Crunchy Kale Salad

This healthy, crunchy kale salad recipe is as delicious as it is good for you. The kale and spinach create an earthy, peppery base for the tender, pan-seared shrimp, chick peas, hemp seeds, and the pesto dressing that tops it all.

While I enjoy a good side salad as much as the next girl, what I really love is a main course salad. Salads like my grinder salad and tomato shrimp cucumber salad combine the light, fresh flavors of traditional salads with hearty proteins to make salads that really leave you feeling like you've eaten something.

First, let me clarify that this is not a copycat recipe of the Chick Fil A kale crunch salad recipe. You won't find green cabbage, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, or maple syrup. Instead, this is a delicious, healthy, and easy kale salad loaded with a complex flavor created by using simple ingredients.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Simple Ingredients: Hemp seeds and coconut oil might sound exotic if you've never used them, but you can actually find everything you need at almost any grocery store.
• Easy to Make: The shrimp is the only thing you'll actually cook in the traditional sense. Everything else is just a matter of prepping and mixing.
• Flavorful: The greens, hemp seeds, chick peas, shrimp, and dressing in this salad create layers and layers of complex, delicious flavor.
• Super Healthy: The same combination of ingredients that gives this salad all its delicious flavor also packs it full of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, protein, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and more.
• Suitable for Any Diet: This is a clean, paleo-friendly recipe that's naturally gluten and dairy-free. If you leave out the shrimp, it's also vegan.

Ingredients

Kale Salad

• Kale: Curly kale has a bitter, peppery flavor that works well with the other slightly sweeter ingredients in the salad.
• Spinach: Spinach has an earthy, green flavor that pairs well with the kale.
• Chick Peas: Chick peas continue the earthy theme while also adding more texture and protein.
• Hemp Seeds: A bed of hemp seeds adds a mild, nutty, slightly sweet flavor to the salad and tons of health benefits.
• Shrimp: The shrimp are pan-seared in coconut oil to add a fresh, seafood flavor with a slight sweetness.
• Coconut Oil: I used coconut oil to cook the shrimp because it's a healthy fat and works well with the shrimp. I prefer Nutiva liquid coconut oil for its quality and purity.
• Avocado: Avocado adds a mild flavor and richness to the salad.

Dressing

• Pesto: Pesto creates the garlicky, herbaceous, nutty, and somewhat "grassy" base for the dressing.
• Coconut Oil: Coconut oil thins the pesto to create the perfect dressing texture. Its neutral flavor makes it easy to control the other flavors in the dressing, as well.
• Hemp Seeds: Hemp seeds add a nutty, slightly sweet flavor to the dressing.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of ingredients and their exact amounts.

Flavor Variations

• Cheese: Adding feta, goat, or shaved parmesan cheese to the salad gives it even more flavor and texture. It works so well with the other ingredients.
• Fruit: For a lovely mix of sweet and savory flavors, try adding dried fruits like raisins, apricots, cranberries, or any of your other favorites.
• Nuts: For a pop of crunch and flavor, try adding chopped roasted almonds, walnuts, or pecans.
• Protein: The flavors in this salad work very well with grilled chicken breast, too.
• Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil works well if you don't have coconut oil.

Instructions

Dressing

1. Whisk all the dressing ingredients in a small mixing bowl until well combined. Then, set them aside.

Shrimp

1. Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a small skillet. Then, season the shrimp with salt and pepper and cook them on medium-low until pink and C-shaped. Remove them from the pan.

Putting it All Together

1. Combine the kale, spinach, chick peas, and hemp seeds in about even amounts in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix the ingredients until well combined, then squeeze the juice of a lemon onto the salad and drizzle it with coconut oil and mix again.
3. Top with avocado, cooked shrimp, and more hemp seeds.

Expert Tips

• Be sure to wash your greens thoroughly to remove any dirt, debris, or pesticide residue.
• Thoroughly rinse and drain your chick peas to remove all of the starchy, salty brine from the can.
• Whisk your dressing just before adding it to the salad to ensure it remains fully combined and the flavors are well-blended.

Pairing Suggestions

This delicious salad is a full meal in and of itself, so I recommend keeping things light with a little garlic bread (gluten-free, if you're like me).

For dessert, the crunchy, earthy, slightly sweet flavor of this salad is perfect with dishes like coconut cake, lemon drizzle cake, or pistachio ambrosia.

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