Cardamom and Tea

The key to the best roasted kale is to drizzle on a super flavorful dressing before roasting. But what kind of dressing? That’s entirely up to you! This recipe is super flexible, and you can use any dressing you’d like as long as it’s got acidity, fat, and flavor. And because the ingredients are so flexible, you can easily make it vegan, gluten free, low carb—whatever you need.

The laziest / tastiest roasted kale method

My preferred kale roasting method yields a pan of kale that’s both crispy and chewy. Some bits will be shatteringly crisp like kale chips, while some will be a bit chewier, like sautéed kale.

This is the laziest way to roast kale, because it requires you to just *leave it alone.* There’s no flipping everything over halfway through roasting. There’s no carefully fanning out your kale so it evenly dehydrates. There’s just the chaos of the oven and the varied textures that it yields. And as it turns out, chaos is delicious!

kale after roasting, scraped up with a spatula

Dressings that work well for roasted kale

While you could just roast kale with some olive oil, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to introduce acidity and flavor. Pretty much all salad dressings have fat and acidity, so most work great for roasting vegetables.

So feel free to use any dressing that has acidity and fat. It can even be store-bought! But the following are some of my favorites that I use for roasting kale all the time:

creamy caesar dressing
Japanese roasted sesame dressing
vinaigrette (but, like, a good one, not a bland one)
gochujang sauce (like the prepared sauce you’d drizzle over bibimbap, not just straight-up gochujang paste)

roasted kale being sprinkled with pecorino romano

roasted kale, sprinkled with pecorino romano

Other veggies that are delicious roasted this way:

I’ve never met a veggie that doesn’t taste delicious coated in dressing and roasted, but here are a few of my favorites (cook times and temperatures will vary from this recipe for other veggies, but the dressing idea holds constant):

brussels sprouts
sliced carrots
broccolini
winter squash
cabbage wedges

More kale recipes I love

roasted kale (the easiest way)

Print Recipe

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5 from 2 reviews

Author: Kathryn Pauline
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Leaves from 1 medium bunch kale
¼ to ⅓ cup [80 g] salad dressing*
Salt
3 Tbsp finely grated parmesan, pecorino, or nutritional yeast (optional**), plus more for sprinkling at the end

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place the kale leaves on the parchment-lined sheet pan. Top with the dressing and massage the leaves with your hands until they’re very evenly coated. Spread the leaves out into an even layer and sprinkle with cheese or nutritional yeast, if using. Season with salt, as needed.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until crispy in some spots and chewy in others.

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Notes

* You can use literally any salad dressing you’d like as long as it has some fat and some acidity (including store-bought dressings). My favorite is a creamy caesar dressing (for that, I use ⅓ cup), but it also works great with a simple vinaigrette (for that, I use ¼ cup). Use your judgment about how much to add—it’ll vary depending on how big your bunch is and how flavorful your dressing is.

Here’s the vinaigrette I used for the kale in the photos (just whisk everything together):

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp mayo (can use vegan mayo or omit)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp maple syrup
1 garlic clove, crushed through a press
1 big pinch salt

** Only use the cheese/nooch if your dressing goes with it. Alternatively, you could use sesame seeds, fennel seeds, or even cumin seeds—really anything that goes with your dressing of choice.

I truly believe that if you don’t like raisins, you probably don’t know the secret that every Middle Eastern cook knows: You’ve got to caramelize those babies! I learned this technique from my grandmother’s rice with vermicelli recipe, and it’s the key to the best plate of rice you’ll ever have.

If you love raisins (or if you plan to omit them no matter what I say 😉), feel free to skip ahead, or read on if you wanna talk about it!

Why caramelizing raisins is delicious (and easy!)
What’s so great about this recipe
Important recipe notes
✨The recipe✨

Why caramelizing raisins is delicious

If you hate raisins, I’m sure you’re skeptical. You’ve heard it all before:

“You should try soaking them!”
(Ew, no thank you—that just makes them squelchy, not good.)

“Well then, you should try rehydrating them in apple juice!”
(No, because the problem isn’t that they are not sweet. It’s that they are gross.)

The thing is, I get it. I do not like raisins in most contexts. But caramelizing them changes absolutely everything. It takes them from stale little Milk Duds to the most amazing salted caramels.

And all you’ve got to do is fry them in some oil or butter for a minute or two. It’s as easy as that, but it completely changes their texture. They go from stale to soft and chewy. And definitely not squelchy!

One pot: This is a new-and-improved, streamlined version of an old recipe I posted way back when I first started blogging. It’s based on the way my Assyrian grandmother makes rice with vermicelli, but I’ve tinkered with it so it uses way fewer dishes.
Olive oil: This recipe is traditionally made with either olive oil or butter, but lately I’ve been using olive oil, which has a funny way of tasting even butterier than butter itself. And for anyone who is vegan or trying to add more monounsaturated fats into their diet, this recipe is a great option. Alternatively, you can absolutely substitute butter in place of the olive oil (use an equal amount everywhere except at the “make the rice” step—there, you should add 2 Tbsp butter to the rice instead of 1 Tbsp olive oil).
Substitutions: There are a lot of possible options for the vermicelli itself, so don’t sweat it if you can’t find any. There are even notes at the end of the recipe for a gluten free substitution.

Important notes

If you follow the recipe, you should be all good, but here are some things to keep in mind:

No peeking! You might be tempted to lift the lid while it’s resting, but resist that urge! It’s okay to peek in once or twice (just a tiny little crack) while it’s simmering. But after that point, it needs to stay sealed so the steam can work its magic. And peeking too much while it cooks can let too much water evaporate.
No stirring! If you follow the no peeking rule, you won’t be tempted to stir it, but it’s so important, I gave it its own bullet point. This “absorption” rice method depends on not stirring it once you put that lid on. The rice forms a beautiful structure as it simmers with lots of room for steam to get around. If you stir it, you’ll smush everything together and the steam won’t be able to circulate evenly. Your rice will turn out mushy, mealy, and broken. Just let it do its thing, and it’ll turn out great.
Mise en place: Things move pretty quickly, and you don’t want to leave your nuts, raisins, or vermicelli unattended while they’re toasting. So make sure you have everything you need handy at the stove. The recipe should set you up for success, but here’s a list of everything you should have at the stove when you get started:
- paper towel lined plate + more paper towels
- your rinsed rice
- slotted spoon
- olive oil
- almonds, raisins, vermicelli (+ measuring tools, or measure them ahead)