Lately, I’ve had a few requests to blog about some of my favourite quick and easy lunches. This made me laugh at first because many of my lunches involve standing over a stove sampling the recipes I’m testing that day and then inhaling the cold food that’s left on the plate after a long photo shoot. That’s just how many days go around here, but I’ve been making more of an effort to take time out for lunch and make sure I’m eating a balanced, less rushed meal.
This kale salad is something I’ve been enjoying for lunch over the past few weeks. When I get on a certain lunch kick, I’m basically happy eating it every day until I get tired of it and move on. I figured it was time to share my little lunchtime obsession with you today. The beauty of a kale salad is that the leaves don’t wilt (like romaine, for example), making it something you can prepare ahead of time and pack for lunch. Plus, the longer it sits, the softer the leaves get. Win-win. I love to serve it with fruit and/or crackers and hummus.
Here is my no-brainer “recipe” for making a massaged kale salad.
1 tbsp oil (I love flax, hemp, or avocado oil for dressings) + 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice + 1 tsp pure maple syrup. Massage into the kale leaves. Let this “marinate” while you prep the vegetables.
While the kale is “marinating”, I get busy chopping up a storm! Whatever veggies I have in the crisper go into my salads. Right now, I’m loving celery, pomegranate, radish, red onion, and avocado. I also love to sprinkle on hemp seeds for extra protein.
Throw it all together and you have one of my favourite kale salads, ready in minutes!
Sharing is optional (and highly discouraged…bahah)
My Go-To Kale Salad
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Yield: 1 large serving or 2 smaller servings
Kale:
- 4 cups (packed) torn kale leaves, stems removed
- 1 tbsp hemp, flax, or avocado oil (or use extra virgin olive oil in a pinch)
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup, or to taste
- Herbamare (or sea salt) and cayenne pepper, to taste
Vegetables:
- 1 radish, thinly sliced into rounds
- 1/2 large avocado, chopped
- 1/2 English cucumber, chopped
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1/3 cup red onion, chopped
- handful pomegranate seeds
- 1-2 tbsp hemp seeds
1. Tear leaves off kale stems and discard stems. You can save the stems for juicing or blending if you wish. Break leaves into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry thoroughly.
2. Place kale in a large bowl and drizzle on the dressing ingredients (oil, lemon, maple syrup). With your hands, “massage” the dressing into the kale until all leaves are coated. Sprinkle on Herbamare (or sea salt) and a touch of cayenne pepper if desired.
3. While the salad marinates, chop the vegetables. Mix into kale and serve, topped with hemp seeds if you desire.
I still can’t get into raw kale, I only have it in smoothies. Does massaging it make a big texture difference?
Hi Niki, Yes I find it does. When the dressing has time to soak into the kale, it softens up quite a bit. I would try leaving the dressing to soak for at least 15 minutes before trying it. Another good kale salad recipe I love (that is great for non-kale fans) is this one: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/06/17/weekend-glow-kale-salad/ Goodluck!
I’m with Niki. I have a really hard time just eating raw kale. The taste just gets to me. Maybe your recipe for dressing will help. :)
Hi, never used to be able to eat raw kale. I can now, sesame oil is one i find good.
Now I love it any way it is served but I had the same problem when I first starting eating kale raw – I started chopping it small like you would for a chopped salad and it made such a difference.
I love your toppings on this – radishes are one of my favorites! My dad and I can eat them like apples. Yum!
I love a marinated kale salad. Its especially good if you pack a lunch for work because you can make it the night before and it’s even better on day 2! My favorite addition to a lime marinade is liquid smoke.
Mmmmm! I love love kale salads! They are SO versatile. If only everyone loved kale as much as I do. Lately I have been loving cranberries, toasted pecans, avocados, and balsamic vinaigrette among other fall toppings. Roasted acorn squash, eaten cold, is yummy too with a drizzle of maple syrup!
That sounds amazing. I’ll have to throw on some squash the next time I find myself with leftovers.
Looks fresh and wonderful Angela! Marinated kale is so amazing and seems to be able to turn everyone onto it! I like to leave mine to marinate in the fridge overnight, a little bit of fore thought but it keeps all week that way (if it lasts which it never does!). Gorgeous colors in this salad!
I love the idea of making it the night before – I should make a big batch of it this week.
Totally – that way never an excuse not to eat our greens! :)
HI Angela! I love kale and this salad looks great, though the purpose of my comment is to draw attention to your beautiful photos and tasteful place setting. I love the burlap – it reflects how down to earth and simple the dish is!
Aw thank you Jaclyn! It was an easy subject. ;)
This looks like a good breakfast food! (I say that because I haven’t had breakfast yet and this salad is making my mouth water–it looks so tasty and fresh!!)
Love the look of your kale salad! I mostly buy it to make kale chips, but I haven’t been brave enough to make it into a salad yet. A lot of the kale I buy is a little on the bitter side, so I was wondering where is the best place you pick up your kale? Superstore? Whole Foods? I’m just curious! :)
Hey Jessica, Without a doubt the best kale I’ve found is from Whole Foods. The bunch is huge too compared to the tiny bunches I’ve bought at other stores. It’s also in season now so it’s a good time to try it out in a salad!
I love that you included pomegranate seeds in this salad. I like pomegranate seeds a lot, but always seem to have trouble finding dishes to add them to!
This looks great! I will add this to my rotation for sure. Last night, I made a huge batch of your Fall Detox Salad for lunches this week. I am enjoying my first round of it now and it is amazing!
Beautiful salad! And I also love how well kale salads keep – perfect for making ahead for weekday lunches. Thanks for sharing what you’ve been eating lately :)
Mmm, this looks delicious! We have been eating kale salads nonstop around here, and I am always looking for new recipes. The salads totally beat sauteed kale!
There is a vegan “fast food” restaurant chain in Los Angeles called Veggie Grill that makes the most amazing kale salad EVER. Whenever I am in town, I always make VG one of my stops.
And the CEO actually shared the recipe! (Scroll to the bottom of the page)
http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com/vegetarian-eating/veggie-grill-ceo-greg-dollarhyde
They have a “blackened tempeh” add-on that I always do — not featured in the recipe but it really adds flavor and protein.
looks yummy! Thanks for sharing.
This salad looks delicious! Quick question- I noticed you used half an avocado. How do you save the other half? I find mine always go brown very quickly, no matter what tricks I’ve tried. I appreciate any insight you might have on how to save unused avocado! Thanks!!
I usually leave the pit in the avocado, rub flesh with a touch of lemon juice, and then wrap tightly with saran wrap. Still browns a bit, so I eat it by the next day and it’s fine
This looks delicious, but does this wind up being enough protein for your lunch?
with the hemp seeds, avocado, and other veggies it winds up being pretty decent for protein actually. I usually pair it with hummus and crackers as well.
Too funny… I’ve been thinking lately that I need new lunch ideas. I basically have everything on hand but the kale, so I’ll pick some up tonight. Thanks for such a beautiful looking salad!
The bright green leaves, the sunlight hitting them, the crunchy looking veggies – now if this doesn’t make someone want to dive into a big salad, nothing will. Beautiful images, Angela!
I agree 100% these picture are really appetizing. My usual go to salad is spinach with whatever veggies, legumes, seeds, and nuts I have on hand but I’m seriously considering stopping off on the way home to pick up some kale instead.
Yumm! I love the idea of putting pomegranate into the salad. I’m going to do this tomorrow in fact! I’ve been trying out breakfast salads, so I think this is a great one I’ll be eating :D
I’ve always been a bit shy of raw kale – but I haven’t tried giving it a massage, either. I’m heading off to the farmer’s market in a bit and I think I’ll have to pick up a bunch of kale to try this. And also a pomegranate – that’s really speaking to me today!
Thanks!
Haha, I’m with you… most of my lunches, and sometimes dinners, consist of gobbling up the cold scraps of whatever I’ve been working on all day. I love salads, though, especially really simple massaged kale like this. I never have radishes on hand, though… they make it look so fresh and inviting! Will have to give that a try next time. :)
I just LOVE marinated kale salads too! They’re a great way to use up veggies that are on the ‘edge’; that either use me or lose me state! I’ve been really loving the combo of dried cherries/avocado in my salads lately. I’m going to have to remember to throw in a handful of hemp seeds next time!!!
Love it. Kale was my favorite veg before people even knew what it was.
I wish I could say the same! haha. It took me a long time to love kale!
Organic Girl brand has a baby kale/greens mix that I go to for salads.
This is SO gorgeous Ange! Your photos are looking absolutely beautiful these days. I love massaged kale salads as well, and wish I was at home for lunch more often so I could make them more ‘fresh’ (as opposed to making them the night before and packaging them up). Yours sounds delicious!
Looks delicious! I’m going to try the “marinating”…nice.
I love massaged kale salads! I actually just did a demonstration for how to make one for one of my nutrition classes last week! :D
This looks amazing! I still have a ton of kale from my CSA — I should make it into a raw salad. The Boyfriend doesn’t care for them typically, but I think massaging / marinating would probably make a difference — thanks for the tip!
I need this in my life! I’ve started to become sick of salads lately and need to branch out. I just bought cranberries so I can make your cranberry orange salad dressing. LOVED that last year. :)
That would be really good on this salad too I bet :) I know all about salad ruts…I was in one for a long time and didnt even want to look at salads. heh.
It’s like you’re psychic – I’ve had a huge bunch of kale in my fridge for most of the last week! This salad was perfect. I used honeycrisp apples instead of radishes (ie, what I had in the fridge), and it was delish. Thinking about adding chickpeas for protein and heft…
Yes chickpeas work too (I did that last week with some leftovers!), beans, lentils…etc would all work. Glad you enjoyed it!
I’m very excited about this not having garlic & knowing it will still taste awesome. :D YAY! Just what I was looking for today!
This salad looks delicious. I love POM seeds! Can’t wait to try it out.
After having tried this I completely understand why it’s your “go-to” salad!!!
The photo of the salad is beautiful.
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
I am on Day 5 of a Juice Fast/Cleanse/Detox and looking for good meals to break the fast, looks like this could be it! Thank you!
Thanks for this! This is what I love so much about your blog, simple ideas for healthy eating, that you actually do! I love going back to your older posts when you would just talk about what you ate that day. It really informs and inspires me, I can’t tell you how often I think, “what would Angela eat?”
You are so sweet Ann! Maybe I should bring back more of those posts once and a while.
I just wanted to compliment you on having the most beautiful photography, recipes and website. I recently started a Julie/Julia project with Crazy Sexy Kitchen. I have quickly realized how hard photography is. You are amazing! Seriously you rock!
Hi Brooke, Thank you for the encouragement!!
Yum! I had planned to make your lemon tahini dressing for my kale salad last night and after seeing this post tried it out for a change. Definitely a winner. I love my lemon tahini dressing, but I eat it at least once a week so the switch up was welcome. I topped my kale off with chickpeas, red onion, avocado, peppers and cherry tomatoes.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The tahini lemon dressing will always be my fav I think…
i have never tried “massaged” kale, but this sounds delicious. I always buy too much kale and it wilts before I can use it all!
Whew. I needed this recipe! So healthy!
Just made the salad and it was AWESOME!!!! Thanks so much for the recipe :)
I always appreciate good recipes for kale as I’m not a huge fan of it raw. I like it blended into smoothies and I love kale chips, and I’ve had awesome kale salads at vegan restaurants, but when I try and make it myself it just tastes bitter and too rough. I can’t wait to try this one!
Some of my favourite ingredients in all in one bowl. I love how there’s still local kale around too! I’ve been eating it like a rabbit but like this flavour combo. Will try!
I am not a fan of raw kale, or salads with lettuce for that reason…maybe I should give this a try.
I especially love the quick “dressing” recipe. I always find myself blanking on that lately. I will remember this!
i love kale but never had it raw so i followed your recipe to a T just left out radishes bc i dont really like them but it was AMAZING! im addicted thank you!
Again your photos are amazing!! What would you suggest as the top 3 things anyone could do to improve their photography? Books to read? Help:)
Thank you Brooke!
I’m assuming you mean food photography so here are some of my tips….1) turn off all indoor lighting (make photos yellow) and shoot by a window with diffused light, 2) colourful foods look the best so keep that in mind when making recipes, try to add a couple props to the photo to add interest, such as a serving utensil, mug of tea, fresh herbs…whatever you think enhances the food itself. have fun!
No indoor lighting! Wow I had no idea. Thanks for all the great tips!
I know right? I never knew about it until I did some reading on it a while back. Turning off the indoor lights really takes the yellow out of photos. Natural lighting all the way!
Made your kale salad tonight for dinner with some grilled steelhead trout. It was fabulous. Thank you!! Can’t wait to try more recipes!
I made this tonight! It was very fresh and delicious!
One can never have too many kale salad recipes and this looks like an absolute winner. Beautiful, Angela!
That avocado comes with a lot of good fats :)
Absolutely incredible salad! I just made it and it’s super healthy, tasty and fresh!
Thank you for sharing :)
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!