Kale Salad With Cranberries, Pecans and Blue Cheese Recipe (2024)

I like massaging the kale gently with the dressing before adding other ingredients. It's not quite as raw and easier to eat.

Life is too short to massage kale.With a tangy dressing and some sweet and crunchy additions (see the no-recipe above), you won't need to get intimate with your kale. If you dislike raw kale (why are you reading this?) just blanch it first: throw chopped or torn kale into boiling water for 30 seconds, drain it, drop it on a kitchen towel, mix with dressing asap.

I use a combination of currants, toasted pine nuts and grated parmigiano reggiano. Use a food processor to pulse kale (not baby kale) into small bits. Sometimes add finely chopped broccoli florets. One of my favourite salads; even non-kale eaters will eat this.

If life is too short to massage dressing into the kale, then it is definitely to short to go through all the steps and clean up of blanching it.

For the vinegrette, mix in some almond butter to the mustard, olive oil & lemon juice. It balances the raw kale (I used dark green lacinto), and you never remember you are supposed to hate it. My husband who has to have his arm twisted to eat salad, ate my second day serving. Toss whole salad with it, don’t drizzle.

A great idea I learned in CA several years ago - whether you hand rip or chiffonade whichever type of kale you prefer... you massage it thoroughly with half a mashed avocado (adjust to a whole if you are doing a very large quantity) then squirt lemon juice to prevent browning and voila you have tenderness and dressing all in one. Then add your favourite fixings combination as Sam Sifton suggests and season to your taste. Bonus: a great treatment for the hands before you rinse them off.

I made little balls of goat cheese and rolled them in toasted pecans and added them to the salad. I made the dressing with 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup lemon and orange juice combined, 1 tsp of Coleman's mustard (prepared, not dry), 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce, salt and pepper. Delicious.

How did you toast the pecans with maple syrup? In the oven or on a stovetop?

You don’t know what you are missing! Not chilled chilled, but pleasantly cooled is lovely! Try it!

I make this with dried cranberries, currants, and almonds, and with a honey-lemon dressing. The finer I chop the kale, the more it releases its own juices into the dressing. Kale can seem dry to the touch, but there's juice in there.

Raw kale can be off-putting - or "ick" as another commenter put it. But it gets a lot better if you slice it and then rub it with a bit of salt to get it to wilt. The more you rub, the more it wilts.

As a kale grower, we eat raw kale only in the winter when it’s sweet and tender. Ripped up kale leaves, orange or apple pieces, some toasted nuts or seeds , maybe avocado (me) or onion slices (him) with whatever nice dressing you have or can make quickly. It’s a treat every time we eat it.

I find that whether the kale needs to be "massaged" to be tender depends on the variety of kale I use. Curly kale always needs a massage. But Red Russian Kale is more tender and good without that extra step. Tuscan kale is also more tender than the curly variety. The dressing, if done a bit in advance also softens the texture, and yet does not wilt the kale.

I discovered baby kale in a trader joes salad mix - it was great. I even tricked my hubby into trying it and the man who "hates" kale was pleasantly surprised at this wonderful new leaf I discovered. : )

easiest way ever to "massage" kale: I throw smaller pieces on my kitchen counter and use a rolling pin on it! (just a couple of passes per leaf is fine).

Grow your own kale: it's even better in the Fall.

Delicious! I added arugula, tarragon leaves, Bartlett pear, Roquefort, cinnamon maple candied pecans, and a few Craisins.

I just have to say that the "life is too short to massage kale" comment was hysterical. I'm trying this recipe just because of that.

Just put the kale in a bag and smash it with a wooden meat tenderizer. Takes 30 seconds.

Used juice from ~1/2 lemon to massage kale. Toasted 1 cup pecans (375F for 10 minutes). Tossed with 1T maple syrup & 1/8t cayenne. Added 1/2 package Mt. Vikos feta & generous helping of dried cranberries. Dressed with left over mustard vinaigrette ( /- 4 or 5T). Sprinkled with salt & pepper. Ate with Z’s True North bread. What was left in the fridge transformed into a satisfying salad.

I never “just use what’s in the fridge, “ not confident that it’ll work out well. But that’s what I did with this. While I’d purchased some locally grown (hoop house) kale, everything else was stuff I had on hand:-lemon juice leftover from earlier in the week-subbed 1/2 package Mt. Vikos feta for blue cheese-remnants of some mustard vinaigrette -pecans & dried cranberries are pantry itemsThe result -eaten with the final third of loaf of good, country bread- was surprisingly satisfying.

"Massaged" lacinato kale with 1/2 mashed avocado and salt as someone recommended. Added juice of 1/2 lemon plus a bit of EVO. Toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries and 2 clementines. Yummy.

Easier way to massage your kale: stick your hand in a plastic bag and massage away. Or, put the entire salad in a gallon bag and massage from the outside, store the leftovers within, serve the rest.

“I’ve been making big kale salads recently, with dried cranberries, lardons of bacon, dabs of Brie, cubes of Honeycrisp apple and sourdough croutons, all slicked in mustardy vinaigrette. Sometimes, to gild the lily, I’ll fry a chicken-thigh schnitzel to drape over the top. This is a statement meal, and a great way to get in a last round of brassicas before switching to spring’s lighter lettuces.”— Sam Sifton(NYT Cooking newsletter 03/31/23)

I consider it a perk we have kale available year round here in Costa Rica and l make a big mixed green salad at least once a week so we have plenty for a couple of lunches. Thank you Sam for promoting this great vegie.It's deliciousfinely chopped and added to a pot of beans as well! Another near weekly staple on our menu.

I ordered a salad with fried sweet potatoes at my favorite hang out and when it arrived I was horrified that it was all kale. I ate it and loved it because the kale had been marinated in something that made it edible to me. With that said I will try this with some trepidation but my vegan friends say, "well, of course, you marinate it or rub it down with something or other" Silly me.

Make sure you buy organic kale. Kale is one of the moist pesticide laden foods - coming in as #3 of the worldwide dirty dozen annually listed by the European Working Group. People think they are eating healthy but kale it's super bad: "Nearly 60 percent of kale samples sold in the U.S. were contaminated with residues of a pesticide that the Environmental Protection Agency considers a possible human carcinogen, according to EWG's analysis of 2017 Department of Agriculture test..." Google it.

I read that eating kale raw yields the best nutrient benefit and massaging helps to release those nutrients and to help make it more digestible. Thanks for another great kale salad recipe.

Don't want to massage your kale? Strip it from the stems, put it into a big zip-lock bag, and roll it with a rolling pin a few times. Much quicker.

Kale salad is one of favorite winter salads, after a friend brought one to a holiday dinner. My version is very similar to Sam's, but I usually sub pomegranate arils for the cranberries or currants, since my husband buys them all winter. I have variously used toasted pecans, walnuts, pine nuts or slivered almonds, and always add grated parmesan cheese. I just made one to take to a buffet party tonight; it's perfect since kale doesn't wilt like lettuce and the dressed salad keeps well.