An Easy and Delicious Kale Salad

Are you a salad lover? I don’t know about you, but I never grew up seeing or tasting a kale salad. Lunch with kale salad and a friend in Nashville won me over. But, Shannon, my daughter in love, was the one who truly taught me to love it.

A few weeks ago my kids and grands were in and I asked Shannon if she would make this for one of our meals when all ten of us and my niece and family were joining us for dinner.

Now, I have to tell you about this great cook added to our family.

She is truly gifted at going somewhere to have dinner and being able to tell you exactly what’s in the dish.

Can I tell you she does better than that? She recreates it and it’s often better than the original one. She always “wings” it.

The trait that always amazes my husband is her ability to store spices in matching bottles…wait for it…without labels! She knows what’s in each one.

Oh, my goodness! If you have followed me long, and looked at my spice cabinet, you know that labels are needed here! Are you like that, too?

Back to the Kale salad…

In all of her magic, she created the most delicious kale salad with simple and fresh ingredients that all of us loved.

Fast forward to last weekend with more family feet under my table, I knew this salad was the perfect addition to the grilled steaks, green bean bundles, fresh corn, deviled eggs, and biscuits with apple jam. The dessert included peach cobbler with homemade ice cream…so that kale salad was so needed to balance flavor and calories.

Goodness! This salad was truly loved by all that evening.

This recipe is so simple and light that my nephew requested the recipe. The dressing added to the entire salad was what he loved…and he’s not a dressing lover.

Since Shannon simply creates and tastes…this was a difficult one for me to get down. Here’s my version of her kale salad. I promise her touch makes it even better!

Easy Kale Salad

A fast and easy salad with white raisins, pine nuts, Parmesan and a touch of lemon!

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings 6 servings

Equipment

• 1 Large Mixing Bowl
• 1 chef's knife
• 1 liquid measuring cup, spoons
• 1 lemon zester
• 1 oven
• 1 Baking Sheet
• 1 juicer

Ingredients

  

• 1 large bunch kale, washed, de-stemmed and torn into small pieces – about 10 C
• 1/2 C white raisins
• 1/2 C Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1/2 t lemon zest
• 2 T lemon juice, from zested lemon
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 t rice vinegar, optional
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 C toasted nuts- pine nuts, pecans, almonds or walnuts

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Add chopped nuts or pine nuts in an even layer on a baking sheet with sides and bake in preheated oven until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool before adding to salad.
• Wash, de-stem and cut kale into bite sized pieces and add to a large mixing bowl.

  TIP: Buying the bag of already washed and torn kale is a timesaver. When using prepared kale, about 10 C of kale is about what I use to create this recipe.
• Zest and juice lemon and then add both to a container to make dressing.
• Add olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, vinegar (optional), and maple syrup to lemon zest and juice and use a whisk or immersion blender to create dressing.
  
• Pour dressing over kale and stir to evenly coat the kale.
  
• Sprinkle with Parmesan, nuts and raisins.
  
• Serve immediately.
  

Notes

Such a light and easy salad that’s a perfect addition to summer menus and grilling favorites. For a great lunch recipe, top individual portions with grilled steak or chicken.

TIP: Feel free to add more kale to balance out the dressing to have equal proportions. An addition of a T of honey is loved in this dressing, too.

TIP: If you have those with nut allergies, serve the nuts on the side to allow guests to add to their salad after serving.

Enjoy!

Keyword Easy kale salad, Kale salad, kale salad recipe, Light kale salad with raisins and nuts

See what I mean?

Shannon does not add the rice vinegar to hers…so, feel free to leave that out!

I love to buy the kale already washed and prepared to make this salad easier. I think I began with about 10 cups of the washed and prepared kale and tasted to make sure that my dressing and kale were balanced.

This recipe also makes the perfect lunch salad recipe topped with grilled chicken or steak.

Thank you, Shannon, for always adding the best inspiration and flavors to our table. I’m thankful for your recipe, but, more importantly, I’m thankful for you.

Hope you all love it! and, like Shannon does…make it your own version!

Need serving pieces for this recipe?

Here’s some of my favorite finds for serving this kale salad…

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