This fast, simply customizable Child Kale Salad recipe is the right nutritious meal for busy days! Made with tender child kale, a do-it-yourself mustard maple French dressing, and your alternative of toppings, this vibrant salad is as scrumptious as it’s nutritious.
This recipe was written on July 19, 2022. It was up to date with extra recipe data on August 28, 2024.
In the event you’re in search of a quick-fix nutritious meal that’s filled with taste, you’ll love this easy and scrumptious child kale recipe! Child kale, crunchy croutons, and your alternative of fruit and veggies are tossed in an irresistible zesty French dressing–made with mustard, lemon, maple syrup, and olive oil. Whether or not you favor the wealthy style of roasted candy potatoes or the crisp sweetness of sliced apples, there are many choices to customise the toppings as you please!
Whip up this refreshing, anytime salad in simply 10 minutes for the final word wholesome quick meals. This salad is extremely versatile so you’ll be able to combine and match completely different substances to modify up the flavour mixtures all through the week. The flavorful French dressing and healthful substances make this salad good for lunch, dinner, or perhaps a hearty snack.
For extra wholesome salad recipes, strive my Roasted Beet & Potato Salad, Marinated White Bean Salad, or Kale Kimchi Salad.
Elements
Child Kale: The tender, delicate texture, and milder taste make it an ideal base for salads. Search for vibrant inexperienced, crisp leaves with no blemishes. Swap with child spinach, romaine lettuce, blended greens, or arugula if desired.
Mustard: Provides a tangy kick to the do-it-yourself French dressing. Select your favourite selection, resembling Dijon or yellow mustard to enrich the salad’s flavors. Use a easy mustard for a smoother dressing or a grainy mustard for extra texture.
Lemon Juice: Contemporary lemon juice gives an acidic brightness to the French dressing. Use the juice of a contemporary lemon for the most effective taste. Alternatively, use lime juice for a barely tarter taste.
Maple Syrup: Provides a contact of pure sweetness to steadiness the French dressing’s tanginess. Use pure maple syrup for probably the most sturdy taste. It’s also possible to swap it with agave syrup.
Olive Oil: Serves as the bottom of the French dressing, including richness and easy texture. Go for a high-quality additional virgin olive oil for the most effective taste. Substitute with avocado oil or one other neutral-tasting oil if desired.
Cooked Lentils or Beans: Lentils and beans add protein and texture to child kale salad recipes. Select your legume of alternative together with chickpeas, black beans, or lentils. Use rinsed and drained canned beans for comfort. Strive it with these scrumptious crispy roasted chickpeas.
Different Veggies or Fruit: Customise your salad with a mixture of veggies or fruits resembling shredded carrots, roasted candy potatoes, diced avocado, or contemporary fruit like apples, pears, or berries. Select in accordance with seasonality and private desire to boost the salad’s texture and taste and supply a dietary enhance.
Croutons: Add a pleasant crunch to child kale recipes. Purchase them pre-made or make your individual by toasting cubes of bread tossed in olive oil and seasoning of alternative. For a gluten-free possibility, use gluten-free bread.
Methods to Make Child Kale Salad
- Put together salad substances. Add the ready salad substances of your option to a big mixing bowl.
- Put together French dressing. Add the French dressing substances to a glass jar. Screw on the lid and shake vigorously for 30-60 seconds till emulsified, or absolutely mixed.
- Toss Salad. Drizzle the French dressing over the salad, then gently toss with salad tongs till the kale is evenly coated within the dressing. Add extra dressing, salt, or pepper to style. Serve instantly!
Recipe Professional-Ideas
- Pre-cook and prep substances. For simpler meal prep, put together the French dressing and topping substances upfront so you’ll be able to shortly assemble the salads for quick, straightforward meals all through the week.
- Double the French dressing recipe. Make a double or triple batch of the French dressing and retailer it within the fridge for as much as 1-2 weeks for a ready-made dressing. This additionally permits the flavors to meld for a fuller taste.
- Modify the French dressing to style. Style and tweak the French dressing to fit your palate earlier than including to the salad. Add extra maple for sweetness, lemon for tanginess, or seasonings as desired.
- Customise with seasonal produce. Tailor the salad to the season by selecting fruits and veggies which might be at their peak. Doing so provides taste and is often extra budget-friendly, too. For instance, contemporary berries in the summertime and roasted squash within the fall.
- Toss simply earlier than serving. To maintain the greens crisp, toss the salad with the French dressing simply earlier than serving. This prevents the kale from wilting and retains the croutons crunchy.
Recipe Variations
Beneath are non-obligatory substances you’ll be able to combine and match to make this salad recipe your individual:
- Fruit: Experiment with contemporary fruit like grapefruit, orange segments, peaches, apricots, sliced apples, pears, contemporary berries, pomegranate arils, or raisins, dried cranberries, figs, or cherries.
- Veggies: Strive steamed or roasted beets, roasted potatoes or brussels sprouts, contemporary cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, radishes, pink onion, inexperienced onion, corn, edamame, or zucchini.
- Beans: Add protein and fiber with chickpeas, white beans, kidney beans, black beans, lentils, mung beans, or pinto beans.
- Nuts: Toss in sliced almonds, toasted walnuts, pecans, cashews, or a mixture.
- Seeds: Uncooked or roasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, or chia seeds add protein and texture.
- Wholesome Fat: Avocado or crumbled/shredded vegan cheese provides creaminess and texture. Sprinkle with dietary yeast for a tacky taste, or add olives for a briny, savory taste.
- Protein: Enhance the protein content material with baked or pan-fried tofu or tempeh, seasoned as desired.
- Grains: For a heartier salad with entire grains, add cooked quinoa, farro, brown rice, couscous, bulgur, or millet.
Serving Ideas
Pile in your favourite toppings and revel in this salad for lunch or dinner, or serve in smaller portion sizes as a facet salad paired with a few of our favourite recipes under:
Storage Instructions
Retailer the French dressing in an hermetic container or bottle with a lid within the fridge for as much as 1-2 weeks. Shake effectively earlier than utilizing, as separation is regular. Retailer all fruit and veggie salad substances individually in hermetic containers within the fridge for as much as 3-4 days and assemble proper earlier than serving. Retailer croutons in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 1 week.
Incessantly Requested Questions
Child kale is the tender, younger leaves of the kale plant. In the case of kale vs child kale, child kale has a milder taste and softer texture than mature kale, making it ultimate for salads and uncooked dishes.
Child kale is small, tender, and darkish inexperienced with a barely frilly or curly texture.
First, rinse and dry the kale. Then. take away any powerful stems from the kale. If the leaves are giant, chop them into bite-sized items earlier than including the opposite substances.
Extra Salad Recipes
Recipe Card
Child Kale Salad
- 5-6 giant handfuls child kale, and/or different greens, resembling child spinach, romaine, blended greens, or arugula
- 1-2 cups cooked lentils or beans, drained and rinsed if utilizing canned. Strive it with these Crispy Chickpeas
- 2 cups roasted candy potatoes, or different veggies and/or fruit of alternative, resembling shredded carrots or beets, roasted cubed candy potatoes or squash, diced avocado, sliced apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, grapefruit or orange segments, or blueberries
- 2 cups croutons
Maple Mustard French dressing
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Add the salad substances of your option to a big mixing bowl.
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Add the French dressing substances to a glass jar. Screw on the lid and shake vigorously for 30 seconds, till emulsified.
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Drizzle the French dressing over the salad. Gently toss till the kale is evenly coated within the dressing. Add extra dressing, salt, or pepper to style. Serve instantly!
Retailer the French dressing in an hermetic container or bottle with a lid within the fridge for as much as 1-2 weeks. Shake effectively earlier than utilizing, as separation is regular. Retailer all fruit and veggie salad substances individually in hermetic containers within the fridge for as much as 3-4 days and assemble proper earlier than serving. Retailer croutons in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 1 week.
Salad Toppings
Beneath are non-obligatory substances you’ll be able to combine and match to make this salad recipe your individual:
- Fruit: Experiment with contemporary fruit like grapefruit, orange segments, peaches, apricots, sliced apples, pears, contemporary berries, pomegranate arils, or raisins, dried cranberries, figs, or cherries.
- Veggies: Strive steamed or roasted beets, roasted potatoes or brussels sprouts, contemporary cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, radishes, pink onion, inexperienced onion, corn, edamame, or zucchini.
- Beans: Add protein and fiber with chickpeas, white beans, kidney beans, black beans, lentils, mung beans, or pinto beans.
- Nuts: Toss in sliced almonds, toasted walnuts, pecans, cashews, or a mixture.
- Seeds: Uncooked or roasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, or chia seeds add protein and texture.
- Wholesome Fat: Avocado or crumbled/shredded vegan cheese provides creaminess and texture. Sprinkle with dietary yeast for a tacky taste, or add olives for a briny, savory taste.
- Protein: Enhance the protein content material with baked or pan-fried tofu or tempeh, seasoned as desired.
- Grains: For a heartier salad with entire grains, add cooked quinoa, farro, brown rice, couscous, bulgur, or millet.
