A delicious and beautiful raw vegan kale salad with strawberries, walnuts or almonds, and red onions. This salad is massaged with an easy maple, Dijon, and apple cider vinegar dressing.Beautiful massaged kale salad with strawberries, walnuts, red onions, and edible flowers.

I don’t know when or how it happened exactly, but I’ve become somewhat of a kale salad addict. Is that weird? I love filling up a tub of kale salad to go from the Whole Foods salad bar. One of my favorites has dried cranberries, walnuts, and sliced red onions. The tender kale goes so well with the sweet cranberries, savory onions, and tangy dressing. I often recreate this one at home, but for spring I wanted to give this kale salad a fresh little update. Our garden strawberries are just beginning to ripen and I am excited to get to create more recipes around them. Fresh strawberries ended up tasting even better than the cranberries in this salad.

Our school recently held its annual science night. To thank the scientists for spending an evening educating our children, families host a dinner beforehand. I brought this easy kale salad. Kale salad is a great dish to bring to pot lucks or make on meal prep days because its stays fresh so much longer than other green salads which tend to quickly wilt. In fact, kale salads get even better after sitting and softening in their dressing for a few hours. This strawberry kale salad would be lovely for Easter or any spring or summer celebration. Don’t feel like you need to save it for a special occasion though, it’s just as wonderful for grabbing for lunch.

Kale salad with an easy apple cider vinegar, maple, and Dijon dressing. This salad bowl is topped with strawberries, onions, and nuts.

To bulk this salad up even more for lunch I like to add avocado, hemp seeds, quinoa, or lentils. You can treat this salad as a side dish for dinner, or a base to top with your favorite things. This salad comes together in about 10 minutes, even with the homemade dressing.

Closeup of a delicious raw vegan kale salad massaged with an easy dressing and topped with strawberries, walnuts, onions, and edible flowers.

There is a trick to making really good kale salad. It’s all about the dressing and how it is applied. This first few times I made kale salad I didn’t like it at all and couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong.  Finally, I figured it out. Unlike other salads, kale salad needs a good massaging. Massaging the dressing into kale is what takes it from tasting like dry tasteless weeds to tender flavorful salad. When we are adding softer ingredients like berries or crumbled cheese the massaging should be done before adding those ingredients so they don’t get smashed.

Are you a kale salad lover like I am? Maybe this recipe will turn you into one. Let me know if you make it by tagging me on Instagram.

Yield: Serves about 8

Kale Salad with Strawberries and Walnuts

Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

A beautiful and delicious kale salad with strawberries, walnuts, and red onions.

Kale Salad with Strawberries and Walnuts

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • freshly cracked pepper
  • 5-6 oz. (about 5 cups) fresh kale, stems removed and cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 cup walnut halves or pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups sliced or quartered strawberries
  • 1/2 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup crumbled soft cheese, optional (I like Treeline dairy-free)
  • edible flowers, optional

Instructions

  1. For the dressing, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, syrup, oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl or jar.
  2. Fill a large salad bowl with the kale pieces. Massage the dressing into the kale with your hands until all the pieces are coated, using as much dressing as you would like. I used all the dressing. Top kale with the walnuts, strawberries, and red onion. Sometimes I serve this salad with some crumbled cheese for more flavor and creamy texture. If I'm bringing this kale salad to a spring or summer party I like to garnish with a few edible flowers.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1/6 recipe
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 161
Kale salad recipe with strawberries, walnuts, red onions, and edible flowers.