Kale Crunch Salad
Kale Crunch Salad has flavors of garlic, shallots, pine nuts, sweet red peppers, and curly kale–with a lemon and Parmesan cheese dressing!
Our homemade version of Kale Crunch Salad is well worth the steps. Don’t skimp on the sautéing the garlic with the shallots and onion becausse this makes this kale salad so good. We love healthy kale salads so much, in the Fall we serve a great kale salad with beets.
Kale Crunch Salad
For the recipe, it’s super easy. Make the dressing first and massage it into the curly kale leaves, which leaves the kale more tender, easier to chew, and less bitter.
Allow to soak into the leaves for at least 30 mintues before serving!
Why we love this Kale Crunch Salad
This healthy kale salad originated from our friend, Esther, and inspired by a restaurant in Seattle, called Serious Pie. We had many wonderful meals at Jon and Esther’s, and this salad was always a family favorite. Esther made it … just right :)
- The flavor is out of this world, and it makes a great dinner party salad.
- It’s healthy and vibrant.
- The leftovers are just as good (if not better!)
What are Pepperazzi Peppers?
DeLallo Pepperazzi Peppers are short little red peppers from Peru, with a hot and tangy flavor. But wait, what I love about these peppers is the sweet vinegar marinade. What do you do with Pepperazzi peppers? We love to add them to salads, but they are also perfect for stuffing with creamy cheeses, crabmeat or tuna, or try them on pizzas, pasta, and more. Yum!
Gather these ingredients:
- Curly kale
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Shallot
- Garlic
- Lemon juice
- Pepperazzi Spicy Sweet Red Peppers: I use Delallo brand
- Parmesan cheese
- Pine nuts
- Roasted almonds
How do you make a tender kale salad?
- Prepare the kale into small pieces and place in a large bowl; set aside.
- Simmer onion, shallots, garlic mixture in oil over very low heat. Do not brown. Add chopped peppers and cook some more. Cool the mixture.
- To the large bowl of prepared kale, add the oil and onion mixture. Drizzle in the lemon juice and mix with hands until coated. Let the salad sit!
- Sprinkle in the pine nuts, almonds and shaved Parmesan and toss; serve.
Why do you massage the kale?
Massaging the kale is what makes this salad tender, and the kale not bitter. Massage dressing into the leaves with your hands, until kale is no longer firm.
The only kind of kale that doesn’t require this is baby kale.
Tips and substitutions:
- We use curly kale in this salad (the most popular kale), but it’s optional to use lacinato kale or red kale.
- Rememeber massaging the kale breaks the leaves down and makes the salad more tender.
- You can omit the onions and shallots, but we think this is what really makes the dressing.
- Swap out the pine nuts and the almonds for roasted pecans or walnuts.
What pairs well with kale salad?
Serving this Kale Crunch Salad along with this salmon, and this bread? The perfect dinner party menu!
Enjoy!
More delicious salad recipes to try:
Easy Pad Thai Salad {RE}
Pimiento-Stuffed Three Bean Salad {RE}
Layered Holiday Kale Berry Salad
Cheeseburger Salad {Skinnytaste}
Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad {RecipeGirl}
Get the Recipe:
Kale Crunch Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch curly kale, or 2 small bunches, chopped
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup onion, finely chopped
- 1 large shallot, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or chopped
- ⅛ cup lemon juice
- ¾ cup Red Pepperazzi sweet peppers, quartered
- ½ cup shaved parmesan cheese
- ½ cup pinenuts
- ½ cup roasted almonds, finely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the kale into small pieces and place in a large bowl; set aside.
- Simmer onion, shallots, garlic mixture in oil for 30 minutes over very low heat. Do not brown. Add chopped peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Cool the mixture.
- Add the oil and onion mixture to the large bowl of prepared kale. Add lemon juice and mix with hands until coated. Let the salad sit for 30 minutes.
- Add pine nuts, almonds and shaved Parmesan and toss; serve.
Notes
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
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My downfalls are always busyness and home. I truly like to entertain. But it’s hard to find the time to make it all come together and still have some down time. I find that when our schedules are more relaxed in the summer, it seems to happen more.
Definitely home and busy. A group of us meet for lunch once and month…and we go out to take the “home” excuse out of the equation, but I think we’re going to start incorporating lunches at home here and there. ;) Will read all of your blog posts again before I host. ;)
I hope I get to enjoy lunch with you one day SOON, Bridget! I bet you’re a fantastic hostess! Really!
Home and busyiness and not focusing on the eternal are the ones I struggle with out of this list. Especially home. Trying to get it cleaned all at once and not just a little at a time. I always appreciate your encouragement to focus more on the eternal. Thank you!
You are so welcome, Shari. Our efforts, time, money, and love goes a long way! :)
Thanks, Shari. Yes, there’s so much value, more than we know, in sharing a meal with someone! :)
These colors! I love them! Such a gorgeous . Kale and bunch kale together is a winning combo!
And the photos are stunning!
1. Too tired after long work days.
2. (This sounds really whiney but it’s true.) I’ve aged out of any traditional life-stage groups. Single and 42 is awkward. Friend have kids from birth to college and most girlfriends are SAHM’s so their free time is during the day.
3. I’m a clutter-bug. I don’t want to be but I am. I dream of someone coming and helping me declutter surfaces. I’m far from a hoarder (no paths in my home) but I put stuff down. Everywhere.
No others.
Thanks for sharing, Kristin. Email me, if you want, and I’ll brainstorm some new, fresh ideas with you!
For me it’s business. And when we don’t have something scheduled, one of the 4 kids is sick or we need to catch up on house stuff (big things like putting the radon pump in or building the chicken coop before the chicks need to move outside). Thankfully, most of our business comes from hospitality – but it still seems there’s never enough time to spend with all the people we want to spend time with.
That thought goes through my mind a lot, too, Laura. Never enough time to see all the people we want to see. I just try to chip away on our list and make it happen when we can. I’m also reminded that we’re given the exact hours in the day, which helps (sort of) keep me on track. LOL. It’s all a balance, for sure! Thanks for sharing!
For me it’s the messy house and having to make it look presentable for guests. I admit I’m not the best housekeeper:-)
Debi, can you focus on your kitchen and one room (living or dining)? Guests really don’t need to see the rest of your house. Just an idea … I often just shut my bedroom door! LOL
Busy is the most common barrier. I’ve been trying to get a group together for a “murder mystery” dinner (always a blast!) since early January. There are three couples and me; we’ve had to cancel once for a snowstorm and once for an unexpected other commitment one couple had. Going to try one more time…
I’ve had that happen many times, Diane, where we have to keep rescheduling. Sometimes it takes over a year to get the party (group) on the calendar again! Keep trying! :)
My girlfriends and I find we will NEVER get together if we don’t get it on our calendars… so we’ve developed the habit to do that as often as we can. And I push myself to host coffee, book club, etc to get a large group of us together regularly. Like you said: I never regret it! PS ~ I LOVE kale salads… looks delish!
So true. The calendar is important to me, too, Kim. Keeps me organzied and makes me plan ahead and invite, and then once it’s on the calendar, I have to follow through. Thanks for sharing!
My husband and I were talking about this very thing last night. I’d say we use all of those reasons to avoid having company and lately we’re both feeling quite convicted to change. I love your motivational posts, they’re my favorite! ( And the salad looks delish!)
Aww, thanks Celeste. We all have seasons where it just doesn’t work out to have people over, but it’s good that you recognized that it’s become excuses? It for sure takes effort. Thanks for your honesty!