This paleo, Whole30-friendly, nutritious kale salad is a perfect lunch meal that is super quick and easy to put together. Simple pre-cooked chicken together with fibre-rich carrots and apples make this meal both satiating and delicious.
I Love A Good Kale Salad
Kale is not to everyone’s liking but its nutritional profile is just too good to ignore: it’s a rich source of vitamin K, antioxidants, iron, and fibre, to mention a few.
So I hope that you will try this kale salad because I honestly think that it might change your mind about this amazing leafy green. Plus, it has a lot of other nutritious and tasty ingredients that make it a wonderful, complete paleo meal.
How To Prepare Kale For A Salad
The most important thing about using kale in a salad is that you have to give it a good massage.
Kale is very fibrous and hardy, and unlike thinner spinach or lettuce, it can feel a little tough and chewy in the mouth. Massaging it with a little salt and/or lemon juice breaks down those tough fibres, making the leaves softer and more palatable.
Simply cut up the leaves (minus the hard stems), sprinkle with a little salt or drizzle with lemon juice, and use your hands to squeeze and massage the kale for 20-30 seconds.
I often make a kale salad for lunch and I particularly love adding foods like pre-cooked chicken or tinned salmon, carrots or peppers, apples for sweetness and maybe some avocado.
Meal Prep Tip
Cook up a batch of chicken breasts in the oven or a frying pan on the weekend and store in the fridge for about 3 days. You can also easily get pre-cooked chicken at a store. Then simply slice it up and add to a salad during the week.
You can also use pre-cooked chicken in my kohlrabi, pear and chicken salad or shred the meat to use in paleo wraps.
Dressing For Kale Chicken Salad
For the dressing, you have a few options: mayonnaise with mustard and lemon juice (what I used in this recipe), my egg-free, dairy-free creamy avocado dressing, or a lovely Italian dressing with balsamic vinegar, herbs and olive oil.
Please note that this recipe is for one filling portion but you can simply increase the number of ingredients to make a larger batch of the salad. It keeps well overnight, or you can mix it and store it without the mayonnaise and mustard until just before serving.
If you have some leftover kale, you can use it to make this lovely kale pesto recipe.
More Delicious Salad Recipes
- Warm Chicken & Avocado Salad
- Turmeric Chicken, Kale & Broccoli Salad
- Broccoli Slaw Salad With Cranberries
- Chicken Larb Salad With Red Cabbage
- Paleo Kale Caesar Salad
- Check out my Salad A Day cookbook with 45+ satiating salads
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Ingredients
- 2-3 leaves of kale stem removed and leaves roughly chopped (about 2-3 cups of chopped kale)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 100-150 g cooked chicken 4-5 oz., sliced
- 1/2 medium carrot grated
- 1/2 medium apple red or green, sliced and chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion/scallions
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard like Dijon or yellow
- A pinch of cracked pepper
Instructions
- Sprinkle the kale with salt and drizzle with lemon juice. Using your hands, massage and rub the leaves for 20-30 seconds until slightly softened.
- Add the kale and the rest of the ingredients to a mixing bowl. Mix well allowing the mayo and mustard to incorporate evenly. Serve then and there, or store for a day or overnight as it will keep well until the next day.
Nutrition
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I’ve been cravings nothing but veggies since the holidays, and this salad is just perfection!
Hearty salads are my go-to lunch and this definitely fits the bill! Looks so flavorful and delicious.
I’ve been obsessed with kale salads lately but was starting to run out of ideas. I think this is going on my weekend prep list – love the apples!
Totally in love with kale at the moment – this is a another great way for me to add it into my weekly meal plan. Thanks!
Love all those components, and chopped salads are my favorite. What nostalgic ingredients/flavors! Love this updated, insightful version of a classic.
This is my kind of salad. The apples looks so fresh and crispy. YUM!
Love that this is both healthy and yummy!
There is just nothing like a creamy mayo based dressing with apples! This salad looks divine.
I love all the flavors and textures in this salad!
I love apple in kale salads! This one looks so nourishing and tasty.
This looks great – will make it this week for sure! As a coeliac I find lunch hard, but this is a fast, easy, healthy and delicious option. Thank you 🙂
This salad was amazing… I didn’t know about softening the kale so this was a great tip. I made the creamy avocado dressing and also added a handful of pumpkin seeds to this. Thanks for the recipe.