Usually I would say that Kale Chips are a bit on the carby side when it comes to eating vegetables in a crunchy form. But, these kale sprouts that just came out at Trader Joe’s are awesome! They have part of the bulb included in the sprout, so there is much more fiber than with a kale leaf alone – with only 6g net carbs for the whole bag. That means that each portion only has 1.5g net carbs!
The texture of these are great. It’s something similar to that of an oven-baked kale chip on the top and a soft, yet crunchy jicama on the bottom. They’re really crunchy, and then you get a burst of soft, almost potato like creaminess.
I do not recommend trying this unless you have a deep fat fryer. Kale sprouts are a high-water vegetable and will cause a violent reaction when submerged with oil. If you did this on a stove-top, you can definitely expect a lot of oil splashes which can cause injury easily. Do not cook on the stovetop in a pot of oil.
Note: I’ve learned that you can also get these in regular grocery stores under the name Kalettes. Keep an eye out!
Yields 2 servings of Fried Kale Sprouts
The Preparation
- 4 ounces kale sprouts
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
The Execution
1. Heat the oil or lard in deep fat fryer until it’s hot. This is the package that I got from Trader Joe’s, although I do know that they also sell Kale Sprouts in Whole Foods now.
2. Put kale sprouts in the fryer basket. Try to get the sprouts in a single layer.
3. Make sure that you close the deep fryer before submerging the basket into the oil. They have a rather high water content and when water mixes with oil it can be quite violent – so splashing will occur.
4. Continue to fry the kale sprouts until they are browned on the edges of the bulb, and dark green on the leaves.
5. Remove from the basket and place on paper towels to drain any excess grease.
6. Add salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
This makes a total of 2 servings of Fried Kale Sprouts. Each serving comes out to be 43 calories, 2.1g fats, 0.9g net carbs, and 4.4g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 4 ounce kale sprouts | 33 | 0.7 | 4 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 4 |
| 2 tablespoon parmesan cheese | 54 | 3.6 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 4.8 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 87 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 8.8 |
| Per Serving (/2) | 43 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 4.4 |
Fried Kale Sprouts
Ingredients
- 4 ounce kale sprouts
- 2 tablespoon parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil or lard in a deep fryer until it's hot. This is the package that I got from Trader Joe's, although I do know that Whole Foods also sells kale sprouts.
- Place the kale sprouts in the fryer basket. Try to spread the sprouts out in a single layer.
- Make sure to close the deep fryer before submerging the basket into the oil. These have a rather high water content, and when water mixes with oil it can be quite violent — some oil splashes will undoubtedly occur.
- Fry the kale sprouts until browned on the edges of the bulb and dark green on the leaves.
- Remove from the basket and place on paper towels to drain off any excess grease.
- Season with parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!
