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A deliciously simple kale salad made with dates, Parmesan cheese, and almonds topped with a homemade lemon vinaigrette dressing.
This easy kale salad recipe with dates is, hands-down, my favorite kale salad to date. The flavors in this salad blend together so beautifully and the dates, cheese, and nuts provide the perfect contrast in texture. Don’t skip the kale massage before assembling your salad. I promise, giving your kale a rub-down makes all the difference in the texture of the leaves! I found the original recipe on Epicurious but made a few flavor-enhancing changes to the dressing. It’s a keeper.
Tips For A Great Kale Salad
- Cut out the hard middle stalk and use just the tender leaves
- Don’t buy the pre-cut kale for salads, it’s full of hard stems. It’s great for soups and stews, but a no-go for a great kale salad
- Massage the leaves with oil. My favorite oils for massaging kale are extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil.
- Add ingredients with a contrast of textures. Nuts are great for adding a nice crunch. Raw pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds are a few favorites
- Add a sweet element to enhance the savory. Fresh or dried fruit is delicious in a kale salad to bring out the salty flavor in a good block of Parmesan cheese and salted kale greens.
A good rub down makes all the difference!
More Delicious Kale Salad Recipes
Almond Kalette Salad with Wild Blueberry Vinaigrette
Tropical Blueberry Kale Smoothie
Kale Salad with Dates, Parmesan and Almonds
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 2 bunches of kale rinsed, patted dry, stalks & stems removed and chopped into bite-size pieces
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds
- 8 dates pitted and chopped
- ½ cup shaved Parmesan use the good stuff!
For the Dressing:
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup chopped sweet onion
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp raw honey
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Wash, rinse and pat kale dry, gently pressing leaves to soak up remaining water
- Cut leaves away from hard stalk, then chop leaves into small, bite-size pieces
- You want to make sure that you only have the soft leaves for your salad, not any firm stalks
- Massage chopped kale with ¼ cup olive oil for several minutes until leaves are thoroughly coated
- Allow kale to sit for about 30 minutes to soak up the oil
- Place all the dressing ingredients into a blender or Vitamix and blend until smooth
- Pour over kale and mix well
- Add almonds, dates and parmesan, toss and serve
Nutrition
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Lauren Kelly Nutrition
I love this so much! I stumbled, pinned and shared 🙂
Amee Livingston
Awe, thanks so much Lauren!! xo~