This chopped kale salad with lemon tahini dressing is such an amazing kale salad recipe. With the cauliflower, seeds and the delicious lemon tahini dressing that goes along with it, you will want to eat this kale salad on repeat. The best part is this easy kale salad is the perfect make ahead meal.
Chopped Kale Salad Recipe
This chopped kale salad has so much flavor thanks to the roasted cauliflower, nuts and seeds and a delicious lemon tahini dressing. The inspiration for this recipe came from a local restaurant here in Austin, TX called Swedish Hill.
This kale salad will get you excited to eat salad and the best part is how healthy it is. The kale salad dressing that this chopped salad is tossed in, is out of this World delicious too and you can use it on any salad recipe.
Ingredients You Will Need
For the chopped salad
- Curly kale (about 7 ounces). I prefer this type of kale because it is fluffy and holds the dressing better.
- Cauliflower. The cauliflower is roasted in the oven before being added to the salad. It is so good! or one small bag from the store.
- Salted Sunflower Seeds.
- Salted Slivered Almonds.
For the lemon tahini dressing
- Lemon
- Olive oil
- Tahini (a sesame seed paste that you can find in the International section of the grocery store)
- Balsamic vinegar
- Dijon mustard
- Kosher salt
- Sweet paprika
About the ingredients
The mix of so many different ingredients is what makes this chopped kale salad recipe so amazing. Try not to skip any of them when you are making this for the first time.
The recipe calls for curly kale. You can usually find a smooth kale and a more curly kale (curled ridges) in the grocery store. The curly kale has more texture which makes it ideal for the recipe.
The recipe also calls for the sunflower seeds and almonds to be salted. I buy them already salted and roasted and then roast them so more to really brown them up.
The salt adds a pop of saltiness to the salad and roasting them more gives the salad great flavor.
How to make this chopped kale salad:
Tips to make the BEST chopped kale salad
- I do recommend making this salad as the recipe states for the first time. After that, there are some great additions that would compliment the flavors of this kale salad really well.
- I also like to massage the kale well to really get the dressing to adhere to the kale.
- Make sure to chop the kale very small. This is a chopped salad which is all about small bites of all the ingredients at one time fitting on to the fork.
- Toss everything together really well. This helps make sure all the ingredients are well blended and you get a little of everything in each bite.
My favorite additions to this chopped kale salad
- You can add dried cranberries and make a kale and cranberry salad. This is great for the holidays.
- Roasted vegetables to increase the amount of veggies in the salad.
- Broken pita chips which would go so well tossed in the salad with the tahini dressing. Breaking pita chips makes for a fancier crouton and it is so delicious in salads.
More tips for this kale salad
Can I you save the salad once it has been tossed in the dressing?
Yes. Kale is very sturdy and can hold the dressing for at least 24 hours before softening. I wouldn't keep the salad that has been tossed in the dressing any longer than that.
What if you cannot find the curly kale?
I would only recommend making this salad with curly kale because the texture is very important. The smoother kale (also known as lacinato kale) will just flatten when the dressing is added.
More Kale Recipes:
- Broken Noodles with Kale and Sausage
- Kale, Carrot and Parmesan Salad
- Gnocchi with Kale and Parmesan Cream
- Farro and Kale Minestrone
Chopped Kale Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Ingredients
Salad
- 7 ounces Curly Kale
- 10 ounces Cauliflower
- 2 tablespoon Salted and roasted sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoon Roasted and salted slivered almonds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil for cauliflower
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt for cauliflower
Lemon Tahini Dressing
- ⅓ cup Tahini paste You can find this in the International section of the grocery store.
- 3 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 2 teaspoon Honey
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
- zest of one lemon
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Add your cauliflower florets to a large sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil and add ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt.10 ounces Cauliflower, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Toss well so all of the cauliflower is coated with olive oil.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the cauliflower starts to brown.
- Remove and set aside.
- Take your kale and pull the leaves off of the stems.7 ounces Curly Kale
- Stack the kale leaves and finely chop them. You may need to re-stack the leaves and re-chop to get the chopped kale nice and small.
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add your almonds and sunflower seeds and roast for about 5 minutes, flipping every minute or so.2 tablespoon Salted and roasted sunflower seeds, 2 tablespoon Roasted and salted slivered almonds
- Once the seeds are roasted, remove them from the heat on to a cutting board.
- Finely chop the almonds and sunflower seeds until they are almost ½ their original size.
- Now add your kale, cauliflower, nuts and seeds to a large platter and toss well.
Making the dresing
- Add all of the ingredients for the dressing into a medium bowl.⅓ cup Tahini paste, 3 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard, 2 teaspoon Honey, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika, zest of one lemon
- Whisk them all together.
- Pour into a serving container and serve alongside the chopped kale salad.
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer here
Jessi says
I live in Austin as well and was actually came here trying to find a recipe similar to the “east side crunch” kale salad they have at Lou’s on Cesar Chavez. This one sounds almost identical although I know they use a different type of seeds, not sure what they are without ordering again. Can’t wait to try this recipe tonight !
Melissa says
I hope you enjoy it! I need to try their salad when I am on that side of town 🙂
Annabeth says
Absolutely delicious. I got the whole family to eat this, even our picky eaters 🙂