by Move over, boring salads! My sweet kale and lentil salad is about to steal the show. Massaged kale is tossed with canned lentils, sweet dried cranberries, crunchy pecans, and my tried, tested and true delicious maple balsamic vinaigrette. Ready in just 20 minutes and with no cooking or dairy required, it’s perfect as a satisfying main or a flavourful side dish!
Listen, as a registered dietitian, it’s no surprise that I’m obsessed with sharing delicious, healthy salad recipes. They’re packed with veggies, and if you do it right, they’re genuinely filling enough to be a main dish.
A kale salad you’ll actually crave
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that I’m passionate about salads having a source of protein, fiber, fat, and obviously satisfaction, aka, they taste good enough that you actually WANT to eat them.
And this healthy kale salad totally checks all of the boxes! We use lentils for protein and fiber, just like in my cozy 30-Minute Sweet Potato and Kale Soup with Lentils, plus healthy fats and deliciousness from my 5-Minute Maple Balsamic Salad Dressing!
The dried cranberries add a hit of sweetness to balance out the earthiness of the kale, and the pecans add a satisfying crunch! And I promise, even though this salad is totally dairy-free, the nutritional yeast adds a slightly cheesey flavor so you won’t even miss it!
While this high protein salad is amazing on its own as a main dish for all of these reasons, I also love it as a holiday side dish to add some freshness to the table, especially when it’s paired with my Seriously Easy Honey Garlic Glazed Carrots!
My test kitchen tips for success!
Luckily I’ve made this cranberry kale salad manyyyyyyy times, so here are my top tips!
- It’s super important that you give that kale a nice massage before using it! This helps to break down the fiber and make it way less tough, and easier to digest!
- Make sure that you remove the tough stems of the kale. We definitely don’t want that in our salad!
- You can let this salad sit for 10-15 minutes before serving since kale is such a hearty cruciferous veggie- In fact, this salad keeps super well in the fridge for up to 3 days for that exact reason, making it an amazing meal prep option!
Let’s get massaging that kale!
20-Minute Cranberry Kale and Lentil Salad
Ingredients
- 1 head of kale, about 8 cups, destemmed and chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 540 ml canned lentils, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup roasted unsalted pecans
- 1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries, I used unsweetened but sweetened will work
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 batch Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
Equipment
Instructions
- Place the destemmed, chopped kale in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then use your hands to massage the kale for 2-3 minutes or until it's dark green and wilted.
- Top with lentils, pecans, sliced red onion, dried cranberries nutritional yeast, Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette and fresh ground pepper and toss well to combine.
