We love a good kale salad around here. Especially my husband, Dan. It's a good way to get him to eat his vegetables, which can be as difficult as my little ones ;). I don't stray from carbs in a salad. Lack of carbs makes me cranky and impacts my ability to recover after a tough run, so, I always prioritize healthy carbs in my meals. In this case, I've used Quinoa, but if you don't do carbs like I do, just omit it! It just adds some heartiness to the salad which I enjoy.
The kale, carrots, radicchio, bell peppers and chicken make it a pretty versatile salad that allows you to use whatever dressing you care for. In this case, we used Garlic Expressions, which is an oil-based dressing, but you could always do a simple balsamic vinegar and olive oil concoction or anything that has a bit of acid and a fair amount of oil. The acid helps break down the kale leaves to ensure they're tender, otherwise they can be a bit tough.
Also, I love this salad because you can dress it and it holds up for another day or two if you don't get through all of it! We definitely had it for dinner two nights in a row and I ate some for lunch! Another great meal prep option.
A Simple How-To:
The Quinoa:
I used my InstantPot to make my Quinoa. Using Ambitious Kitchen's recipe, I rinsed my quinoa, sprayed my InstantPot with a bit of oil so it doesn't stick, added in 1 cup of quinoa and in this case, I used 2 cups of water and added in a bit of salt.
Setting the InstantPot to 3 minutes, after it was done cooking, I let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes before manually releasing the rest of the pressure. I fluffed and let it cool before adding to my salad.
The Chicken:
The chicken options here are endless! In this case, I used my favorite Meal Prep Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken Recipe, but you could easily use a Rotisserie Chicken bought from a store, leftover chicken from a precious meal-prep, or opt for a plant-based protein like chickpeas.
Kale:
There is definitely an opportunity to swap out the Kale if you aren't a fan, but make sure it's a very hearty leaf if you plan to meal prep with it and dress the salad ahead of time. Kale holds up to a day of dressing, Arugula, Lettuce and any other soft leaves will not. Food for thought!
Radicchio:
I love the bitterness of radicchio, but you could easily swap out purple cabbage or omit if you aren't a fan! The radicchio is subtle enough it's not overpowering and not to mention the fiber, vitamin K and antioxidants it has. This is a great one to toss in if you have it on hand.
To prepare the salad, simply mix up the vegetables into a large bowl. Can we talk about those colors too? Getting all the antioxidants in with this one. Make sure your bowl is large enough to allow you to dress the salad without dumping it all over the counter too. Not that I did that ;).
Meanwhile, ensure the quinoa and chicken has cooled.
Massage the kale with the dressing to help soften the leaves, add in the chicken and quinoa and mix well. Dinner, lunch, or however you want to eat this yummy salad is served.
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