A satisfying ZIPPY kale salad packed with delicious ingredients and a light honey dressing. Crisp pear, seasonal kale, goat cheese, and more! Just like your favorite restaurant style salad, but easy to make make fresh at home all in one bowl. Just toss and go! Great as a healthy vegetarian main or a side salad for any dish! Sooo good ya’ll!
Have you had a restaurant salad that you’ve tried to recreate at home only to fail miserably. Um, ya. That’s how I feel about kale salads. You know, the ones with pears, goat cheese, pecans and all the fixins? I swear, I try. But then I realized it’s not the salad’s fault. It’s mine!
For one, I wasn’t shopping right. A good kale salad requires seasonal ingredients. Yes, there’s seasonal kale and seasonal pears. No seasonal goat cheese though, haha. Almost fooled ya.
Seasonal produce has more nutrients which Supports our body’s natural nutritional needs. Think more VITAMIN C, Vitamin D, and power greens. It’s fresher which means it has better flavor, more “ooomph” if you ask me. And lastly, it supports local farmers. YEA! Which makes you feel better because food is love! Support! Okay way off topic, but you get my point.
Back to this PARTICULAR Kale salad. The other reason I was failing miserably at making the perfect “restaurant style” kale salad was that I didn’t really have a technique or a good dressing to combine it with. I mean, I just chopped, added oil/vinegar, and tossed. Which is normally great for some seasonal salads, but not for kale salad. Kale salads need a good compliment to make them shine. They can still be made all in one bowl, but the layers of ingredients are key!
Wanna know how I know this? Um, my friend Jo, the infamous blogger behind Jo Cooks, has mastered the art of one bowl amazingness in her new 30 minute One Pot Meals Cookbook! In this cookbook she has also mastered the art of kale salads, as you can see. Pear Goat Cheese Kale Salad with a Honey Lemon Vinaigrette.
Dude (or dudette) –> THIS IS THAT SALAD (the crave-able restaurant salad) you can make at home with SUCCESS! ALL IN ONE BOWL!
Joanna knows good food and how to keep recipes simple and flavorful. Praise God. Yes, I just praised God for a salad and Jo! Legit.
Crisp Green Pear, Seasonal Kale, Goat Cheese (ALL the GOAT CHEESE), Sunflower Seeds, Pepper (available year round), honey, lemon, olive oil, and spices. That’s it! Yet it’s so so flavorful, nourishing, and delightful.
Pear Goat Cheese Kale Salad {Vegetarian}
- Total Time: 15 min
- Yield: 4 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A satisfying ZIPPY pear goat cheese kale salad packed with delicious ingredients and a light honey dressing. Vegetarian, Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 5 oz (140 g) kale (winter red kale works too)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
- ¼ cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) honey
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- Sea Salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 large pears, seeded and cut into thin strips (I used Anjou Green pears)
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips or chopped (see notes for winter seasonal produce option)
- 1.5 ox (43 g) sunflower seeds
- 4 oz (115 g) goat cheese, crumbled
- see notes for optional garnishes
Instructions
- Prepare the kale by washing it, drying it and cutting into small, thin pieces. You can also buy the pre shredded bagged in produce section.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, cumin, sea salt and black pepper to taste.
- Add the kale, pears, bell pepper, sunflower seeds and goat cheese to the bowl and toss really well.
- Serve right away or place in fridge for later.
- This salad keeps really well so it’s great for meal prep or lunches to go!
Notes
Other seasonal vegetables to use don’t have bell peppers – radish, celery, or leeks would be tasty!
I also added a little parsley to garnish on top. It was delish!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Category: salad
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Calories: 330
- Sugar: 12
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Cholesterol: 12 mg
Keywords: salad, kale, vegetarian, pear salad, kale salad
As soon as I finished making this kale salad, I called mom. She has the same restaurant salad obsession. Like mother like daughter. I told her I had created the perfect salad and saved her some. This was right before we left for Utah and after Christmas. It was like the Salad Gods (or in this case, Jo’s cookbook) wanted us to share in this moment together before I left her. Gosh, bittersweet memories.
Needless to say, I will be making this Pear Goat Cheese Kale Salad on a regular basis. It’s a great reason to eat more kale, more memories, right?
I’m also thinking this Kale salad would make a great mason jar salad. For lunches on the go or for the Kiwi’s work lunches. Just adding some protein or even a nice hot bowl of chili to go with it. Ahhh… bliss!
If you haven’t checked out Jo’s 30 Minute One Pot Meals cookbook, I highly recommend you do! She’s amazing. Her food is amazing (trying her Greek pork loin next). And her recipes ares so EASY to follow with minimal mess! I bought her cookbook on amazon for my mom for Christmas but ended up keeping it myself. Shhh.. don’t tell her. Hey, at least I made her a kale salad from it. That counts, right? I’m a good daughter. … kinda.
Favorite Restaurant Salad or Kale Salad? Do you eat seasonally?
Cheers to my talented friend Jo! Seriously, she amazes me in all she does. Have I said the word amazing enough? Haha, truth. SIMPLY AMAZING!
Hey! I just wanted to say that Im loving your blog, these recipes are amazing! I just wanted to let you know I have nominated you for the Blogger Recognition Award, if you want to take part check out this link; https://wholesomepositivity.com/2017/02/16/blogger-recognition-award/ Keep up the yummy posts!
I love a kale salad, love the flavour of it. Must give a try to this recipe with goat cheese, Lindsay!
yes! me too! and the goat cheese just makes it even better!
I didn’t know that there are seasonal pears and seasonal kale. Wow, that would make a salad different. I haven’t had a kale salad in a while, but it is so true that it needs some really good ingredients to really compliment the vegetable. Goat cheese and pears would be perfect!
isn’t it amazing? I love nerdy food facts like that.
Adding this to my menu for next week and just so happens, I have pears! Goat cheese? Where do I begin?
Have an awesome weekend Lindsay. xoxo
yea!!! you will love! plus goat cheese always is a winner. Miss you!
So I pretty much love every single thing about this salad: hooray local produce plus goat cheese, but I most secretly adore the use of the word zippy. Well played, my friend, well played.
Love that we can input pears into salads. print button on go!
i so agree!
Reason I love you:
1. Dudette in a blog post.
2. Cumin in a kale salad.
we need to use dudette more often. 😉
Yesss this looks delish and super healthy, which can be a tricky combo to master! 😉 Plus your photography is just so gorgeous! Can almost taste the sliced pears and kale already haha.
Pears and goat cheese!?! Say no more– I’m in!!! (I really struggle with raw kale though- but I keep trying!!!)
me too! Until i found this recipe. GOLDEN!
This salad looks and sounds AMAZING. I have a serious crush on pears right now, and I’m always trying to get more kale salads in my diet (and mix them up so I’m not always eating the same one). Thanks for letting me know about Jo’s cookbook — yet another one to add to my wishlist! (And that is hilarious that you bought it as a gift and then kept it for yourself — I have that same problem whenever I buy books for people, haha!)
haha glad i’m not alone! and yes, you will love jo’s cookbook!! keep me posted Willow.
The colors in this salad are so vibrant. I’d want to toss in some dried cranberries. I bet it would be good with sliced stawberries instead of pear.
oh that sounds lovely Amanda!
kale salad are hit or miss..but this surely sounds like a perfect one to try.. i love goat cheese + pear combo.
I so agree. I never know what dressing or cheese to use. But now I do! LOL! first world problems solved!
Oh, how I love a good Kale salad! I also always add fruits to my salad, to bring some of that sweet bite to it.
yes a sweet crunch is so perfect.
Sounds amazing! I have a giant-size bag of kale in my fridge from Costco, so this is going on the menu. I’ll use apples instead of pears since that’s what I have on hand, but otherwise I’m going to follow the recipe. Looks beautiful!
oh that sounds wonderful too! let me know how it turns out!
Cravable restaurant salad…yes!!! This sounds amazing 🙂
i so agree! What’s your fav restaurant salad in Denver?
It was so unexpected, but there is a restaurant called Choppers Sports Grill and I went there with the little girl I was nannying last year and they had a salad called the buckmaster. I had pretty low expectations (hello ordering a salad at a sports grill) but it was SO good. It had greens, grilled chicken, goat cheese, sweet corn, avocado, tomato, toasted almonds and medjool dates….yum!!!
Love that! a good surprise
Lindsay, the salad looks incredible! Thank you so much for sharing this from my book. You’re an amazing human being!
of course! We loved it! so delicious! can’t wait to make more. You are amazing friend!
I have tried to recreate some salads too and they have failed miserably haha. Kale salads are a bit tricky but so glad you were able to nail this one! This looks amazing Lindsay 🙂
Haha likewise! Glad we can relate
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe! Even that is really exceptional food which is needed to make fresh life. People who are fatty, then they can use it if they want to burn calorie like my sister. I can try it to cook and eat this food. I love it.
I can put goat cheese on EVERYTHING, but I especially love it in salads. It gives it such a nice creamy delicious taste. Miss you friend and hope we can catch up soon…BIG HUG from the dreary east coast! XOXO
miss you! i will call you next week for sure!
I love a good kale salad, this looks like a winner.
My fav kale salad includes roasted squash and chickpeas with a maple tahini dressing….mmmm!
okay I need that dressing, stat!
Here is my recipe, super simple and easy and you can switch things up if you like….add spices etc.
http://www.carashealthycravings.com/kale-salad-with-roasted-chickpeas-and-maple-tahini-dressing/
oh I can’t wait to try! Thanks friend
Pea, goat cheese and kale. I’m not even a cheese person and that sounds amazing. Goat cheese is one of my exceptions, though. I feel like adding some cranberries to this would take it over the top. OOH or pomegranates! or goji berries… Yummmm
goat cheese is always an exception. SWOOOOON!
The name alone make a me wanna try it! Sounds so good.