The first time I heard about eating kale as the main ingredient in a salad, I thought I’d hate it. The only time I eat kale raw is hidden in the form of a smoothie, I insisted. Kale is much too bitter to be eaten raw in a salad, right?
Wrong! Prepared correctly, the bitterness of kale vanishes and creates an amazing salad. I know, I was skeptical, too. You’ll just have to try it for yourself.
These are the star ingredients in this nutrient-packed salad.
For massaged kale salad, you want to use lacinato kale (also known as dinosaur kale) instead of the curly kind. It just works better.
You also want to remove the veins. They are hard, bitter, and you don’t want them in your salad.
As you devein, rip the kale leaves into bite-sized pieces. Now you’re ready to create an unforgettable salad.
Massaged kale salad with orange-tahini dressing
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 3 - 4 1x
Description
A hearty salad that is full of flavor
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of lacinato kale, deveined and torn into bite-sized pieces
- juice from 1/2 a lemon (1–2 tablespoons)
- 1/2 an avocado
- a few pinches of sea salt
- Optional: top with your favorite fresh chopped vegetables and/or nuts
For the Dressing
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1–2 teaspoons orange zest
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the kale, lemon juice, avocado, and salt.
With your clean hands, start massaging! You want to massage the kale until the avocado is broken apart and works its way into the leaves, which will soften and wilt. Massage for a good 2-3 minutes.
After the kale gets its massage, put it in the fridge and let it sit for at least 20 minutes. (If you don’t have time for this, that’s fine. But it does help to give the lemon more time to “cook” those kale leaves!)- Meanwhile, mix together the tahini, orange juice, water, ground ginger, salt, pepper, and orange zest in a small bowl. Whisk until completely combined.
- Top your salad with your favorite fresh vegetables (I used carrots and cucumbers) and nuts (I used walnuts) then drizzle with the dressing. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 of 4 servings
- Calories: 302
- Sodium: 73.5g
- Fat: 25.5g
- Carbohydrates: 9.75g
- Protein: 9.5g
I’ve prepared massaged kale salad with a variety of different dressings, but this orange-tahini is my favorite. It’s creamy and just plain delicious.
Along with the salad, I served my Roasted Chickpeas, Cauliflower, and Tomatoes with Herbed Couscous. I know it’s kind of crazy to roast things in the summer, but this made for a perfect light, summery meal.
Tim ate a huge portion of the kale salad, so I know he enjoyed it. No kale salad for Meghan, but she did ask for a third helping of the roasted chickpeas. She’s coming around. Someday she’ll be ready to try her mom’s kale salad.
If you’re more in the mood for drinking your kale, try this Kale Smoothie!
Question: What’s your favorite way to eat raw kale? Have you ever tried a massaged kale salad?
I had a massaged kale salad for lunch yesterday. I really like the ‘Sunshine Salad’ (I think) recipe from Peas and Thank You. The dressing has tahini, nutr yeast, lemon, garlic and water. It’s so refreshing and I love that I can eat an entire head/bunch/unit (???) of kale in one sitting when it has such a good dressing.
i love it with eggs on top, hard boiled and a few sunflower seeds. mmm, good stuff!
Ooh this would be perfect with an egg on top! You’re making me hungry. 🙂
That looks awesome! Can’t wait to try this.
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I made your salad the other night for myself and family. This was our first time eating kale outside of a smoothie and we were pleasantly surprised! Thank you! I linked your recipe in my post today.
I’m so glad you liked it. I was really skeptical at first, too. I wanted to let you know that I read your post and tried to comment, but it wouldn’t let me. I’m not sure if the problem was with my computer or your site, but just wanted to let you know!
Hi Maryea,
Not sure why you could not post??? It seems to be working when I just checked it…Are you able to comment on other post?
Thanks,
Amy
I’ll try and let you know!
I tried again today on your latest post and it worked no problem. Must have been an issue with my computer.
Hooray for kale! I’ve been making more and more raw kale salads too, and now we all love them! (Okay, so all of us minus one.) This one looks good!
I hope Meghan will like raw kale salads someday. I’m not giving up hope!!
We love kale salad…I make mine different but it is my kids favorite lunch!!! We go through TONS of kale in this house!!! 🙂
I love that your kids love raw kale salads!! I hope someday Meghan will love salads. She’s never had a bite of any salad–she refuses to even try it. I’m not giving up hope though! 🙂
How clever and unusual! This sounds like a real super salad! All of the ingredients are right up my ally and I will definately be making this one soon.
Both look and sound amazing! But I have a question. How avocado-y is the salad? I’m thinking about eating more avocado as a way to get those Omegas since I stopped eating meat, but I’m not a big fan of the flavor. Is the flavor really prodominant?
No, it’s not avocado-y at all. You can’t even taste it really. You could probably get away with using less avocado if you are worried about it, but my husband doesn’t love avocado and I don’t even think he knew it was there.
Cool! Then we will definitely try it and I won’t tell Mario either or at least until after he eats it and loves it! This is how things usually work in this house!
Cool! Then we will definitely try it and I won’t tell Mario either or at least until after he eats it and loves it! This is how things usually work in this house!
I’ve massaged it with avocado and sea salt and it was really good. I need to do that again. Or make this recipe, better yet.
Give it a try! I love this dressing. 🙂
Yum! I am saving this recipe to try. I have never actually had kale raw besides in smoothies even though I’ve seen some recipes. Can’t wait to try it this year. Although I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen that kind of kale. Maybe now that I’m looking I’ll be able to find it.
As a side note I am totally telling my son that it’s called dinosaur kale! He may even try it with a name like that. He’s such a boy, haha
That dressing look & sounds amazing!!