How To Make Kale And Quinoa Salad

Kale and Quinoa Salad

Kale and Quinoa Salad is a delicious and healthy recipe that is easy to make. With kale growing abundantly in our garden we keep looking for good ways to eat it. This salad is good with quinoa and nuts in it.

Photo shows harvesting kale in the garden
Harvesting Kale

This is a prism hybrid kale plant but we have made this recipe with other kinds of kale such as Red Winter and Red Russian and it always comes out great. A bunch of kale can look a bit intimidating to deal with. We’ll show you how to cut and tenderize the kale for a good eating experience.

This recipe is naturally gluten free

Watch a Video

The Ingredients For Kale and Quinoa Salad

  • 8 Cups packed, Shredded Kale Leaves
  • 1 Cup Quinoa
  • 2 Cups Chicken Broth
  • 3 Garlic Cloves
  • Zest of 1 Lemon
  • 2 Tbls Lemon Juice
  • 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
  • 2 tsp Sugar
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Black Pepper
  • 6 Tbls Oil
  • 1 Cup Almonds, Chopped and Toasted
  • 1/4 Cup Cilantro
  • 1/4 Cup Dill
  • 1/4 Red Onion
  • 4 oz Feta
Photo shows a bundle of freshly harvested kale leaves
A Bundle Of Freshly Picked Kale Leaves

Wash the Kale

Our first step is to wash and dry the kale. We’ll rinse it thoroughly with cool water. You don’t need to use really cold water, a cool temperature that feels good on your hands will do nicely. Then we’ll lay the leaves out on a towel to dry.

Photo shows the kale leaves draining on a towel
Wash and Drain the Kale Leaves

Cook the Quinoa

While the kale is drying we can start the quinoa. We’ll want to rinse the quinoa first. We put it in a fine mesh strainer and run water over it until the water runs clear.

Photo shows the quinoa being rinsed in a strainer
Rinse the Quinoa

Cook The Quinoa In Broth

We’ll put our 1 cup of quinoa in a pan with 2 cups of broth, bring it to a boil and then turn down the heat and cook it for 15 minutes. Then we take it off the heat and let it sit, covered for 5 minutes. You can use any kind of broth for this. We like beef or duck broth but chicken broth or turkey broth work just fine. Cooking in broth just adds a lot of flavor to our quinoa.

Photo shows the quinoa cooking in broth
Cook the Quinoa In Broth

Let the Quinoa Cool

Since we are putting the quinoa on our salad we need to let it cool. We can cut the kale and make the dressing while our quinoa is cooking and cooling.

Remove the Thick Kale Stems

We want to remove the thick, woody stems from the leaves. These stems are really tough and we don’t want them in our salad. We lay the leaves flat and cut down both sides of the stem.

Photo shows the stems being removed from the kale leaves
Cut Out the Stems

Chiffonade The Leaves

We’ll stack a couple leaves on top of each other, roll them up tightly and make thin slices perpendicular to the roll. This knife technique is called Chiffonade. You create long thin strands of kale leaf. We want to cut these as thinly as we can to make the salad more tender. We’ll put the cut leaves into a large bowl. If you are unclear about what we are saying here, you can see this process demonstrated about 5 minutes into our video.

Photo shows the rolled up leaves being cut
Chiffonade the Leaves

Tenderize The Kale

We’ll add a little salt, pepper and oil to our bowl of kale leaves and give at all a good massage. We like the flavor that peanut oil adds to our salad but you can use any kind of oil you want. Sesame oil is another nice flavor. We will work the oil into the leaves with a kind of squeeze and release motion. Then we will let the kale rest for at least 30 minutes while we make the dressing.

Photo shows oil being added to the cut kale leaves in the salad bowl
Pour On 1/4 Cup Of Oil
Photo shows hands massaging the kale
Massage the Kale

Make The Dressing

We’ll start by putting the chopped garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice into a pint jar. We like to use a jar with a lid for this because it is easy to mix the dressing by shaking it. You can do this in a bowl as well if you prefer.

Photo shows lemon juice being squeezed in the pint jar
Garlic, Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice

Add The Other Ingredients

Next we’ll add the sugar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

Photo shows black pepper being added to the pint jar
Add 1 tsp Each of Salt and Pepper

Add the Oil and Mix

Now we will just add the oil and mix the dressing. Again, we are using peanut oil to add the nutty flavor.

Photo shows 3 tablespoons of oil in a pint container
6 Tbls Peanut Oil

Chop the Almonds

We’ll chop our almonds up into pieces by putting them on a cutting board and chopping one direction and then the other with the knife. We want to get moderately small pieces for the most part so we’ll just continue chopping until we achieve that.

Photo shows the almonds being chopped
Chop the Almonds

Toast The Almonds

Then we will put the almonds in a dry pan over medium-high heat and toast them, stirring frequently. You want to be careful not to burn them so once they heat up you’ll need to keep an eye on them.

Photo shows the almond pieces going into a dry frying pan to toast
Toast the Almonds

Add Herbs To The Kale

While our almonds are heating up we can add our dill and cilantro to the resting kale leaves. We just bunch them up tightly and cut small pieces off with kitchen shears.

Photo shows cutting the herbs into the salad bowl with scissors
Add Dill and Cilantro

Dice the Onion

We’ll just take a few slices off the oniopn and dice them into a fairly small dice. We won’t be cooking the onion so you can decide how much raw onion you want in your salad. We like a small amount but too much gives us heartburn.

Photo shows chopping the onion slices
Dice the Onion

Add the Onion to the Kale

We’ll add our diced onion to our kale and herbs

Photo shows the onions added to the salad bowl
Add Onions

Add the Toasted Almonds to the Kale

When the almonds are smelling toasted we will add them to the bowl of kale. You will see a little darkening but the main way to know they are ready is they will smell like toasted almonds. We’ll just put those right into the salad.

Photo shows the toasted almonds added to the salad bowl
Add the Almonds

Add Some Feta Cheese

Next we’ll shake some of our crumbled feta cheese into the bowl. We’ll put on about 1/2 cup at this point.

Photo shows feta cheese being added to the salad
Add Crumbled Feta Cheese

Add Dressing

We will add half the dressing to the salad and massage everything together. You’ll want to get this worked together well at this point.

Photo shows the dressing being poured on the salad
Pour On Half the Dressing
Photo shows mixing and massaging by hand
Mix and Massage

Add the Quinoa

By now our quinoa will be cooled enough to add to our salad. We will add about half the quinoa and mix that in.

Photo shows the quinoa added to the salad
Add the Quinoa

Add More Dressing

Then we’ll add the other half of the quinoa and the rest of the dressing. We’ll get that all mixed together thoroughly.

Photo shows mixing and massaging the kale by hand
Mix and Massage Some More

Add More Feta

Now we’ll add the last of our feta cheese, mix that in and our salad is finished. We serve this as a meal but it could easily be a side dish or first course. It is a lot of steps to make this salad but nothing is terribly difficult and we feel the result is well worth the effort.

Photo shows finished Kale and Quinoa Salad
Kale and Quinoa Salad

Here are some other salad and dressing recipes you can make:

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Photo shows finished Kale and Quinoa Salad

Kale And Quinoa Salad

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  • Author: 2 Cooks in the Kitchen
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 16 cups 1x
  • Category: Salad
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Description

Kale and Quinoa Salad is a delicious and healthy recipe that is easy to make. With kale growing abundantly in our garden we keep looking for good ways to eat it. This salad is good with quinoa and nuts in it.


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 8 cups packed, Shredded Kale Leaves
  • 1 cup Quinoa
  • 2 cups Chicken Broth
  • 3 Garlic Cloves
  • Zest of 1 Lemon
  • 2 Tbls Lemon Juice
  • 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
  • 2 tsp Sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp Salt, divided
  • 1 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, divided
  • 6 1/4 Tbls Peanut Oil, divided
  • 1 cup Almonds, Chopped and Toasted
  • 1/4 cup Cilantro
  • 1/4 cup Dill
  • 1/4 Red Onion, Diced
  • 4 oz Feta

Instructions

  1. Wash the kale and lay it on a towel to dry.
  2. Rinse the quinoa. Put two cups of broth in a saucepan, add the quinoa, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered for 5 minutes. Uncover and let cool.
  3. Remove the tough, large stems from the kale leaves. Roll the leaves up and make thin slices perpendicular to the roll. Put the cut slices into a large mixing bowl.
  4. Add 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of peanut oil. Massage this into the kale thoroughly. Let the kale rest for 30 minutes.
  5. Make the dressing. Put the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and 6 Tbls peanut oil into a pint jar with a lid. Shake to mix.
  6. Add the herbs. Roll the dill and cilantro up tightly and, using kitchen shears, cut small slices into the salad.
  7. Dice the onion into a small dice and add to the salad.
  8. Toast the almonds. Chop the almonds and put them in a dry pan over medium-high heat. Let cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes until they start to smell like toasted almonds. Add them to the quinoa.
  9. Add 2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese to the mixing bowl.
  10. Add half the dressing and, using your hands, mix and massage everything together.
  11. Add half the quinoa and mix that in.
  12. Add the rest of the quinoa, the rest of the dressing and the rest of the feta cheese and mix everything thoroughly.
  13. Serve a large portion as a main dish or a smaller portion as a side.

Notes

You can add pepper flakes or chile oil to the dressing for a little kick.

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