This Classic Kale Salad with Green Goddess Dressing is one of the best simple kale salad recipes I’ve tried, and is inspired by a recipe from my friend’s at Sakara Life! This recipe is dairy free, so it’s perfect for anyone with an intolerance or looking for vegan meal ideas. It also comes with a quick homemade green goddess salad dressing that is so delicious you’ll want to keep extra on hand for snacking.
I recommend all my clients to eat 7-9 servings of low GI fruits and veggies a day. Doing so helps banish cravings and can deliver great nutritional benefit, but it can seem daunting at first to pack this much produce into a day. However, this quick kale salad recipe is an easy way to achieve that.
Though salad isn’t always the most exciting meal, one way to make it more enjoyable is to whip up some delicious salad dressings. The green goddess dressing that goes with this recipe makes eating veggies feel like a treat rather than a chore.
The Best Homemade Healthy Dressing For Kale Salad
It’s not just enough to eat a healthy salad—the type of dressing you choose is important too. It helps make sure you get the most nutritional benefit out of your salad.
For starters, by eating fat with our green leafies, we ensure the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K are bioavailable to the body. In this green goddess dressing recipe, avocado is the healthy fat used. Plus, by including citrus or another acid, the dressing helps breaks down the fibres in the greens, making them easier to digest. The addition of herbs aids detoxification and boosts nutrient density as well.
So, the lesson is: combine fat, acid, and herbs to make the best healthy dressing for your kale salad.
How to Make Classic Kale Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients
For the kale salad
• 4 cups kale leaves, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/3 chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup radish, thinly sliced
For the green goddess dressing• 1/2 shallot, diced
• 1 clove garlic, mined
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 6 basil leaves
• 6 mint leaves
• 8 sprigs cilantro
• 1/2 avocado
Instructions
1. Place the kale leaves in a large salad bowl and set to one side.
2. Make the green goddess dressing by placing all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blending until smooth. Note: This dressing is so good that I usually make twice as much and use for topping everything, or eating straight from the jar with a spoon.
3. Dress the kale leaves. I like to do this at least 30 minutes before serving to let the acid and fat soften the kale, making it easier to digest and the nutrients more bioavailable.
4. Finally, top the kale with the avocado, beans, radish and sunflower seed. It’s the perfect combination for a healthy lunch.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, grain free, sugar free, soy free and is suitable for my Lean & Clean Program, 28 Day Guided Gut Healing Program and my 14 Day Detox Program. It is also compliant with a paleo diet, primal diet, Whole30 diet, low carb diet, vegan, vegetarian and pescetarian diet.