Can kale be baked ahead of time?

You can totally make the crisped kale ahead of time. If you are taking this route, here are a few tips to take to keep your Kale crispy...

1) Make sure the Kale is completely cool before storing it away
2) Line your storage container with paper towels to absorb any moisture that may accumulate
3) Leave the crisped up kale out at room temperature and do not refrigerate

These tricks should help your kale retain most of their crispy-ness for 1-2 days. If some of the kale chips have gotten soft in those days, you can pop into an oven at 300F for ~3-5 minutes until they crisp back up. Hope that helps :)

While I have never made this particular dish I have roasted and grilled TONS of vegetables over decades and I have never encountered a single one that will retain its fresh crispness once refrigerated or frozen. Heck, the texture starts changing over an hour or two at room temperature.

Note that this texture change of freshly grilled/roasted/baked/broiled goods is not specific to kale or even vegetables. It applies the same to fish, meat and to a large extent baked goods as well.

I'm sure it'll still be tasty if done with precooked kale but expect the texture to change over the freshly prepared version.

Best of luck.