Lemon Kale Salad
This Lemon Kale Salad has a simple, tangy dressing that pairs perfectly with creamy avocado and salty pine nuts!
I got the inspiration for this salad from Ellwood Thompson’s, a local grocery store here in Richmond. Their kale salad recipe is light and delicious with pine nuts that give it a perfect crunch. I added avocado to make this salad for miffing and to finish it off, I added in some cheese for a salty, umami flavor. Then I whipped up a super simple dressing to finish it off!
Tips for Preparing Kale
- Remove the kale stems. The stems are extremely bitter and very hard to chew. Do yourself a favor and de-stem the kale. You can either fold the leaves in half and slice the stem off or you can just tear the leaves right off the stem.
- Kale is a tough green and it needs massaging to make it tender. After you’ve washed your kale, you want to literally massage it with your hands.
- Use the right dressing. Kale is a very bitter green and it needs something to help soften it a bit. An acidic dressing will help break down the fiber in the kale which will make it easier to chew.
How to Massage Kale
Kale is a tough green and it needs to be massaged in order to soften the leaves. You can massage the kale before or after you add the dressing. Massaging the leaves without the dressing is a bit less messy but I prefer to massage the dressing into the kale to distribute it more evenly. Either way works just fine though! The important thing is to remove the stems and give the leaves a good squeeze to soften them.
Substitution Ideas
- To make this vegan, skip the parmesan cheese and add a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt!
- You can make this salad with curly kale or flat-leaf, lacinato kale.
- If you don’t have pine nuts, try it with sliced almonds instead.
What to Serve with This Kale Salad
Looking for the perfect dish to serve with this kale salad? Try pairing it with this easy Parmesan Orzo Pasta! Or pair this salad with Pasta Alla Norma, a dish with pasta and eggplant!
PrintLemon Kale Salad
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: Salad
Description
This lemon kale salad has a simple, tangy dressing that pairs perfectly with creamy avocado and salty pine nuts!
Ingredients
- 6 cups raw kale (about 8 oz)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1 small avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash the kale and remove the stems. Discard the stems and place the remaining leaves in a large bowl.
- Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over the kale leaves and massage the oil into the leaves with your hands.
- Top with the avocado, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. Add salt to taste, if needed.
Craving more kale salads? Try one of these recipes!
Do you like kale or do you prefer a different leafy green?
This post was originally published in March 2013. Updated July 2021.
I LOVE kale! In fact, I made a massaged kale salad last night that I’m going to post about this week. Very simple–yet so satisfying and delicious (not to mention, good for you, too!).
This looks delightful! I bet my husband would eat this, because like Alex, he thinks the garlic kale at Whole Foods is too much. I am, however, absolutely addicted to Garlic Kale specifically because I am obsessed with garlic. Do they sell that garlic dressing by itself? I must research this in more detail……I will be making this recipe and perhaps adding garlic to it 🙂
I have been wanting to cook with kale for awhile now, but have not been quite sure about how to approach it. This sounds really delicious and SUPER easy to make. Thanks for sharing 🙂
The amount I like kale is ridiculous too, I loled about the awkward comment and getting intimidate with kale. It’s pretty much my favorite vegetable and the easiest to cook with. I could eat it for multiple meals LOL. Well with other food of course.
mmmm I have kale in my fridge right now.. kale salad for lunch I’m thinkin! Also, I lol’d at getting “awkward” with your kale
Get intimate with your kale <— haha just this, love it! I've been on SUCH a kale kick recently too, don't know what it is about it but I want it all the time haha. Have you had the kale salad at Helen's before? Omg it's the best one I've ever had I'm pretty sure! Love this recipe too, bookmarked! I've never made kale salad on my own, 'bout time 😉
I’ve actually never been to Helen’s!! I definitely need to give it a try!
I was sort of intimated to try kale for a long time, but now that I’ve experimented with it a little, I love it, especially kale chips!
Yum! Kale chips are awesome! I’m just terrible at burning them…
I love kale! This salad looks delish
I have literally only tried kale once. And it was in a soup. So I don’t think I can honestly give my opinion. I did pin this recipe, though, so who knows–maybe I’ll get motivated to give it a try one of these days.
Can’t wait to hear about the mystery fella 😉
Salad looks delicious enough for me to try Kale for the first time raw!
You’ve never had raw kale!? You’d love it!