Easy and delicious kale salads perfect for all seasons
Delicious and easy-to-make salads with kale you can make at home for a nutritious, refreshing and satisfying meal
Kale is a favorite food in our household and we always seem to have a large bag of it in out refrigerator. So much so that I have to come up with new ideas all the time to prevent it going to waste, yet still keeping our meals interesting and varied!
We use it extensively in salads, and since we discovered the ‘trick’ of massaging it, the results have been even better, so our consumption of kale has increased even more!
Kale used to be a winter vegetable but now it is easy to find in all seasons, so now we use it all year to make anything from winter salads (kale is amazing with pear and cheese!) to more refreshing and summery ones with fruit such as mango or avocados.
I like to eat many raw vegetables, and I am partial to pulses, so my salads usually have a huge variety of these, depending on what I have in the fridge.
Since I do not love vinegar nor balsamic, most of my dressings are made with olive oil, lemon, or a combination of the two, although Dijon mustard is nice with some of these! I use kale raw however, if you prefer, you can also easily cook it instead.
These are several kale salads ideas we like. I hope you love them too!
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Kale, Apple, Creamy goat cheese and Walnut Salad
I love fruit in my salads and apples are great with kale as they add crunch and freshness to an otherwise potentially dry dish. I like to combine them with soft cream cheese as the texture complements well the fiery one of the kale and the apple crunch.
- Kale
- Thinly sliced apples (Granny Smith or Fuji work best)
- Creamy goat cheese
- Chopped walnuts
- Dress with: honey
Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
Sweet potato and kale are an excellent combination in terms of flavor and, according to experts, also in terms of nutritional values.
- Kale
- Roasted sweet potato cubes: I like to roast sweet potatoes whole: pierce them with a fork and roast in the oven until tender (once ready, they are easy to scoop out of their skin, so you don’t even need a knife for this passage)
- Sunflower seeds for crunch
- Olive oil dressing
- Optional: if you like pulses, cooked chickpeas are a lovely addition to this salad
Kale, Avocado, Mango, and Pine Nut Salad
Kale, avocado and mango work great together as they have complementary textures and taste that make this salad satisfying and nutritious. I use them all raw and I like to add roasted pine nuts for crunch and a little extra nutty flavor.
I like to keep mum dressing super easy on this one, just adding extra virgin olive oil and salt, by you an also make a lemon and oil vinaigrette, which sets off the taste of the avocado especially.
- Kale
- Sliced avocado
- Pine nuts (lightly toasted)
- Mango
- Lemon and oil vinaigrette for dressing
Kale and quinoa rainbow salad
Quinoas is an incredibly versatile ingredients, with a mild taste that works especially well as a base for saids.
I like to make quinoa more interesting by mixing it with kale, sliced fennel, orange slices, and black olives. The best dressing for this salad is olive oil and salt, which is a typical Italian dressing for the traditional fennel and orange salad from Sicily.
- Kale
- Cooked quinoa
- Sliced fennel
- Sliced of orange
- Salt and olive oil for dressing
Kale, Beet, and Walnut Salad
Beets have a particular taste not everyone loves but I find they really add a lot to a salad especially if mixed with kale and goat cheese (just don’t use too many, I feel they easily become overpowering)
- Kale
- Roasted or boiled beets (cubed or sliced)
- Goat cheese or blue cheese
- Chopped walnuts (toasted)
- Dijon vinaigrette or just olive oil and salt
Chickpeas, avocado and kale salad
An easy variation of the salad above, this one is what I call my lazy salad as requires even less work than the others! All you need for this one is:
- Kale
- Avocado
- Chickpeas (those from a can are perfect)
- Lemon and salt as dressing
Kale, Chickpeas, Tomatoes and Parmesan
I often make this salad for my lunch as it is nutritious yet not heavy and keeps me satisfied ad energetic for hours. I mix:
- Kale
- Chickpeas
- Cherry tomatoes, halved
- Thin slices of parmesan
- Fresh coriander (optional but nice)
- Lime or lemon and olive oil vinaigrette
Kale, Mango, and Cashew Salad
Another great way to make a kale salad more exciting is by adding fruit to it. In this one, I mix kale with sliced mango, blueberries and cashews, so I have a lovely mix of colors, nutritional elements and textures.
- Kale
- Sliced mango (you can add blueberries too, if you like an extra burst of flavor, but only a few or it will upset the overall balance)
- Cashews
- Lemon vinaigrette
Mediterranean inspired Kale Salad
The Greeks sure know how to make a salad and this is a kale-inspired variation of a classic Greek dish!
- Kale
- Cherry tomatoes (halved)
- Sliced cucumbers
- Kalamata olives
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Lemon-oregano dressing
Kale and Pear Salad with Gorgonzola
This salad is a kale variation of one I often have in Italy (insulate del pastore: shepherds’ salad) which mixes the very same ingredients but on a bed of baby spinach. In my version, you mix:
- Kale
- Thinly sliced pears
- Gorgonzola or blue cheese crumbles
- Toasted almonds
- Lemon and honey vinaigrette
Kale, Carrot, Radishes and Almond Crunch Salad
If, like me, you like a bit of a bit in your salad, you’ll love this simple kale salad with carrots and radishes. I like to adds to it toasted almonds too, which I find add a lovely nutty flavor to it.
- Kale
- Julienned carrots
- Thinly sliced radishes
- Sliced almonds (toasted)
- Lemon and olive oil dressing
Delicious kale salads ideas for all seasons: pin this!
