Easiest ever summer salad recipe with a simple honey lemon vinaigrette, crunchy sunflower seeds, sweet blueberries and massaged kale! It’s gluten free, vegan, plant based, paleo and tastes amazing!
Salads are essential in the summertime. They’re quick to throw together, they use up lots of in-season produce, they don’t require any cooking, and they help you keep your beach body in check. Win!
The cool thing about this salad is that it holds up really well. You can make it well in advance, dressed and everything, and take it on the go. Because kale is such a hearty green, it keeps it’s texture much longer than other lettuces, which usually need to be dressed right before serving.
We’ve talked a good bit about massaging kale before (here and here), but if you still haven’t given it a try, hopefully this video will convince you that you need to. It’s a total game changer!
- 1 small bunch kale, washed and dried
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)
- 2 teaspoons honey
- freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1 heaping cup fresh blueberries, washed and dried
- 1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
- Remove the tough stems from the kale by pulling on the leaves through your hand to reveal the stems. Take the leaves and roll them into a tightly compacted bunch. Run your knife through the leaves to make thin ribbons, the run the knife crosswise a few times to cut them smaller.
- Drizzle the olive oil and salt over the kale, then use your hands to aggressively massage the kale for a few minutes. Be sure to really rub them together in order to break down the fibers and soften the kale. Next, juice the lemon and drizzle the honey right over the kale. Use your hands again to work the lemon, honey and pepper into the mixture to make a dressing. You can use tongs, but your hands will do a better job. Taste a piece and adjust as necessary, adding more lemon, honey, salt or oil if needed (this will depend on your taste as well as the amount of kale you started with).
- Plate up the kale, sprinkle with the blueberries and sunflower seeds and serve!
- This salad is best eaten fresh, but unlike other salads, will keep for a day or two, if covered in the fridge.
Nicole Gaffney, aka Coley, is a professionally trained chef, recipe developer, tv host and food writer.
What a perfect reward for a long bike ride to the farmers’ market!
totally! I like the way you think
do you know the nutritional info especially carbs?
Unfortunately, I don’t. Sorry!
I m glad I waited to review this bc this salad gets better after it sits. I WANT to love kale but I don t. It s a texture thing for me but I gobble down this salad.