Kale Quinoa Salad
This Kale Quinoa Salad is a delicious, healthy vegan salad recipe perfect for light lunches, healthy meals or as a barbecue side dish.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You will love the balance of crunchy kale and sweet n’ sour Asian Almond butter dressing.
This easy detox salad will suit any diet. It is:
- Raw
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Easy to meal prep
How To Make Kale Quinoa Salad
This salad takes less than 15 minutes to make. It takes a few ingredients, but nothing out of this world!
Ingredients
- Kale – pick organic curly kale, washed, drained, and roughly chopped. To remove the leaves from the kale, hold the base of the stem with one hand and use the other hand to peel the leaves by running it from the base to the other extremity. You can also use a knife to remove the stem.
- Quinoa – it brings protein and makes this recipe so fulfilling.
- Chickpeas – Drained and rinsed. To make the chickpea more digestible, I recommend removing the skin of the chickpeas. Do it by placing them on a clean towel and rolling them. The skin will fall pretty quickly.
- Almonds – you can use raw or roasted almonds. Whole or slivered.
- Almond Butter – almond butter brings a delicious taste to the dressing.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – this brings some acidity to the dressing, balancing the sweetness of the fruits.
- Tamari Sauce
- Maple Syrup – you can pick either sugar-free maple syrup, classic maple syrup, or even coconut nectar.
- Chili Flakes – adjust to your favorite level of spiciness.
- Apple – apples make this salad so refreshing.
- Raspberries – fresh, or frozen. You can also use dried cranberries.
Making The Salad
Start by trimming the kale. Use your hands or a knife to remove the stem. The stem is not easy to digest, so it’s better to discard it.
Wash it and drain it thoroughly.
Cook the quinoa following the instructions – some brands cook faster than others, so it’s better to read and follow.
Tip: How To Best Cook The Quinoa
If you buy quinoa in bulk, here is how I recommend cooking it.
Start by rinsing and draining your quinoa using a fine sieve. Bring a saucepan to medium-high heat without any water and toast the quinoa while stirring to make its nutty flavors burst. Add your water to more than cover the quinoa and bring it to a boil.
When the water is boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the saucepan with a lid slightly, and cook the quinoa for 11 to 14 minutes until it is fluffy. I like to pass it through a sieve again to stop the cooking.
Transfer the quinoa to a bowl and fluff it with a fork.
Drain the chickpeas and remove their skin by placing them between two clean kitchen towels and rubbing them against each other.
The skin of the chickpeas will fall off, and they will become much more digestible.
Prepare the dressing in a small mason jar or any of the other dressing options below and toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
Other Toppings
You can change the taste of this kale salad by adding other toppings. Here are a few suggestions:
- Olive Oil
- Nuts like peanuts, pecan nuts, or crushed macadamia nuts
- Onions – sliced red onions or cooked shallots
- A drizzle of lemon juice
- Salt and Pepper
- Yellow and red bell pepper
- Sliced cherry tomatoes
- A splash of Dijon mustard
- Cheese like goat cheese, feta cheese, or sliced camembert or brie.
- Sliced chicken breast like Blackened Chicken or Lemon Pepper Chicken Tenders.
Serving The Kale Quinoa Salad
This kale quinoa salad recipe is perfect as a side dish for a summer barbecue.
You can also make it with a steak cooked to your favorite level or with chicken nuggets.
If you want to change the dressing, there are many others that you can use:
- Avocado Ranch Dressing
- Keto Italian Dressing Recipe
- Red Wine Vinegar Dressing
- Avocado Salad Dressing
- Thousand Island Dressing Recipe
- Ranch Salad Dressing
Storage Instructions
This recipe can be stored for up to 24 hours in an airtight container in the fridge.
If you want to make it ahead of lunch, I recommend storing the dressing separately and combining the salad just before serving it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any quinoa color works in this recipe, feel free to use white quinoa, red quinoa, or black quinoa.
Thay are all delicious.
Kale is an excellent vegetable rich in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants, while quinoa brings a lot of protein, fiber, and minerals (such as Manganese, Phosphorus, Iron, and Calcium).
Raw kale, or leaf cabbage, is a very healthy vegetable, rich in protein (4.3g per 100g), vitamin C (145% Daily Value per 100g), Vitamin K (371% DV per 100g), Folate, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B5, but also minerals such as Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, and Phosphorus.
It has strong antioxidant properties and is plain delicious.
More Healthy Salad Recipes
If you enjoy healthy salad, I have many more recipes for you.
Enjoy this Kale Quinoa Salad, and leave me a comment if you want to connect with me!
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Kale Quinoa Salad
Nutrition Snapshot
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Ingredients
Kale Quinoa Salad
- 4 cups Kale washed, drained, roughly chopped
- 1 cup Quinoa cooked
- 1 can Chickpeas drained, rinsed
- 3 tablespoons Raw Almonds
Almond Butter Dressing
- ¼ cup Almond Butter
- ¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Tamari Sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Sugar-Free Maple Syrup
To serve
- 1 pinch Chili Flakes
- 1 Apple finely sliced
- ¼ cup Raspberries
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa following the directions on the packaging. When the quinoa is cooked, let it cool to room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, wash, and drain the curly kale leaves. Trim the middle part and roughly chop the leaves. Place the kale pieces into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Stir in cooked quinoa, chickpeas, and whole almonds. Refrigerate while you prepare the dressing.
Almond Butter Dressing
- In another bowl, prepare the almond butter dressing. Whisk together almond butter, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce garlic, and maple syrup.
- Pour the almond butter dressing onto the kale quinoa salad and combine to cover all the ingredients with the dressing. You can use your hands to massage the kale and make sure it is well incorporated.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge for 1 hour. It is optional, but this step will soften the kale leaves as they soak into the dressing. Also, the flavor will combine, and it will be even more delicious.
Serving
- Serve topped with apple slices, a dollop of extra almond butter if you like, and defrosted raspberries. Season with salt and chili flakes if desired.
Notes
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Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only. The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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This looks delicious!! I’ve been looking for new salads to try, and this is it!
Hi Melanie, you’ll love it. It is super simple to make and delicious plus I love the colors 🙂