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    Home > Recipes > Recipes

    Simple Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette and Italian Croutons

    Published: Sep 27, 2016 · Modified: Jun 27, 2020 by Whitney Reist · This post may contain affiliate links |

    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    This simple kale salad is showing up all over my weekly menus - it's versatile, fresh, and I can't get enough of it!

    This simple kale salad recipe is the perfect vehicle for creative toppings, homemade croutons, and can be used as a side dish or as sandwich filling!

    Now that we're officially in the fall season, are you feeling fall-ish yet??? If so, I'm jealous. This past weekend we went mum and pumpkin shopping at a local garden center. I'm sad to say we weren't very successful - we didn't buy any of either. Could it have been the 89º weather that felt like 99°? Or maybe the fact that the large mums were a whopping $29.99? I'm thinking it was a combination of the two; and the fact that the cute little old man who was selling pumpkins told us that if it rained a lot in the next few weeks, our pumpkins wouldn't make it to Halloween before they started to rot. And that is no bueno.

    In the end, with my fall decorating budget being $40, I settled on two huge heads of kale for $8 a piece. I was told we could eat off of them and they would stay good and hearty until early December, which hopefully means I'll get a lot of bang for my buck. I'm holding off on buying the pumpkins for another 2 weeks or so - mainly because once I buy them, I'd really like to get a good ROI and have them last until Thanksgiving. Oh the dilemmas of seasonal decor!

    This simple kale salad is the perfect vehicle for creative toppings, homemade croutons, and can be used as a side dish or as sandwich filling!

    Moving on to the topic of food - which is likely why you're here - this simple kale salad showed up in three different ways last week: we had it as a side dish with pizza on Monday, we made a big version and took it to our bible study get together on Tuesday, then I stuffed it in pitas with buffalo chicken for dinner on Wednesday and lunch on Thursday. That, my friend, is what making your kale work for you looks like.

    This simple kale salad is the perfect vehicle for creative toppings, homemade croutons, and can be used as a side dish or as sandwich filling!

    I've been making this salad for a couple of years now - it's a fool-proof side dish that can easily turn into the main course with the addition of this or that. The light vinaigrette perfectly tenderizes the kale so you don't feel like you're eating something the rabbits should have. It's reminiscent of a Caesar salad in flavor, and honestly, I just love it SO very much. It's also the perfect vehicle for homemade croutons - the kind you make with bakery bread that's just a day past sandwich-making eligibility. Give it try and let me know how it shows up in your weekly meal rotation!

    This simple kale salad is the perfect vehicle for creative toppings, homemade croutons, and can be used as a side dish or as sandwich filling!

    Did you make this simple kale salad? If so, I'd love to hear how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below or post a pic to Twitter or Instagram with the tag @SweetCayenne5. You can sign up for my ever-so-succinct once-a-week newsletter as well. 

    Recipe

    This simple kale salad recipe is the perfect vehicle for creative toppings, homemade croutons, and can be used as a side dish or as sandwich filling!

    Simple Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette and Italian Croutons

    This simple kale salad is the perfect vehicle for creative toppings, homemade croutons, and can be used as a side dish or as sandwich filling! I love to make a bunch of it and eat on it throughout the week.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @sweetcayenne5 or tag #sweetcayenne!
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Total Time: 15 minutes
    Servings: 4 Serving

    Ingredients

    For the croutons:

    • 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
    • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
    • 4 slices dry old bread (I typically use 5-7 day old French, wheat, or sourdough), cut into ½’’ cubes
    • 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
    • ½ teaspoon coarse ground Kosher salt

    For the salad:

    • 7 cups of green kale about 2 bunches, washed, stems removed, and torn into bite-sized pieces (I cheat and buy the bag of pre-chopped kale and just pick the little stem pieces out)
    • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
    • 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
    • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
    • ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
    • Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

    Instructions

    Making the croutons:

    • Place a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the butter and olive oil. When the butter has melted, add the bread cubes and toss to coat them.
    • Toast the bread in the pan for 2-3 minutes before stirring. Toast an additional 3 minutes until the cubes are golden brown and crunchy. Remove from heat and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and salt. Set aside until you are ready to serve the salad (do not make more than 1 hour before serving the salad).

    For the salad

    • Place the kale in a large serving bowl or a large airtight container that you plan to store it in.
    • In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, soy sauce, and olive oil by stirring slightly with a whisk. Pour the entire mixture over the kale leaves.
    • Using clean hands, massage the liquid into the kale leaves, rubbing the leaves between your fingers. Do this for 2-3 minutes. The kale will become a little darker in color, shrink in volume by about ?, and have a nice sheen to it. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve and up to 2 days for use on salads, sandwiches, pizza, etc.
    • When ready to serve, top with Parmesan cheese and croutons. Serve right away.
    Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 251kcal | Carbohydrates: 17.4g | Protein: 5.1g | Fat: 19.1g | Saturated Fat: 5.8g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 693mg | Potassium: 611mg | Fiber: 2.1g | Sugar: 0.7g | Calcium: 190mg | Iron: 2mg

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    Affiliate Disclosure

    Many of the links in my posts are affiliate links, which means I can get a small commission for any click or purchases made through the links. I am also an Amazon Associate and I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Shantel says

      September 27, 2016 at 9:34 pm

      I really like kale and never know what to do with it! Thank you for giving me a new idea and hopefully we can try it out this week!

      Reply
      • Whitney Reist says

        September 29, 2016 at 5:26 pm

        Thanks, Shantel! Let me know how you like the salad 🙂

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