The Kale Salad

The Ultimate, Simplest, Best-Ever Raw Kale Salad Recipe AKA The Kale Salad. 

In my family, this raw kale salad recipe is infamous. In the family text thread, it’s called simply “the kale salad” because everyone knows exactly what that means! It is the only kale salad anyone wants on the table. Kale salad recipes have been trending for so long, and I’ve shared a lot of kale salad recipes over the years (a tropical one, a spicy minty one, one with puffed rice), but it is this simple kale salad recipe that I return to again and again. 

I started making a version of this salad years ago, after falling hard for the kale salad with lemon dressing in Joshua McFadden’s gorgeous Six Seasons cookbook. Over the years, it has morphed into my own kale salad recipe, with little swaps and adjustments here and there. 

The Best Kale Salad Dressing

Thankfully, the best kale salad dressing is also incredibly simple and requires exactly zero weird, fussy or fancy ingredients. Kale and lemon are a match made in heaven, so this dressing recipe starts with lots and lots of fresh lemon juice. Then comes good olive oil, Parmesan cheese and fresh garlic for balance, sharpness and plenty of savory goodness to the mix, and stirring the Parmesan right into the dressing gives it a lovely slight creaminess that’s a bit like Caesar dressing. The tart lemon dressing with the slightly bitter raw kale make this salad recipe nice for the holidays because it’s nice to have something light and zingy on the table AND you can prep it ahead of time. You can make the salad dressing a few days ahead of time, too. 

7 Simple Ingredients For A Perfect Kale Salad Recipe

• Kale: More on the best kale to use below. 
• Fresh lemon juice
• Parmesan cheese: This really must be freshly grated, so grab your microplane. 
• Olive oil: Extra virgin is my favorite, but regular olive oil will work OK. 
• Fresh garlic: For sharp bold flavor. 
• Panko: The crunch of panko makes this salad SO good.  
• Fresh parsley: Makes this simple salad restaurant-level memorable. 

Which Kale Is Best For Kale Salad

Kale is a member of the brassica family of plants (which includes cabbage, radishes, broccoli and cauliflower) which are all extremely good for you. Kale is a ‘superfood’ bursting with nutrition, and loaded with cancer-fighting qualities, vitamins, fiber, and more. There are lots of varieties of kale, and any will work OK for this salad, but Tuscan kale is my go-to for this salad because it becomes tender more easily than other varieties and is easier to prep. 

How to Prepare Kale for Salad (and Make Kale Less Bitter) 

Alright! We’re really in the thick of it now. You know you’ll need Tuscan kale for this kale salad recipe. You went to the store, you bought all the stuff. And now you’re staring at those three bunches of kale feeling, well, a little intimidated perhaps. Preparing kale is easy to do and our way of doing it will ensure that that salad isn’t overwhelmingly bitter. Here’s how: 

1. Wash the kale thoroughly. If you can, buy organic kale, because it’s often on the Environmental Working Group’s “dirty dozen” list of produce most likely to carry pesticide residue. Also, organic kale is so easy to find and often quite affordable. That said, it’s still a leafy green and should get a very good wash to rinse off any dirty or grit. 
2. Remove the stems. So, honestly, when I am feeling really lazy, I skip this step. But the stems are assertively crunchy, and the kale salad will be much more uniform, pretty and tender if you take a minute to cut the stems out. 
3. Chop the kale! Pretty self-explanatory.
4. Massage the kale! Why? A massaged kale salad is a tender kale salad, particularly if you massage the kale with lemon juice because the acidity of the lemon juice will break down the kale and make it more tender. Tart fresh lemon juice also counterbalances the bitterness that kale can have, so massaging it with lemon serves two purposes!

How to Make Kale Salad

See the full recipe card below for detailed instructions. 

1. Prep and massage the kale.
2. Whip up the lemony dressing.
3. Toast the panko in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes until it is crisp and golden brown.
4. Toss the kale salad! In a big bowl, toss everything together—the massaged kale, the lemon-garlic dressing, parsley, Parmesan, and some of the panko.
5. Serve the salad! Garnish it with a little more panko and Parmesan, and gobble it up!

Tools You’ll Need to Make Kale Salad: 

• Salad spinner
• Sharp knife
• Microplane (very handy for grating fresh Parmesan)
• Citrus juicer
• A big, beautiful salad bowl and salad tongs are always nice. 

A Lemony, Garlicky, Parmesan-y Kale Salad Recipe to Make Again and Again

For more recipe inspiration, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest or order our cookbook. We love when you share your meals. Tag us on Instagram using #themodernproper. Happy cooking!