Kale Salad with Pumpkin Seeds

Kale salad with pepitas, dried cherries, cotija cheese, and lemon-parsley dressing is a wildly crunchy and nutritious healthy salad recipe.

How was your weekend? Are you enjoying all the daylight hours? Has it warmed up in your neck of the woods yet? We enjoyed 70-degree weather over here in No Winter’s Land, and it already feels like summer. Summer = bikinis = salad, yes?

I’ve been on a quest to copycat my three favorite kale salads from restaurants in town. Like I told ya last week in my recipe post for Copycat Trader Joe’s Curried Chicken Salad this is what we recipe developers do when we get bored of our own cooking.

We make Other People’s Recipes (OPR). A few months ago, I posted a Lemony Kale Salad with Parmesan Crisps (copycatted from Campo).

I then posted this Spicy Kale Caesar Salad with Roasted Garlic (copycatted from Bowl), and finally, I’m posting the Highway to Kale, from Laughing Planet. You guys it’s so full of goodies, I can hardly wait for you to eat it!

What is the kale is the Highway to Kale?

WELL. 

Ingredients for This Kale Salad:

It involves lots of dino (lacinato) kale, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, and a little sprinkle sprinkle of cotija cheese on top.

Wrapped up in the most bangarang lemon-parsley dressing in all the land. The lemon-parsley dressing is the real clincher for this salad. It’s so flavorful and unique, plus did you know parsley is ridiculously good for you?

It’s high in Vitamin K, followed by Vitamins C and A, and is pegged as a cancer-fighting food (learn more about parsley here).

This bowl has all my favorite salad elements: The crunch, the sweet, the cream. Just put a ring on it, already!

You guys, I have a sneaking suspicion you’re going to addict yourself to this salad. Unlike most of my salad recipes, there’s zero cooking involved. The thing goes down real easy, and need I tempt you further by telling you this healthy salad will clean you right out? It will. Super digestive stimulant right here!

Can we talk about your digestive system a little more? Just kidding, that’s awkward.

More Nutritious Salad Recipes:

• Kale Salad with Blood Orange, Avocado, and Kombucha Vinaigrette
• Chili Chicken Kale Salad with Shredded Beets and Cinnamon Dijon Vinaigrette
• Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Thai Chicken Kale Chopped Salad with Mango and Peanut Dressing

We’re on the highway to kale!

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Highway to Kale Salad

Yield: 1 Large Salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

An amazing crunchy kale salad with carrots, dried cherries, pumpkin seeds, and cotija (or feta) cheese.

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Ingredients

Lemon-Parsley Dressing:

• 1 cup grapeseed or olive oil
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
• 1 lemon, zested
• ½ cup flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

Kale Salad:

• 8 ounces lacinato and red leaf kale, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds, pepitas
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• ½ cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup cotija cheese, grated + more for serving*

Instructions

Prepare the Lemon-Parsley Dressing:

1. Add all ingredients for the dressing to a small blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth.

Prepare the salad:

1. Add all ingredients for the salad to a large serving bowl. Add desired amount of lemon-parsley dressing and toss well to coat. Serve heaping bowlfuls of salad with additional cotija cheese grated on top.

Notes

*You can replace the cotija cheese with feta or goat cheese if you prefer.

This makes a huge salad for one or a side salad for two people.

Nutrition Information

Yield 1 Serving Size 1 Salad
Amount Per Serving Calories 892Total Fat 108gUnsaturated Fat 0gCarbohydrates 91gFiber 19gSugar 44gProtein 18g