This Tuscan Kale Chopped Salad is addictively delicious and ready in just 10 minutes, homemade dressing included. Crunchy, tangy, satisfying and colorful…this is THE BEST vegan kale salad and a tasty way to add more plants to your diet!
Looking to add more plants to your diet? Salad doesn’t have to be boring…and enjoying leafy greens more often is a great way to keep your gut happy, your bowels regular and your weight in check! Recipes with tuscan kale are EASY to make and the deep green color is beautiful and nutritious.
This Chopped Kale Salad is an easy and tasty way to get started! It’s loaded with colorful, crunchy veggies and a balsamic miso dressing that is tangy, tasty, and satisfying. Plus, you’ll love how quickly it all comes together.
This Kale Chopped Salad Recipe is versatile, easy to make and BEAUTIFUL. You can customize it with different veggies, or even a different kale salad dressing (oh hello vegan caesar dressing or avocado lime dressing)….but you’re definitely going to adore this Chopped Kale Salad.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
Honestly, what makes this Tuscan kale salad so good is the colors, the crunch and the variety in every bite. Take some liberties to swap out the veggies you prefer or have on hand..or add in beans or lentils for a main course plant based salad. Here’s what I used:
- Tuscan kale: also called lacinato kale or dinosaur Kale. Any hearty leafy green like green or red curly kale, brussel sprouts leaves, or collard greens would be good subs.
- Cabbage: Red cabbage is bright and colorful. Green cabbage or savoy cabbage is a good substitution. Or use fennel, bok choy, celery or shredded brussel sprouts.
- Cucumber: Good substitutes are jicama or celery. Go for the crunch factor.
- Bell peppers: Use any color that will offer a visual boost to your chopped salad.
- Scallion: Substitute red onion or shallots, in a small dice.
- Carrots: I love how pretty the purple carrots are…but any color is a good choice.
- Marcona almonds: Yum! Feel free to use any nut or seed. Try toasting them in a dry pan to add flavor and crunch. For nut allergies, try adding some roasted chick peas or crispy black beans for added crunch.
- Miso dressing: Ah-mazing…but if you’re not into miso then go ahead and sub Tahini Dressing or Vegan Caesar or a simple Homemade Italian Dressing. You do you….but don’t miss out on this epic chopped salad.
Best Kale Salad Dressing
This Balsamic Miso Dressing is perfect on this lacinato kale salad. It’s super tasty and takes just a couple minutes to whisk together.
- Miso: Yum for vegan umami flavor! Just what a kale salad needs!
- Mustard: One of my favorite salad dressing ingredients!
- Balsamic: rich color and zing!
- Maple syrup: to balance all that savory tang.
- Water: just enough to thin this out for a pourable consistency without diluting the intense yumminess.
How to make The Best Kale Salad
First prep the kale. This is how I prep tuscan kale for salad and I would use the same method with curly kale. Give it a good wash. Soak it in water to remove all dirt and debris. Use a salad spinner to get most of the water off and then wrap in a clean dish towel to further dry.
- This is what Tuscan Kale (aka: dinosaur kale or lacinato kale) looks like, front and back. It’s a bit darker and more tender than curly kale, making it an awesome choice for a chopped salad.
- Stack the kale leaves on top of each other and begin to thinly slice, starting with end that doesn’t have the woody stem. Continue slicing until the stem becomes thick and woody, about ⅔ way down.
- Hold the bottom stem in one hand and then, using the other hand, push the leafy part on both sides of the stem so it separates from the stem.
- Thinly slice the rest of the leaves.
- Discard the woody stems into your compost or save them to juice.
Place kale in a large bowl. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt before massaging gently with your hands. If you’re cutting back on sodium, just skip the salt, but don’t skip the massage! Really, it’s the massaging that helps to tenderize the lacinato kale, making is softer and more easily digested. The best way to massage the kale is by hand, with or without the added salt. You don’t need to massage the dressing onto the kale.
While the kale sits and softens, make the miso balsamic dressing.
In a small bowl, whisk together the miso, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, maple syrup and water until smooth and creamy.
Once the kale has been massaged, start loading in the chopped veggies. It doesn’t matter too much what shapes you cut the veggies into, but the best chopped salads have bite sized pieces.
Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Start with ½ the dressing. Taste. Add more kale salad dressing as desired or serve with just half the dressing and pass a pitcher around so everyone can add more to their taste.
MEAL PREP AND STORAGE
- Serve: Serve as a side salad, or make it a meal by adding in some plant based protein like beans or lentils.
- Prep: Make the dressing in advance. It will stay good in the fridge for a week. Wash and chop the kale a couple days or a couple hours in advance. Don’t massage it until you’re ready to dress and toss. The veggies can also be chopped and left in the fridge in an airtight container until you’re ready to toss the salad.
- Store: Undressed salad will stay good in the fridge for 4 days. Dressed salad will stay good for 1-2 days.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- A mandoline or food processor will expedite the chopping. Personally, I find chopping veggies meditative, so that’s what I usually do…and it takes me less than 10 minutes to chop everything for this salad, including the kale.
- Use a larger bowl than you think you will need to make tossing (without making a big mess) the salad easier. You can transfer to a prettier or smaller bowl if desired after the dressing is well incorporated.
- MASSAGE THE KALE! It does make a difference. Some people will say it MUST be done with salt or oil…but neither is necessary to soften the kale…it’s the massage that will break down the fibers making it more tender and less bitter.
- Throw on some chickpeas, cooked lentils or beans to make this a main dish salad.
More Vegan Chopped Salad Recipes:
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📖 Recipe
Tuscan Kale Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bunch lacinato kale
- 4 scallions thinly sliced
- 3 small Persian cucumbers diced
- 2 cups shredded cabbage
- 3 carrots chopped into thin rounds
- 1 red pepper diced
- ¾ cup marcona almonds
- OPTIONAL: ¼ teaspoon sea salt*
Balsamic Miso Dressing
- ¼ cup light miso*
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- ¼ cup water
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Wash the kale. Stack the leaves and place the top leaf so that the stem is horizontal. Start on the non-woody stem end to make thin slices until about ¾ down. Then de-stem the remaining portion of each kale leaf, removing the harder stem. Roughly chop remaining kale.
- Place kale in large bowl and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt. Gently massage kale with your hands, breaking down the fibers. Let kale sit to further soften while you prepare remaining ingredients.
- MAKE THE DRESSING: In a small bowl, whisk together miso, mustard, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and water.
- Thinly slice scallions; dice cucumbers and red peppers, thinly slice cabbage and carrots. Add to bowl with kale. Sprinkle on marcona almonds.
- Pour ½ the dressing over the salad and mix until everything is well incorporated. Pour on additional dressing, as desired and mix again.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Ramona
Beautiful and super heathy
Lexa
Always on the lookout for creative kale salad ideas. Loved this one!
Jan
A great way to use all those kale leaves I had
Michelle
So Good!
Andrea White
this kale salad is sooo good! love how simple it is to make too!
Jeannie
this salad has amazing flavors and is not boring at all, very healthy too
Amy
Love a good kale salad and even better that it can be done in 10 minutes!
serena
Delish! Love a great salad
Oscar
This recipe looks so good, can’t wait to make it this weekend.
Jan
Such a lovely recipe
Michelle
FIVE Stars! This is super delicious!
Debra Klein
Totally agree…thanks for letting me know!
Linda
This is a must-try and be sure to make extra!
Megan Ellam
Looks super tasty. I am a fan of both lacinato kale and almonds so I will definitely have to try!
Brianna May
So tasty
jan
the flavours of this salad and dressing were delish. I made a big batch and happily ate the bowl.
Debra Klein
Thanks….exactly what I do…eat the whole bowl!!
Ramona
Oh my goodness this kale salad looks absolutely wonderful so colourful and healthy. I particularly love the miso dressing. I cannot wait to try this with the kale I have the fridge that I was even wondering what I could make with. So glad I found this recipe, thank you so much for sharing!
Debra Klein
You’re welcome…I adore that miso dressing.
Denise
The colors are gorgeous and it’s delicious!
Debra Klein
Oh…you know we eat with our eyes first…so it’s important that a salad looks super appetizing!
Elizabeth
Absolutely delicious! We’ll definitely be making this again!
Angela
I love this fresh salad. The balsamic miso dressing is a hit.
Andrea
This looks so good. I love that it has miso dressing. Looking forward to trying it.
Lilly
I love the flavors of this salad. it’s so hearty.
Toni
Such an amazing salad! So flavorful!
Jen
My family really loved it!
Carole
Excellent dressing…. who can resist miso? and balsamic? YUM!
Debra Klein
I feel the same!
Elizabeth
Love a good kale salad – so good! Thanks for the recipe!
Debra Klein
Right? They’re the best!
Gloria
This is a healthy salad for dinner any night of the week. After the holidays eating healthy will be a must for sure. This will be a great addition.
Debra Klein
A good kale salad is a must all through the year!
Priya
Made this salad today and I must say it turned out really great!
Debra Klein
Yay! Thanks for sharing.
Rachael
I’m obsessed. I don’t typically like salads, but Tuscan kale chopped salad is amazing. I love the simple homemade salad dressing with punchy flavor that makes this salad different than your average boring salad. Thank you!
Debra Klein
We are obsessed too…definitely not a boring salad!
Giangi
Mouthwatering and so delicious. Thank you for your picture explanations. I am always having a hard time cutting the kale.
Great recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Debra Klein
So glad those photos helped!
Rhonda
You forgot the maple syrup in the instructions for dressing I think. Gunna try this for sure!
Debra Klein
Thanks for catching that. I updated the instructions. Check back in and let us know how you like it.
Lynn
Salad was as good as it looked. Loved it! But I would like to know how much kale to use, mine was chopped in a bag so it was hard to know how much ‘1 bunch’ would be.
Thank you
Debra Klein
If you loved it, I would use the same amount of kale next time! Whatever ratio you prefer is the perfect amount. That said, my guess would be about 3 cups.
Vana
Debra , your kale chopped salad has very good combination of colorful vegetables, vegans friendly dressing. Excellent salad. Kudos to you.
Debra Klein
Thank you Vana…so glad you’re enjoying it!