DIY – Make Your Own Flavored Seaweed Snacks

We make sushi at least twice a month in my house and it’s always a big hit.  In addition to the fish, rice and veggies, my kids can’t get enough of the Nori seaweed.  They ask for whole pieces just to snack on while we’re rolling.  I used to think they were crazy, until I started to see toasted seaweed snacks at every market. My kids were onto something.  The only difference between our kitchen table snacks and the latest supermarket fad is that the new products added assorted flavors.

I haven’t been able to find any toasted seaweed snacks with kosher certification so I decided to make my own.  It is really easy and fun to make your own flavored seaweed.  The kids can make it themselves, because I can’t seem to make them fast enough!

The best part? Seaweed is really, really good for you! According to Mao Shing Ni, L.Ac., D.O.M., PhD from the Dr. Oz show, “Seaweed and marine algae have more concentrated nutrition than vegetables grown on land and they have long been considered to possess powers to prolong life, prevent disease, and impart beauty and health.”

Nori is filled with essential minerals, vitamins and protein and is extremely low in calories. According to my package of Nori, each piece only has 10 calories, but it has 1 g of protein, 6% Vitamin A, 4% vitamin C, 2% calcium and 2 % iron.  Talk about nutrient dense!  All types of seaweed have nutritional benefits, but Nori is the easiest to find kosher and easiest to eat, especially now that I learned to make these flavorful snacks.

Basically all you have to do is brush the Nori sheets with your favorite flavors and bake them at 250 for 15 minutes.  They are best with a little oil, sesame or olive oil work particularly well and then sprinkle some sea salt or other seasoning, my son came up with a really fun recipe that didn’t even use oil!  We brushed on some of the juice from the pickled ginger jar and it was a huge hit!

I want to share the basic recipe with a few of our ideas for flavors, but go ahead and invent your own and share your favorite ideas in the comments.  Here is my recipe for Flavored Seaweed Snacks.