Orange Kale Salad With Citrus Vinaigrette

Name: Orange Kale Salad With Citrus Vinaigrette
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: ½ shallot, (finely chopped); 1 clove garlic, (minced); ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil; 3 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar; 1 Tablespoon juice from an orange; 1 teaspoon stone-ground mustard; ⅛ teaspoon salt; ⅛ teaspoon pepper; 6 cups kale, (stems removed and chopped); 2 Navel oranges; ½ cup roasted almonds, (sliced); ⅛ teaspoon salt; ⅛ teaspoon pepper

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This raw kale salad recipe is a simple yet delicious salad that is bursting with orange flavor and loaded with crunch! Every bite is packed with fresh slices of naval oranges and sliced almonds and then tossed is a refreshing and zesty citrus vinaigrette. The best kale salad, this version is super light and so refreshing!

White bowl filled with kale and sliced oranges.

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✔️ Quick Recipe Overview
ℹ️ Why This Recipe Works
🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
📋 Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions
🙋🏼 Frequently Asked Questions
💭 Expert Tips
🥬 More Kale Recipe Ideas!
Orange Kale Salad With Citrus Vinaigrette

✔️ Quick Recipe Overview

Why You Should Make This Kale Salad: This healthy salad recipe is overflowing with freshness that has both a vibrant and sweet and tangy flavor. The citrus vinaigrette highlights the orange flavors in every bite!

How Long It Takes: 15 minutes

Equipment You'll Need: large bowl

Get ready for the absolute best kale salad recipe! Every bite is full of fresh and robust flavor from the fresh kale, oranges, and sliced almonds. When you drizzle on the vinaigrette dressing, the tangy sweet flavors perfectly highlight every ingredient. It's easy to make and loaded with crunch. Simple yet delicious, this is one of my all-time favorite kale salad recipes!

Kale salad topped with oranges, almonds, and citrus vinaigrette dressing.

ℹ️ Why This Recipe Works

1. It's hearty, healthy, and extremely versatile! I like to build salads with a variety of flavors and textures. You can add other fruits, raw vegetables, and even nuts!

2. This salad is good at anytime and fits into any situation in your life. Need a quick and healthy lunch? Attending a potluck and need to bring a dish? Bring a kale salad. It's the answer to everything!

3. This salad can be made ahead of time. Just store it in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

🛒 Ingredients You'll Need

It's really simple to make this recipe. For the salad ingredients, all you need is kale, oranges, and sliced almonds. The citrus vinaigrette has an olive oil base and consists of stone ground mustard, minced garlic, finely chopped shallot, white wine vinegar, and salt, and pepper.

Ingredients to make a kale salad and vinaigrette dressing on a counter.

Is kale healthy? Yes! Kale is a superfood. It's packed with protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, and fiber. It has a subtly sweet flavor with a hint of bitter similar to broccoli and cabbage. You'll often hear about people massaging the kale when making a kale salad. Massaging it helps break up the cellulose structure which means you’ll get a slightly sweeter, much silkier kale.

Eating raw kale as a salad is beyond delicious. To make it even easier to chew, remove the leaves from the rib (stalk) and cut it into thin slices. Or, you can tear or cut the leaves into small bite-sized pieces.

📋 Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions

Start by making the citrus vinaigrette dressing so it has time to slightly chill in the refrigerator before drizzling it onto the orange kale salad. Start by finely dicing the shallot and then mincing the garlic clove.

Chopped shallot and minced garlic on a counter.

Add the shallot, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh squeezed orange juice, stone ground mustard, salt, and pepper to a medium size bowl.

Ingredients for citrus vinaigrette dressing in a bowl, whisk on table.

Using a whisk, stir well to combine, about 30 seconds. Place a lid on the container and place in the refrigerator until ready for use.

Bowl of citrus dressing in a bowl,, whisk in bowl.

To make your salad “pop” with even more flavor, remove the pith from the orange. The pith is that spongy substance you see when peeling an orange. With the pith gone, you'll get that perfect bite of salad mixed with a taste of fresh orange and nut from the sliced almonds. We're talking amazing flavor!

It’s really simple to remove the pith from an orange when using a paring knife. Start by slicing off the stem end and the bottom end of the orange. Using a paring knife, start at the top of the orange and cut downwards through the peel and pith. Turn and keep cutting until the peel and pith is removed. Trim off any bits of pith that remain on the fruit.

To assemble the salad, start by adding the chopped kale, orange slices, and sliced almonds in a large bowl and toss to combine. Then, add half of the citrus vinaigrette dressing (or desired amount) and toss until all ingredients are well coated.

Person pouring dressing over naval orange salad.

Taste for seasoning, adding more dressing and oranges, if needed. Serve immediately.

This fresh and healthy kale salad recipe is easy to make, packed with colorful fruits and vegetables, and is the perfect healthy side dish or lunch! It's one of the easiest salad recipes you'll ever make!

🙋🏼 Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cut the kale for this salad?

First, remove the kale leaves from the thick ribs (stalks). Working in batches on a cutting board, gather and bunch the kale leaves together and thinly slice until they resemble ribbons.

How do you make kale salad tender?

The best way to make kale softer and tender is to massage the bite-sized leaves. Once you remove the kale leaves from the ribs, rinse well and run them through a salad spinner to remove the excess water. Use your hands to massage the leaves until they become soft and slightly wilted, about 2-3 minutes.

Can you make kale salad ahead of time?

Yes! You can assemble the salad up to 2 days ahead of time. When you're ready to serve, add the dressing. However, since kale is more sturdy than other types of lettuce, it's ok to add the dressing and store it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It won't wilt nearly as fast if the dressing is applied ahead of time.

💭 Expert Tips

Regardless of what you are making with kale, remove the leaves from the rib. The ribs can be used in making a bone both recipe or in smoothies.
Rinse the kale to remove any excess dirt and then use a salad spinner to remove any excess water.
Make sure you slice the kale thinly for more uniformity with the other ingredients.
When blood oranges are in season, they taste amazing in this recipe!
If you don't want to deal with removing the pith from the naval orange, use clementines.
Add cooked chicken or quinoa for added protein.
While the salad is delicious as is, I sometimes add feta or goat cheese. You can also add chunks of granny smith apple, dried cranberries, raw beets, and pomegranate seeds.

A plate of orange and kale salad on a fork

🥬 More Kale Recipe Ideas!

If you love kale, then make sure you check out my easy-to-make kale and leek soup. Creamy and easy to make, this one is full of amazing flavors. And these hearty kale patties are not only the perfect lunch but pair amazingly well with this orange kale salad! And this nutritious and delicious Greek kale quinoa salad is another salad recipe that delivers big flavor! It's perfect for any lunch or dinner!

No one has time for boring salad recipes! So if you're looking for more easy-to-make and ridiculously flavorful salad recipes, you're going to love my collection! I’ve got all kinds of salad choices that will fit any palette!

Update Notes: This post was originally published in August 2016, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures, and tips in March 2022.