This Kale Salad is crisp, colorful, and packed with fresh veggies and lots of crunch. Topped with a simple homemade lemon dressing, it’s perfect to serve alongside baked chicken breasts or garlic grilled shrimp.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Kale Salad
Flavor: A tangy lemon dressing balances this hearty kale salad made with crunchy broccoli, sweet cranberries, and salty cheese.
Why Make It: Leftover kale salad (even with dressing) can be kept in the fridge without getting soggy, making it perfect for meal prep!
Technique: For the best results, massage the kale with oil and salt to ensure it’s tender instead of tough.
Total Time: 20 Mins Servings: 4
Ingredient Notes for Kale Salad
- Kale: Chop or tear into bite-sized pieces and remove any tough stems. Then, massage it with a little olive oil and salt until the leaves darken and soften for the best texture.
- Broccoli: Chop the broccoli into small pieces so it blends into the salad. Swap it for broccoli slaw or bagged broccoli florets to save prep time.
- Carrots: Shredded carrots add sweetness, color, and crunch. Use bagged shredded carrots to save time.
- Cranberries: Dried cranberries bring chewy sweetness that balances the earthy flavors. Replace with raisins, dried cherries, or chopped dried apricots.
- Almonds: Sliced almonds add crunch and nutty flavor. Swap with pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds for a nut-free option.
- Onions: Use a small amount of red onion for bite and color. Thinly dice or soak in cold water before adding to the salad to reduce the bite.
- Cheese: I use cheddar cheese, but feta cheese, parmesan, or goat cheese would work well too.
- Dressing: Fresh lemon juice, Dijon, honey, garlic, and olive oil make this tangy-sweet dressing that balances the kale’s earthy flavor and ties all the ingredients together. Swap maple syrup or sugar for honey, use avocado oil instead of olive oil, or try whole grain mustard for a little texture.
Favorite Variations
- Make it a Meal: Top this salad with grilled chicken, steak, grilled shrimp, or baked salmon.
- Skip the Meat: Sprinkle this salad with your favorite grain, like quinoa, or add in chickpeas to make it a full meal.
How to Make Kale Salad
- Wash and massage the kale (full recipe below).
- Prep the remaining ingredients and add them to a large bowl.
- Place the dressing in a jar and give it a shake (or whisk in a bowl). Toss with the salad.
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover kale salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This hearty salad holds up well in the fridge, but some toppings are best added fresh when ready to serve.
This salad does not freeze well.
More Kale Recipes
Leftover kale can be stirred into pasta, blended into pesto, and even baked into crispy kale chips if the craving strikes! The possibilities are endless. I even love a little kale on my pizza when I have it handy.
Did you make this easy Kale Salad? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Ingredients
- 5 cups chopped kale
- 1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups broccoli florets chopped
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup cheddar cheese shredded or diced, or crumbled feta, optional
- ¼ cup shredded carrot
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Lemon Dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey or sugar, adjust or add to taste
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- To make the dressing, combine olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, Dijon, honey, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper in a lidded mason jar and shake well to emulsify.
- Massage the chopped kale with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Rub with your fingers until leaves begin to darken and tenderize.
- In a large bowl, combine the kale, broccoli, almonds, cheese, carrots, onion, sunflower seeds, and cranberries.
- Shake the dressing once more and pour ⅓ of the dressing over the salad. Toss to coat and add extra dressing, to taste.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Delicious salad! I used quick pickled red onion and carrot just because I had them in the fridge and left out the cheese because I didn’t feel it needed it. So so good!
Sounds great Kathy!
This is my new favourite salad recipe. I have been making it for numerous guests and events and always get compliments on it. Somewhat time consuming to chop everything, but worth it. :)
Is this recipe the same as Peasandcrayons kale-salad??
Sure is Megan, Jenn is the author of this delicious recipe!
Hi, is there any substitution for red wine vinegar? I have only white wine vinegar at hand
White wine vinegar will work in this recipe too. The flavor will be slightly different but still delicious.
I needed a salad to take to a dinner party. I wanted something healthy, colorful, and easy to put together with what we had on hand. I subbed green onion for red onion since that’s what I had, and left out sunflower seeds. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. The flavors and textures melded beautifully, and the dressing was so tangy and fresh.
Great substitutions Elizabeth! That would be delicious. Glad to hear everyone loved it.
Great recipe. 1 carrot = ~1/4-1/2C. Used 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar because I ran out of wine vinegar.
Turned out GREAT!
Yummy, thank you! delicious!
Colorful, nutritious and delicious for several days in a row! Used dark green Tuscan kale and a couple of other kale types. Dinner guests requested recipe. Thank you!
This salad is amazing! I think the dressing makes it five-star. Didn’t have almonds, so we added pecans and also added avocado at the end. Hubby and I have eaten it for three meals already, and still enjoying it tremendously!
Simply delicious!
This is one of my new fave salads. I had Mediterranean style air fried salmon on top and it just paired so perfectly! The only adjustment I would be a little less or no sunflower seeds, But that’s just a personal taste, they were a little overpowering. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
You’re very welcome Audrey. Glad you love the salad!
This salad was REALLY good! We had it the next day for leftovers as well and it was even better. I’ve tried kale before and never liked it, so I didn’t have high hopes. But I was pleasantly surprised and happy that it was yummy. I was even more happy that my elderly parents AND my teenaged children thought it was good, too. Thanks for the recipe, it will definitely be a go to for me!
Thankyou resepnya
This has become my favorite go-to salad recipe. The dressing is delicious and the salad was a big hit – even with some of the pickiest eaters in my family!
I have never particularly cared for kale but I grew some in my garden this past summer just because I could start it so early. I found this recipe and liked all the ingredients so I thought I would give it a try. NOW I can’t get enough of this luscious salad. I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was a hit with the entire family.
I added a teaspoon of cherry preserves to the dressing and it was amazing! We don’t care for cranberries so the cherry preserves inside the dressing gave us the tartness of the cranberries throughout the salad. Delish!
I really liked this salad! We served it with pork and date relish and it was a great balance of flavors. Will make again :)
I’m commenting on the Kale Broccoli Salas. We had to throw it away. It was the oregano that was added to the dressing that permeated the whole lovely salad and all the ingredients. Please take this spice out of the recipe.
I rarely post reviews, but when I came back after dinner to find this page to send the link to some friends to recommend it, I decided it deserved some praise! I soaked my chopped red onion in some lemon juice before adding to the salad to neutralize and flavor it a bit. Super yummy and healthy recipe!
Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a review Laura, I really appreciate it!! so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe!
Loved this! Delicious. I used kale from my garden. Since I didn’t have broccoli I subbed cut up kohlrabi bulbs. The dressing on it was yummy. I used feta cheese and raisins.
I’ve come back to this recipe again and again. This is a perfect way to use the extra kale we managed to overwinter in our garden. It’s absolutely delicious as written but also takes well to a few adaptations. Thanks so much for this recipe!
You’re welcome Laura, so glad you love this salad!
This is a GREAT-TASTING, COLORFUL salad, and one of my favorites when kale is fresh in my garden. From my experience serving this at parties, the combination of flavors appeals to just about everyone. What this recipe isn’t is EASY. There are 19 ingredients! Some are grated, some chopped, some minced. That makes for a time-consuming project, assuming you have the ingredients on hand; if you don’t, then this is an expensive recipe to make. That said, it’s still absolutely delicious!