil,* divided
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar
6 tablespoons maple syrup
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup pecans, walnuts or sliced almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 cup raisins, roughly chopped
- Preheat the oven to 300 °F.
- Make sure the kale is well dried. Chop or tear kale into large bite-sized pieces because it will shrink when baked. Place the kale in a bowl with 1-tablespoon coconut oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Knead or massage with your hands until the coconut oil is rubbed on all the leaves. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 5 tablespoons coconut oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another larger bowl, combine the oats, almonds (or nuts), sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.
- Take 2 tablespoons of the wet ingredients and combine with the kale. Rub it over the leaves. Pour the rest over the oats, seeds and nuts and mix very well until incorporated and oats are completely covered.
- Line two 12”x17” baking sheets with parchment paper or a Slat. Place the oats on one, spreading them out evenly, and the kale on the other sheet. (The kale seems to crisp up better separately, but you can mix the kale and oats together and it will work.) Bake all for about 25-30 minutes, mixing 2 or 3 times to prevent the outer edges from burning, and also rotating the trays. I sometimes put the oven on convection bake if it doesn’t seem to be crisping up. Remove the kale when it is crispy, but not browned. Remove the oats when they are crispy or nearly crispy and before the nuts are burned. Both with get crispier once they sit on the counter cooling.
- When cooled, combine the kale with the oats. Add the dried fruit. Pack into mason jars for storage.
Cook’s Note: I’ve switched to coconut oil instead of canola oil for making granola (though substitute canola or another vegetable oil if that is what you have.) I love the subtle flavor coconut adds, and nutritionists are recommending its healthier properties. In warmer weather, coconut oil looks like an oil; in cooler weather it tends to solidify. For this recipe, if solidified, I usually put the jar in a saucepan of hot water until it becomes liquid again. Also, if you mix it with cold maple syrup it tends to solidify again which makes it hard to coat the oats and kale, so I usually just have maple room temp or heat it up very slightly before mixing the liquid ingredients.