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This 10-minute strawberry kale salad is summertime in a bowl! Simple fresh ingredients are combined for a delicious salad that’s the perfect combination of sweet and savory. Made with kale, strawberries, and almonds for some crunch and an easy dressing that mixes up in minutes.
Are you bored with your salad? I know I get tired of eating the same old lettuce salad all the time.
This strawberry kale salad definitely mixes things up! Such simple ingredients really bring an interesting combination of flavors. It’s my go-to salad during the summer when berries are at their peak.
If you love fruit in savory salads, check out this black bean and mango salad and quinoa salad with grapefruit.
Add this salad to any meal like pasta dishes or turn it into a main dish with a healthy plant protein such as tofu, chickpeas, or white beans.
Why This Recipe Works
- Healthy ingredients: Kale, strawberries, and almonds provide you with lots of healthy nutrients to support your body.
- Great flavors: The perfect combination of salty, sweet, and savory.
- Quick and easy: The homemade dressing comes together in just minutes to toss with the fresh kale, strawberries, and almonds.
What Goes Into This Recipe
Fresh produce and easy staple ingredients are all it takes to make this easy strawberry kale salad.
How To Make Kale Salad with Strawberries
- 1) Chop the kale and add it to a large bowl. Massage the kale, by rubbing the leaves together until they soften and turn a darker green. Then add the strawberries and almonds.
- 2) In a smaller bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients, add to the salad until it’s distributed evenly and cover all the ingredients.
Tip: Not sure how to cut kale? Watch this kale cutting tutorial to find out exactly how to do it easily.
Expert Tips
- Don’t skip the massage. I know it seems like an extra step but it’s quite tasty. It softens the greens and reduces some of the bitterness in the kale leaves.
- Best flavor. Use fresh, in-season, ripe strawberries.
- Serve immediately. This strawberry kale salad is best eaten right after adding the dressing. If transporting or waiting to serve, add the dressing right before and mix everything together.
FAQS
Yes, kale can be eaten steamed or sauteed but also works great served up raw in salads. It’s part of the cabbage family and has a firmer texture than lettuce and sometimes is slightly bitter. It works great paired with fruits and vegetables as the sweetness in fruit helps tame the bitterness. Check out this blog post to learn more!
Kale leaves often have a rather bitter taste and firm texture. Massaging the kale releases some of the water in the leaves and makes them softer and less bitter tasting. It’s not necessary but it does improve the overall flavor of kale in uncooked preparations.
Variations
Here are some different ways you can change up your kale and strawberry salad!
- Berries: Use a mix of berries or replace the strawberries with blueberries.
- Avocado: Chop up some fresh avocado and add it to the salad to boost the healthy fats.
- Nuts: Walnuts or pecans work great too. I even like to sometimes replace them with these flavored nuts.
- Seeds: Ditch the nuts and use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead.
- No kale? Use spinach, baby greens, or romaine instead and skip the massaging!
- Main dish: Add crunchy tofu, marinated tofu, crispy chickpeas, canned black beans, or some quinoa to turn this dish into a main course meal.
More Salad Recipes
Photos by Alfonso Revilla
Strawberry Kale Salad
Equipment
- small bowl
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup of water
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 5 ounces of fresh baby kale
- 1 pint of strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 avocado, diced
- ¼ cup nuts or seeds of your choice
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the sliced strawberries and sugar. Gently toss to evenly coat them with the sugar and set aside for 5 minutes.
- In a large salad bowl, combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, water, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Whisk until creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning levels. Set aside.
- Toast the nuts or seeds on a pan over medium heat. Be careful because they can burn quickly. As soon as they begin to very slightly charred, turn off the heat and remove the nuts or seeds from the pan. Set aside.
- Whisk the dressing one more time and add the kale. Using your hands, gently massage the kale until evenly coated with the dressing.
- Add half of the strawberries and pecans and mix well.
- Top with the rest of the strawberries and nuts or seeds and serve.
Notes
- Don’t skip the massage. I know it seems like an extra step but it’s quite tasty. It softens the greens and reduces some of the bitterness in the kale leaves.
- Best flavor. Use fresh, in-season, ripe strawberries.
- Serve immediately. Strawberry kale salad is best eaten right after adding the dressing. If transporting or waiting to serve, add the dressing right before and mix everything together.
So delicious! Thank you for this recipe. Just made with fresh kale and strawberries I got from the farmers market. I will be making this all strawberry season❤️ I added goat cheese and green onion as well so yummy 🙂
Hi Alex, thank you so much for taking the time to share this with me! It makes me so happy to hear you enjoyed the salad, especially with those beautiful farmers market finds. Your addition green onion sounds absolutely delicious! I’m thrilled it’ll be a go-to for you during strawberry season. ❤️
Question! The text in this recipe says to use balsamic vinegar, but the recipe itself says to use balsamic vinaigrette. They’re different things, so which is correct? Thanks! (Balsamic vinegar is pure vinegar; balsamic vinaigrette is a mixture made with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt and other spices. One cannot make balsamic vinaigrette without balsamic vinegar, but the two are not interchangeable.) Thanks for your help!
Hi Cathy! So sorry for the confusion. This recipe is currently being revised. It should be balsamic vinegar and the recipe card is updated now! Enjoy 🙂
Such a tasty summer recipe! Love the added almond crunch, too.
Sweet and full oh healthy greens! So so good!
Kale and strawberries is such a good combination
It’s definitely a winner for this recipe!
Very interesting combination! I was suspicious at the beginning, but it turned out great!
It’s interesting but it works!
Kale is not my favorite green, but this salad makes even kale taste yummy! Love the combination with strawberries. Give it a try!
The combo with strawberries make them that much better!
Never thought of mixing strawbs and kale but this is two thumbs up!
The unexpected yet super delicious combo!
Such a fresh and flavorful summer salad! Loved the fruit on top. Yum!
Nothing like adding a sweet touch to the mix!
I love adding strawberries pretty much everywhere! And this salad turned out perfectly! Loved it!
Same! So so good!
What a wonderfully fresh summer salad!
Agreed! So refreshing!
A perfect summer salad, we made this yesterday, and it was lush; it beats the boring salad we usually have during the week, with loads of flavour and a great sweetness from the strawberries 🙂
Definitely a great way to mix things up!
I have to admit, we weren’t big kale fans until we started massaging it for salads. Now we can’t get enough! I’m going to try replacing my spinach with rubbed kale in my strawberry salad from now on.
It grew on me too!
my kind of salad! so refreshing and delicious, too!