Kale salad, so easy to make and perfect to eat on the go. It's made with kale, chickpeas, almonds, avocado and a delicious and simple salad dressing.
Kale is one of my favorite leafy greens because of its amazing health benefits, its flavor and also because you can use it to make all kinds of recipes.
Kale salads are so good for your health, taste awesome and they're super convenient to eat on the go. Most leafy greens go soggy when you use them to make a salad and don't eat them right away, but the kale is even better after a few hours and it won't go soggy.
However, you can't use kale like the other leafy greens when you want to make a salad. You can't just add the kale, salad dressing and other ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix, you need to place the kale and the dressing in the bowl and massage the kale with your hands for at least 1 minute or until it's tender.
Please feel free to add any ingredients you have on hand: legumes, grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, anything you want! This is my favorite combination and it's super simple because it's only made with kale, a delicious salad dressing and 3 more ingredients: chickpeas, almonds and avocado.
If you want to reduce the amount of fat in this recipe, you could omit the almonds or the avocado or add less oil. You could also use my Lemon Tahini Dressing, which is oil-free.
kale salad ingredients
These are the ingredients you’ll need to make this kale salad recipe:
- Extra virgin olive oil – I’m Spanish, so I use extra virgin olive oil to cook most of my dishes. However, any type of oil is okay. I always use extra virgin oils when possible because they’re healthier. If you don't eat oil, you could use tahini (add a little bit of water if the salad dressing is too thick), or my Lemon Tahini Dressing.
- Lemon juice - Lime juice and vinegar are also a good choice.
- Salt – I always use Himalayan pink salt. Any type of salt is okay, though.
- Ground black pepper – Fresh ground black pepper tastes amazing. However, I find store-bought more convenient and also easier to measure with a teaspoon.
- Kale - Any type of kale will do. If you can't find kale, use any other leafy green instead, but don't massage it, just mix all the ingredients until well combined.
- Chickpeas - I used canned chickpeas because they're so convenient, but you can also cook them from scratch. You don't have to use chickpeas, any legume is okay.
- Almonds - Feel free to use other nuts or even seeds.
- Avocado.
how to make kale salad
- Combine all the salad dressing ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
- Add the kale and half of the dressing to a large mixing bowl and massage until the kale becomes tender (about 1-2 minutes).
- Add all the remaining ingredients and the other half of the dressing, mix until well combined and serve immediately.
- Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for about 2-3 days.
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Kale Salad
Ingredients
For the salad dressing:
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
For the kale salad:
- 8 ounces kale, chopped
- 2 cups chickpeas, canned or cooked
- ½ cup unsalted raw almonds, stems removed, chopped
- 1 avocado, chopped
Instructions
- Mix all the salad dressing ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Set aside.
- Add the kale and half of the salad dressing to a large mixing bowl and massage until the kale becomes tender (about 1 to 2 minutes).
- Add all the remaining ingredients and the other half of the salad dressing, mix until well combined and serve immediately. Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
M. says
Made this for dinner last night. GREAT! We made several slight changes. We substituted walnuts for almonds. (We prefer the crunch.) We also added a roasted, sweet red pepper, chopped. Wife said next time, baby kale. (She said removing all the stems took too much time!) And she later suggested adding the avacado to the individual servings. That way, if you have left-overs, you won't need to deal with the avacado discoloring. We served it with a side of roasted sweet potatoes. Thank you!
Iosune Robles says
Sounds so good! Have a nice day 🙂
Ferne Greigg says
Thank you so much.
Iosune Robles says
Hi Ferne, thank you 🙂 Have a nice day!
MoonlitMorning says
I wasn't sure about raw kale, but the tip on massaging it for a minute made this work. I have made this salad and variations several times now. The simple dressing is great. Thanks!
Iosune says
Hi! I'm so glad you enjoyed it 🙂