The world’s most seductive healthy snack is this! Goodness that is crunchy and cheesy that is both vegan and raw. Cashews and red bell pepper are two straightforward, organic components that are used to make the cheese. This recipe is ideal for my hectic lifestyle. They are easy to toss in a bag and take with me, or I can eat them as an appetizer while making supper. I top my salad with the remaining cheesy kale flakes as well. They fall in love right away, which is why I love to share this dish with friends and family. Now they make their own and give me some! Crunch, crunch, nom, nom…
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 9 hrs |
| Total Time: | 9 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 1 gallon of kale chips |
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup roughly chopped onion
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded (Optional)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¾ cup water, or more as needed
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard (Optional)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 bunches curly kale, stemmed
Instructions
- Place cashews in a bowl. Cover with water; let soak for at least 1 hour. Drain and rinse.
- Transfer cashews to a blender; blend until finely chopped, scraping the sides of the bowl periodically. Add red bell pepper, onion, lemon juice, jalapeno pepper, and garlic; blend until well chopped. Scrape the sides of the bowl; add 3/4 cup water, nutritional yeast, paprika, turmeric, mustard, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth, adding more water if necessary.
- Combine cashew mixture and kale in a large bowl; scrunch kale with your hands until evenly coated with cashew mixture. Spread in a single layer on an unlined dehydrator tray.
- Dehydrate kale at 105 degrees F (41 degrees C) until crisp, about 8 hours.
- Substitute 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper for the jalapeno if desired.
- I always recommend a dehydrator but an oven will do. Put the kale chips on a metal cooling rack (for air flow) and bake on the lowest possible setting. I would also crack open the oven door to allow moisture to escape. Check every so often and remove when completely dry.
Reviews
Awesome result, but it did take more than half an hour to prepare it. The end product is very tasty, but also quite delicate – light and crispy. Note: one bunch of kale = 6 oz. Two cups raw cashews = 10oz. Half a cup of nutritional yeast is 23g. I finally found it at a health food store; most grocery stores don’t carry it.
It was very good and the family enjoyed it.