This winter kale salad is chock-full of apples, avocado, dates, dried cranberries, toasted pecans and crumbled blue cheese. It’s tossed with a honey balsamic dressing to create a sweet, crunchy, incredibly satisfying side dish.

Winter Kale Chopped Salad in a wooden bowl.

Food trends are an interesting thing. For whatever reason, something will just take off and you see it EVERYWHERE. – restaurant menus, cookbooks, and of course, food blogs. We’ve seen the not so healthy trends – think cupcakes, cronuts, and bacon. Thankfully, some items from the healthier end of the spectrum have also hit the big time in recent years. One of my favorite ingredients of all time, Greek yogurt, has become wildly popular. Hummus had a heyday. And, kale has become nearly as common as iceburg lettuce was in the 70’s. I didn’t immediately jump on the kale bandwagon but over time I have become a believer. An honest to goodness kale lover.

Salad in a wooden bowl shot from over the top.

I’ve always loved it cooked into soups and stews (I recently cooked it into a delicious Sausage and Tortellini Soup with Kale) but my feelings about the dark, leafy green grew exponentially when I had my first kale salad a couple of years ago. In addition to being delicious, it’s packed with an incredible amount of fiber to make you feel full and satisfied and is loaded with nutrients.

Kale Salad Ingredients on a cutting board.

My best inspiration for new salad recipes comes from cruising through the aisles of a local, independently owned produce market. On a recent trip, I couldn’t pass by the great big piles of lacinto kale without grabbing some. The other items that ended up in my basket were big, beautiful avocados, pretty Jonagold apples, and dates. Along with a few other ingredients I had in my pantry, this winter season salad was born.

You can use any variety of kale you’d like but for this salad I recommend lacinto kale, sometimes referred to as Tuscan or dinosaur kale. It has a flatter leaf than it’s curly cousin and a deep, dark, bluish tint.

The first task at hand when working with kale is to de-stem it. There are a couple of ways to go about this. You can use a knife to slice down either side of the stem to remove it.

Or, you can use this method to pull the stem out without the use of a knife. Use your fingers to separate the kale leaves from the bottom of the stem.

Pulling the leaves from the stem of the kale.

With one hold hand the bottom of the stem, use your fingers on your other hand to pull the leaves up the stem.

The leaves will easily pull up and right off…

… leaving the stem behind. This is a easy, fast method if you’ve got a lot of kale to de-stem.

I de-stemmed this entire bunch of kale in just a couple of minutes.

Finely chop the kale, a handful at a time, and then give it a rinse and spin in your salad spinner (or alternately, rinse and drain it very well).

Transfer the squeaky clean chopped kale to a large mixing bowl.

Dressing pours from a mason jar over the salad.

Raw kale is a tough bugger and needs a vinegar or citrus based dressing to help break down the fibers and soften it a bit. Add the dressing and toss it well to be sure that all of the kale is coated and then we’ll let it sit and do it’s thing while we work on the rest of the ingredients. This Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette is a snap to put together and is a perfect compliment to all the flavors in this salad (see the printable recipe below for all the details).

All the ingredients for the kale salad in a glass bowl.

To the dressed kale add the chopped apple, avocado, dried cranberries, and chopped dates.

Sprinkle the salad with blue cheese crumbles and toasted pecans to finish it off.

Winter Kale Chopped Salad in a wooden bowl with text overlay.