Kale Apple Pomegranate Salad – Dairy Free

This kale apple pomegranate salad is a bright and festive winter salad that’s perfect for the holidays and every day dinners! Made with wholesome ingredients like kale, apples, pecans, green onions, pomegranate, and a creamy tahini based dressing. It would make a delicious and colorful addition to your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Gluten free, vegan, paleo, Whole30 option.

The best winter kale salad

As much as I love cozy comfort food when winter hits, I’m also ALWAYS into a big hearty salad to go with it.

Something bright and colorful with bold flavors and crunchy textures is just the perfect compliment to rich dishes. It acts as a palate cleanser, and the raw vegetables (and fruits!) are a welcome burst of freshness and flavor.

This kale salad recipe relies on some of our favorite winter fruits – apples and pomegranates for a tart sweetness.

Then there’s green onions for zip, some added crunch from chopped toasted pecans, and a tahini based dressing that is irresistibly creamy (hot tip! for a stand-alone recipe for tahini dressing be sure to check out our 5 Minute Tahini Dressing!)

Put it all together and you’ve got a gorgeous seasonal kale salad that is just begging to sit alongside your turkey dinner!

Why you’ll love this kale apple pomegranate salad

It is:

• Vibrant
• Satisfying
• Crunchy + full of texture
• Bright and fresh
• Gluten free, dairy free, paleo friendly
• Perfect for the holidays
• SO delicious!

Ingredients and substitutions

This easy kale salad is made with tuscan kale, winter fruits, and toasty chopped pecans for lots of crunchy texture. But there are a few substitutions that can be made depending on your preferences that I’ll share below.

Here’s what you need

• Kale – I love tuscan kale (also called dino kale) for kale salads, but you could substitute another type of hearty kale as well. To make sure it is soft and not bitter you’ll massage it with some of the dressing before adding the other salad ingredients.
• Pecans – Toasted and chopped, pecans add a nice texture and nutty flavor to the salad. For other options try walnuts, sunflower seeds, or even cashews. Or make these Candied Maple Syrup Pecans for an elevated touch!
• Apples – Honeycrisp apples are always what we reach for when making this salad, but any type of apple will work!
• Pomegranate seeds – Pomegranate seeds (or pomegranate arils) add a lovely pop of bright and tart flavor.
• Green onions – Thinly sliced green onions bring a bit of zip to the salad, but you can leave them out if you prefer, or substitute with thinly sliced red onion.
• Salt + pepper – Salt and pepper are used in the dressing, but even with salads I always recommend tasting and adding more to your preference before serving.
• Creamy tahini dressing – The creamy tahini dressing is made with tahini, garlic, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, olive oil, and salt and pepper. It’s a perfectly balanced creamy compliment to the textured kale salad.

How to make this colorful kale apple pomegranate salad

Prepping and chopping the fruit and vegetables is the most time consuming part of making this hearty salad. But it can easily be done in less than 30 minutes, or faster if you grab a second set of hands to help!

Here’s the step-by-step

• Toast the pecans. Preheat the oven and spread pecans in an even layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Toast until fragrant and a slightly darker shade of brown.
• Make the dressing. Add the garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt to a medium sized bowl and stir to combine. Allow it to sit for about a minute or so to take away some of the bite of the garlic. Add the maple syrup, tahini, olive oil, black pepper, and water, and whisk until smooth and pale in color. Add more water a little a time until desired consistency is reached. Tahini can vary quite a bit in thickness, so you may need to add less or more than the recipes calls for based on the kind you’re using. It should be easily drizzled when ready.
• Dress the kale. Add chopped kale to a large bowl. Drizzle with some of the dressing. Toss and gently massage with your hands to soften the leaves. This also makes the kale taste less bitter!
• Prep the remaining salad ingredients. Dice the apple, harvest the pomegranate seeds, thinly slice the green onion, and roughly chop the pecans.
• Combine everything. Add most of the apples, pomegranate, chopped pecans, green onions, to the dressed kale, reserving some for the top of the salad. Toss to combine, adding more dressing as needed. Taste salad and season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.
• Garnish the salad and serve. Top with reserved apples, pomegranate, pecans, and green onions, and serve immediately.

How to cut kale for salad

There are a few ways to cut kale for salad depending on your preference. Because we like a bit of added texture from the rib of the kale leaf I tend to cut off the tough, thicker end of the leaves and then cut the rest of it into bite sized pieces as pictured above.

If your stems (ribs of the kale) are quite thick, or you want more tender pieces of kale in your salad, I would recommend removing the entire stem before cutting it into smaller pieces. That way you’re only using the leaf portion of the kale.

How to massage kale for kale salad

Massaging kale is one of the best ways to make kale taste good in a salad. It makes it softer (easier to chew!), and makes it not so bitter. It also ensures that the dressing coats every delightful nook and cranny of each kale leaf.

Sometimes I use just a bit of salt and olive oil or vinegar to massage kale, but in this recipe you’ll use the creamy tahini dressing.

All you have to do is pour some of the dressing over the kale leaves and massage it in until the kale has softened and collapsed in size. It’s a little messy but clean hands are the best tool for the task!

Other additions and modifications

There are a few other simple swaps and extra ingredients you could add to this salad that I’ll share below.

• Avocado – Avocado is DELICIOUS in this salad. It adds an extra layer of creamy sweetness and helps sort of bind the kale leaves together. If you’re planning to eat the salad for leftovers I would wait to add the avocado until just before serving.
• Cheese – Goat cheese, feta, or blue cheese would all be great additions to this salad.
• Candied Pecans – For a little more festive sweetness you could easily swap the toasted pecans for chopped candied nuts.
• Walnuts – Walnuts in place of pecans is a delicious substitution.
• Pears – Firm pears would make a great swap for the apples.

Can you make this kale salad in advance?

Yep! You can make it in advance. Or at least portions of it. If you’re prepping this salad for your turkey dinner, or for a dinner party I would break down the tasks like this.

1. Wash and chop the kale. Transfer to an air tight container or gallon ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator.
2. Make the dressing and store in a jar in the refrigerator.
3. Remove the pomegranate seeds and store in the refrigerator.
4. Toast and chop the pecans. Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
5. The apples can be chopped and submerged in lemon water in the refrigerator until ready to use, but texture will be best if cut fresh.
6. Massage the kale with the dressing several hours before serving.
7. Allow the dressing and kale salad to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving.
8. Just before serving thinly sliced the green onions (and apples if you haven’t cut them already). Assemble the salad as directed in the recipe and serve!

Storing leftovers

One amazing thing about kale salad is that it will store quite well for leftovers. This salad will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days after assembled. The apples may lose a bit of their crispness but it’s definitely still delicious!

Love this colorful holiday salad? Here’s some other yummy salads to try!

• Hearty Winter Chicken Salad
• Apple Walnut Green Salad
• Shaved Cauliflower Salad with Pecorino Cheese
• Shaved Carrot and Parsley Salad
• Asian Pear and Walnut Salad

If you enjoyed this recipe, we’d love it if you would take 5 seconds to rate and review it below! It’s also super helpful for other readers if you share any modifications you made to the recipe. 

Thank you for sharing your kitchen with NK. We’re so grateful you’re here!

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