This isn’t called The Kale Yeah Salad for nothing. In fact, it may be the best kale salad ever, and it will completely dissolve any hard feelings you may have towards kale and its bitter green leaves.

What makes this kale salad so delicious? It’s filled with simple, plant-based ingredients that come together to create the greatest kale salad to ever be. These superstars include:

Kale. (duh) Kale, my friends, is the king of the greens. Kale is not only a vitamin and mineral powerhouse serving up so many micronutrients its not even funny, but it also contains plant protein, ALA omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber. Kale is packed with flavonoids, which act as free radical scavenging antioxidants in our bodies and help to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. Ask not what you can do for kale…

Avocado. This healthy fat is incredibly important in our recipe. Not only does it add an essential creaminess and flavor to the kale, but also it helps your body to absorb some of the kale’s fat-soluble vitamins, like Vitamin A & K. Avocado is also wonderful for your hair and skin, and provides lots of beautifying fatty acids to keep you glowing.

Lemon. The essential freshness in this kale salad is found in a bright squeeze of fresh lemon. Lemon not only provides a balance of acidity, but it helps to make the kale’s iron and calcium more bioavailable. What the heck does that mean? Simply, that the added lemon helps our body absorb more goodness.

Tahini. Even though this sounds like a fancy-shmancy ingredient, it’s really just ground up sesame seeds. Tahini paste is one of my favorite foods of all time and I put it in about everything. In this kale salad, tahini adds a little extra special creaminess and nuttiness, while packing in the health benefits as well. Tahini is a great source of calcium, potassium, iron, vitamins, and protein too.

Hemp Seeds. Hello plant protein! Hemp seeds are a wonderful little source of quality amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, Vitamin E & B, zinc, and fiber too. They provide a great nutty taste to our kale salad…don’t skip them!

I also love to throw in some pumpkin seeds for crunch and black beans for extra texture and goodness. Although you don’t need to specifically use black beans for this recipe, (any bean will do) I prefer to use black beans because they’re my fav. Black beans are a rich source of protein, iron, calcium, folate, fiber, and antioxidants as well.

So much simple goodness comes together to create a kale salad worthy of its title. Kale Yeah!

The Kale Yeah Salad

Makes 2 large servings, or 4 small servings

Kale Salad:

1 large head lacinato kale, stems removed and finely chopped
½ large avocado, diced
½ cup black beans
¼ cup pumpkin seeds

Kale Yeah Dressing:

Juice of 1 lemon
½ large avocado
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon hemp seeds
Pink Himalayan sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Method:

Prep your kale by washing it, removing thick stems, and finely chopping into strips. Place into a large bowl and set aside while you make your dressing.

For the creamy, dreamy dressing place lemon juice, half an avocado, tahini, and hemp seeds in a food processor. Pulse until smooth and creamy, adding in pink Himalayan sea salt and pepper to taste.

Pour dressing overtop of bowl of chopped kale. Using your hands, massage dressing into kale for about 2-3 minutes, until leaves are completely smooth and silky. Add in chopped avocado, black beans, and pumpkin seeds and stir to thoroughly combine.

Serve kale salad immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Enjoy!