Chopped Kale Salad

A Mediterranean Diet inspired dish, this Chopped Kale Salad is bursting with flavor and makes the perfect accompaniment to any meal.

The Beauty of a Chopped Salad

I love a good, chopped salad. Everything is bite size, so you get a bite of all the good stuff with every forkful.

It also eleviates that awkward moment when you try to fit a huge piece of lettuce into your mouth and then get dressing all over. I know you’ve been there.

Using Kale in Salad

Typically I’m not a huge fan of raw kale. However, I had a chopped salad at a restaurant recently and it was so good!

The salad at the restaurant chopped the kale up so finely that you couldn’t even tell it was kale. It definitely did’t have that same super fiberous texture that raw kale typically has because each piece was chopped so small.

So I went home and created my own version of a Chopped Kale Salad and it was so good! Definitely one of my new favorites. Some tips I have for using raw kale in a salad –

• Use a food processor to finely chop the kale
• Add dressing (or olive oil) to the kale before all the other ingredients and let it marinade for 10 minutes to soften up the kale a little

A Mediterranean Diet Inspired Salad

To create a more Mediterranean Diet inspired salad, I followed some of the mediterranean diet principles including –

• Adding heart healthy nuts. I used almonds but it would taste great with pistachios, walnuts or pine nuts
• Incorporating fruit into the salad. In this recipe I used pomegranate seeds but you could add whatever fruit is in season like berries, pears, apples, or even dried fruit like cranberries, cherries, or apricots.
• An olive oil inspired dressing. I used this Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe and it was the perfect compliment to the salad. Light but full of flavor.
• Plant based. Incorporating more plant based dishes into meals is a great way to add flavor while reaping all those amazing benefits of fruits and vegetables.

Chopped Kale Salad Recipe

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Chopped Kale Salad

A Mediterranean Diet inspired dish, this Chopped Kale Salad is bursting with flavor and makes the perfect accompaniment to any meal.

Course lunch, Salad, side/salad

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword kale, lunch, mediterranean diet, plant based, salad, vegetarian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Brynn McDowell, RD at The Domestic Dietitian

Ingredients

• 3 cups kale, raw
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 medium shallot, diced
• 1/4 cup pomegrante seeds

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

• In a small bowl, combine the ingredeints for the lemon vinaigrette. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Set aside.
• Working in batches (depending on the size of your food processor) chop the kale into tiny pieces and add to a large bowl
• Once all the kale is chopped and added to the bowl, drizzle with about 1/4 cup of the lemon vinaigrette dressing you already made
• Let dressing sit on the kale while you prepare other ingredients, about 10 minutes
• Top kale with almonds, shallot and pomegrante seeds. Mix until well combined.
• Drizzle with a little more vinaigrette and enjoy!