Kale Salad with Bacon
ANOTHER KALE SALAD?! GROSS!!!!
Um, that was rude, guys. Hear me out. This one is super delicious. And nutritious. And colorful and beautiful. And has optional bacon bits. Which I realize is a kind of iffy ingredient when we’re trying to call it nutritious, but that’s why they’re optional! Get it?! JEEZ! Basically, everything in any salad recipe is optional, though, I say. Salads are made for experimenting! Salad is your time to run free and try new things! Or at least, salad is a great time to use up whatever vegetables you already have and not be forced to run out to the store and buy more stuff. As long as you have something green, you can call it a salad. And that’s one of the coolest things about kale salad, I think, is that kale lasts longer than most lettuces in the fridge and can be eaten cooked or raw. Kale is then, kind of two vegetables in one.
Watch the video to see how to massage kale! If you like this recipe, try my other Strawberry Kale Salad recipe. Sounds weird but it’s actually the bomb dot com and I don’t even care if that expression is a decade old.
Kale Salad with Bacon
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale
- 2 teaspoons canola or olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup diced or sliced orange or yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup torn radicchio leaves
- Dressing
- 1 teaspoon deli mustard
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sprinkle of salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup bacon bits (about 2 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled)
Instructions
- Wash kale and cut or tear into 1″ pieces. Put into a bowl with the oil and salt and “massage” the kale for 2-3 minutes, until wilted and dark green. Add peppers, tomatoes, and radicchio, toss and set aside.
- Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl with a fork. Pour over salad. Toss.
- Serve with bacon bits passed on the side for those who want them.
- Serve right away or refrigerate overnight.
While I LOVE this salad as written, I suspect it would make a fabulous winter kale salad for the colder months by swapping out the summery bell pepper and tomatoes for chopped red apple peeled orange segments.
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Hey Hilah, this sounds really good! And, I love bacon, no really, I love bacon so much I want to marry it and make sweet, sweet love to it for the rest of my life.. but, alas, that much bacon is probably not a good thing. However, I have found that the smoke-dried (sundried) tomatoes I get at Boggy Creek Farm make a great substitute for bacon in my pasta dishes. I think it might work in this salad too! Either way I am making this. It looks awesome, thanks.
PS it is my goal for next year to see if I can GROW dinosaur kale. Wish me luck!!
Whoa! That is a most excellent suggestion, Rachael! I’ve seen those around but never tried them. Now I must get my paws on some.
You’ll do great with the kale! My grandma had a dinosaur kale plant that lived for over 3 years. She just kept cutting off lower leaves to eat and the rest of the plant lived on. Maybe that’s why it’s called dinosaur kale? I just thought of that.
Just made this salad! Deee-lish!!!! I am leaving it in the fridge overnight and then will have it tomorrow as a side with the homemade veggie bean burgers I will be trying to make!!
Yum! That will be a great combo, Brittany! Thanks for writing.