Kale and Root Vegetable Salad

This kale and root vegetable salad is absolutely perfect for those days when the little voice in your head is telling you to make healthy choices, but you don’t have hours to spend cooking in the kitchen. Its one of those throw-it-in-the-oven, chuck-it-in-the-blender, toss-it-all-together salads that turns out delicious every single time! A great option for meal prep too!

The nuts, seeds, and the tahini make the salad a great source of healthy fats. The quinoa gets you a little protein and you’ve got some great healthy complex carbs from the sweet potatoes. And of course, gotta get those greens in!

Kale

It’s pretty unpleasant to eat kale raw because of its tough texture and slightly bitter taste. So in order to make it nice to eat, the texture and the taste have to be amended in some way.

In order to tackle its tough texture, we have to massage the kale. That’s right. Massage it. The reason?

All plants are made up of a compound called cellulose, which help them maintain their structure. Massaging the kale helps to break down the cellulose fibers of the leafy green, giving it a more palatable texture. This process will also help to take away some of the kale’s bitter taste.

So how exactly do you massage kale? First, make sure to de-stem the kale and rip the leaves into bite-size pieces. Wash it thoroughly, pour over a little apple cider vinegar and season it lightly with salt. The acid from the vinegar is another thing that will help to breakdown the fibers. Then just go to town massaging! You’ll know you’ve massaged it enough when the leaves take on a slightly darker color and start to wilt. Keep tasting the kale until the leaves reach your desired texture. You’re looking for the leaves to have a bit of a bite, but not be super mushy.

If you are a kale fanatic, check out my dukkah crusted salmon with charred kale!

Roasted Root Vegetables

You can use any combination of root vegetables you want in this salad, but my favorite combination is carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes. One of my favorite ways to eat is carrots is by roasting them, since it brings out their natural sweetness but still maintains a lovely texture without becoming super mushy. The sweet potatoes are a softer element to the overall salad, and the parsnips bring a nice earthy contrast to the sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes.

In this recipe, I chose to roast the vegetables pretty simply with just olive oil, salt, and pepper, to help the flavors of the dressing really pop!

Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing

The roasted garlic tahini dressing is the final component that essentially ties everything together in a nice neat bow. I love using tahini in dressings, since it’s such a good creamy base on which so many flavors can be added!

In this case, I blended the roasted garlic (which takes on a sweet and mellow garlic flavor) with the tahini along with a few other ingredients, to create a simple yet flavorful dressing that takes minutes to whip up!

If you’ve never used tahini before, it’s a sesame seed paste, often used in making hummus. But don’t worry, this dressing won’t taste too hummus-y with all the other flavor mix-ins the recipe calls for, like maple syrup, a little orange juice, and smoked paprika!

Kale Salad Notes and Tips

• Massaging the kale: Don’t massage the kale too far in advance, otherwise the fibers can continue to break down with the vinegar and you could easily end up with mushy kale. You can avoid this by massaging the kale up to an hour before serving.
• Making the dressing: Depending on the brand of tahini you find at your local supermarket, the consistencies will vary. Some may be thicker or more runnier than others. You can add room temperature water to the blender accordingly, about a tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency for the dressing.
• Leftover roasted garlic: The recipe calls for a full head of garlic to be roasted, however only about half of the garlic will end up being used in the dressing. But don’t throw the rest of the garlic out! Garlic gets extremely soft after it’s roasted, taking on an almost butter-like texture, and it loses that sharp flavor that raw garlic has. So one of my favorite ways to eat it is by spreading the roasted garlic on a toasted piece of bread with a butter knife! You can also use it in soups or sauces as well!
• Measuring tahini: Measuring tahini can be a real pain since its sticky and gets everywhere. An easy way to measure it is by lightly spraying down your measuring cup with a little bit of cooking oil spray. When you pour the tahini in the cup, it will easily glide out of it, making clean up way easier.

Kale Salad Substitutions

• Apple cider vinegar: When massaging the kale, any acid will work to break down the fibers. Any type of mild vinegar will totally work. Citruses, like a little squeeze of lemon juice, are also a great option.
• Pumpkin seeds: Sunflower seeds are a great substitute if you can’t find pumpkin seeds.
• Root Vegetables: Use whatever is in season at the grocery store. Carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes are definitely not the only root vegetables out there! Butternut squash, beets, and fennel are just a few off the top of my head.

Print Recipe

Kale and Root Vegetable Salad with Garlic Tahini Dressing

Lunch, Sides, Dinner

By Sahar Kapasi – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 40 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour

This kale and root vegetable salad with roasted garlic tahini dressing is an easy and healthy option, perfect for a quick lunch or side!

Ingredients

• Salad
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 head of garlic, sliced across the lateral
• 6 small parsnips, roughly diced
• 4 carrots, roughly diced
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 bunch curly kale, de-stemmed
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Dressing
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed juice from an orange
• Salt, to taste

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

2

On a large baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes, parsnips, and carrots with the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. With the skin side down of the head of garlic, lightly drizzle the garlic cloves with olive oil and season lightly with salt. Close the head of garlic, and seal in aluminum foil. Place on the baking sheet.

3

Roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes, tossing halfway. The vegetables should be fork tender, and the garlic should be soft and fragrant. Pop out the roasted garlic cloves while warm into a small bowl by pressing the skins gently. Only about half of the roasted garlic will be used in the dressing.

4

Meanwhile, cook the quinoa according to package directions. Let cool and set aside.

5

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a blender, along with about half of the roasted garlic (7-8 cloves) and 1 tablespoon of water. Blend until smooth. Gradually add one more tablespoon of water if needed, until it has reached the desired consistency.

6

Rip the kale leaves with your hands into bite-sized pieces. Pour the apple cider vinegar over the kale, season lightly with salt, and massage the kale for about 2 minutes. Continue massaging until the kale has slightly wilted and retains its texture, but is not too tough.

7

For the assembly, add the cooked quinoa to the kale in a large bowl, along with the roasted vegetables, toasted almonds, and pumpkin seeds. Pour over the dressing, toss, and serve!

If you liked this recipe, check out my dukkah crusted salmon with charred kale!

I hope you enjoyed! I would absolutely love to hear your experience! What you liked, any substitutions you made, who you shared with… leave a comment down below!