Chopped Kale Salad

Chopped kale salad has been my new go-to recipe! You will thank me for this salad. You will also curse me for this recipe.

If I had to pick one salad to eat for the rest of my life, this may be it. The first time I made it, I laid in bed at night thinking about the leftovers. I never do that. Not for food, and especially not for something that isn’t chocolate. My insomnia usually has more to do with my endless ToDo list and the toys scattered across my living room… but I digress.

THIS. SALAD. So many flavors. Ridiculously delicious. The colors! OH, AND KALE! Um, it’s a kale salad!!! Talk about feeling like the most awesome, healthiest person in the world after you eat it. It’s filling in a good way.

Not in a way that you need to change into your fat pants and groan on the couch, “Whyyyy did I eat that.” If you want to get into kale, try starting with this recipe. You will totally forget you’re even eating kale with all the deliciousness going on here.

Having said that… it’s called chopped salad because, well, there’s a lot of chopping. It’s worth it, I promise!!!

Oh, and the leftovers!! Unlike most punk salads that wither in your fridge overnight, the hearty kale remains strong and crisp, soaking in the dressing. All the goodies become so marinated and yummy that you don’t care you’re eating day old salad. I’m not one to eat leftovers, like ever. But, whenever this salad is in the fridge I try to get to it first.

This is an overhead image of a food processor with dressing ingredients in it. The food processor sits on a white counter.

this is an overhead image of chopped kale, edamame, peppers and cashews on a white counter.

How to make this chopped kale salad:

Make the dressing first and transfer into a dressing jar. Set aside. I like to use a small mason jar because I can just put a lid on it and shake it up when I’m ready to mix it in the salad.

Then, get your kale ready. Two important things here. First, de-stem the kale by just pinching the leaves off of the stem with your fingers. When I first started eating kale I had no idea you had to de-stem it. Omg, it’s tough to get through with the stems! De-stemming = very important. Second, chop those leaves up as much as possible.

Next, chop the bell peppers into little squares. I’ve used all the different colors with the peppers for this salad but the red and yellow seem to be the yummiest.

Wash and peel the carrots. Use your food processor attachment. Your life will be forever changed once you start using the grating attachment on your food processor and ditch that damn handheld one!!

Then chop up the cilantro and the green onions. Throw ’em in!

Ok, now get your shelled edamame. I get this in the frozen section at the food store, right near the frozen peas, corn, etc. Make sure these are room temperature, and pulse them in the food processor. About 5 seconds or less. You still want it to be chunky.

Put these in your salad bowl and do the same with the cashews. Process until chunky and toss them in. Finally, shake the dressing, pour over the salad and toss it all together! Ta-dah!

More salads to try:

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Recipe

GF Gluten-Free DF Dairy-Free V Vegan VG Vegetarian EF Egg-Free