Quick and Easy Collard Chips

By Heather Callaghan

Why does kale get to have all the fun and fame?

Collards are mighty green leaves in their own right.

Organic Collards are a Nutritional Powerhouse

One cup of boiled collards will provide 15,416 IU of vitamin A, or rather “pre-vitamin A” – until it’s combined with a fat like butter or oil so that it can convert to A in the body. They’ve got substantial vitamin C and loads of vitamin K, folate, choline, fiber, and calcium. This amount even provides 4 or more grams of protein making it both a great addition to paleo and vegan plates as well as those who need snacks that stabilize blood sugar. 

So, I tried to fry collards like you would do for cabbage or green beans – and I accidentally got chips. It was so easy to do and so addicting that I just stumbled on my new favorite snack. They never reached the plate – I ate them right out of the pan. Perhaps lightly frying them maintains even more nutrition than boiling.

The added benefit of frying the greens, versus baking them in the oven is that you don’t heat up your entire kitchen during the summer months. Plus, it takes less time to make and you skip the entire messy step of “dressing the leaves” which is a necessary step when making kale chips. It involves using your hands and vigorously rubbing and softening the leaves with oil. The collards don’t seem to require this at all. The oil I used in the pan was enough.

Quick and Easy Collard Chips

Time: About 10 minutes

Note: I use organic red palm oil which fries at incredibly high temperatures – almost too good (be careful, it can burn as it spatters). This plant-based fat is basically pure vitamin A. Ghee would be a great alternative for this purpose. Butter tends to burn unfortunately, but I’ve never had red palm oil burn in the pan.

Directions:

1. Tear off collard leaves from the stem – make sure they are dry.
2. Place a generous spoonful of red palm oil in a sturdy frying pan and set to medium-high heat.
3. Lay the leaves out filling the pan, but not overlapping too much.
4. Be forewarned – this oil is going to heat the Dickens out of the leaves and heat them
   quickly.
5. Use tongs or a spatula to turn them over every few minutes and watch carefully.
6. Before too long, you should see the collards look like somewhat translucent chips. Transfer to a plate and let cool.
7. Season with sea salt during or after cooking.

There you have it – on any given day, you can have tasty chips without the hassle and without the big price tag and shady additives from the store shelve kale chips.

Optional add ins:

• Sesame seeds
• Vinegars
• Nutritional Yeast (for a non-dairy cheesy flavor)
• Taco seasonings

Have you ever made fried green chips? Tell us about it and share!

This article (Quick and Easy Collard Chips) can be republished with attribution to Heather Callaghan and Natural Blaze.com, keeping all links and bio intact.

Heather Callaghan is an independent researcher, natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com. Like at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.