Kale Crunch Salad – Your Tasty Shortcut to Five a Day!

Our Kale Crunch Salad is packed with a medley of vibrant, crunchy veggies, delivers a power-packed punch of essential nutrients AND is so damn delicious! Perfect for a busy schedule as it’s an ideal make-ahead option.

NOT a Copycat Chick Fil a Kale Salad Recipe

Being in Australia I had no idea that the American restaurant chain Chick-fil-A Halos had a Kale Crunch Salad which is completely different to my recipe. 😃

This vibrant salad was inspired by my recent trip to the farmers market, where I picked up an abundance of fresh, colourful veggies.

Being keen on not wasting any of my yummy finds, I decided to create a ginormous salad, bursting with texture and flavour.

Anyway, my Kale Crunch Salad recipe is full of healthy, market-fresh veggies and not a copycat recipe!

Ingredients & Substitutions 

• Curly Kale – forms the base for this salad or you could also use lacinato kale. If you are not a fan of this superfood you can substitute it with mixed salad leaves, silverbeet, arugula/Rocket or spinach.
• Pepita or pumpkin seeds – toasted and added for some nuttiness and more texture. Sunflower seeds and roasted almonds are great alternatives. 
• Vinaigrette dressing – we have kept it simple and healthy with the use of healthy fat olive oil and apple cider vinegar known for its healing and antioxidant properties. Feel free to use a wine vinegar, add some Dijon mustard or swap it for your favourite salad dressing. For a healthy, creamier dressing try our avocado Mayo instead.
• The crunchy vegetables- we have used a variety of crunchy raw veggies in this salad – baby carrots, radishes, snow peas, baby cucumbers, bell peppers/capsicum and red onion. But so long as you have a good colourful mix of raw veggies you can use whatever is readily available for you.

Some More Crunchy Vegetables to Boost the Crunch Factor - raw cauliflower or broccoli; celery; green cabbage or red; fennel; sugar snap peas; green or yellow beans; kohlrabi or jicama; raw asparagus; raw artichokes; zucchini/courgettes. 

How to Make It

Step 1 – How to Roast Pepitas

Start by preheating your oven to 180℃ (360℉). Why not prep your kale while you are waiting for it to heat up?

Place the pepitas on a lined baking tray and place them on the middle rack of your oven as this is the hottest part.

Then roast for about five minutes, then give them a good shake so they roast evenly on all sides.

Keep roasting them until they are golden brown and deliciously nutty. It should take about 10-15 minutes in total.

Step 2 – The All-Important Step of Massaging Your Kale!

First, carefully wash your kale leaves to remove any dirt that you find.

Next remove the tough, chewy kale stems either by stripping them by hand or by cutting them with a knife. You can freeze these to add to soups, stews or to use in your next stir-fry.

Then with a sharp chef’s knife thinly shred your kale.

Pop the shredded kale into a large bowl with your apple cider vinegar, olive oil, season with some salt and pepper and give it a gentle massage. Not too long though, you don’t want to turn it to mush and have it lose its crunch, about 2-3 minutes should do the trick.

Keep it handy as we are going to add all the veggies to this bowl as we are preparing them.

Step 3 – String Your Snow Peas

Trim the snow peas and destring them, just pinch the stem end of the pod with either your fingers or a knife, then pull the string down towards the other end and just throw the strings away.

Your mature pods may need stringing on both sides and often you can do this in one go. Cut the stem carefully and pull the strings down from both sides at once.

Then simply cut them on the diagonal.

Step 4 – Prepare Your Crunchy Veggies

Give your veggies a good rinse under cold water and pat them dry.

Trim the baby carrots and cut them into rounds.

Trim the baby cucumbers / cukes and cut them into rounds.

Trim the radishes and if the leaves are fresh and green you can cut them up to use in the salad or reserve them to use in a radish top pesto (I have included a recipe in the tips below). Slice them thinly either with a vegetable slicer or carefully with a sharp knife.

Next, remove the core and seeds from the yellow capsicum/pepper, rinse it under cold water to remove any stubborn seeds, pat dry and then cut it into small strips.

Finally, we are going to trim the onion, remove its papery skin and slice it thinly.

Add all your salad ingredients to the kale.

Step 5 – Assemble Your Kale Crunch Salad

Now that all your veggies are sitting happily in your bowl with the kale, we just need to add the cooled, toasted seeds to the bowl.

Season everything with some sea salt and cracked black pepper and toss everything together to combine.

Taste and adjust the seasonings in your salad to your liking.

Then arrange it in a salad bowl or platter and keep it chilled until you are ready to serve.

For Kale Lovers More Salads to Try

For all you kale lovers out there we have an array of kale-centric salads you may like to try – like our rich and creamy Kale Avocado Salad, or our zesty Kale Lemon Parmesan Salad, for something exotic try our Kale Pomegranate Salad, for something refreshing and healthy our Kale Coleslaw is just the thing!

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