Kale Salad with Oranges

This Kale Salad with Oranges combines hearty kale with sweet mandarin oranges, crunchy walnuts, carrots, red cabbage, and creamy avocado. It’s fresh, colorful, and takes about 15 minutes to make.

What really makes this salad work is the combination of flavors and textures. Kale can be a little tough on its own, but the sweet oranges, creamy avocado, and crunchy walnuts balance it beautifully. And if you’ve tried kale salads before and found them too tough or chewy, the type of kale you choose and how you prepare it can make a big difference.

Want to get even more nutrition from your greens? See these two simple ways to boost nutrient absorption and support healthy blood flow.

Why You’ll Love This Kale Salad

There’s a lot going on in this simple salad, and it’s also a good example of how a salad can be much more than lettuce and dressing.

• It’s ready in about 15 minutes.
• The avocado softens the kale and adds a creamy whole-food source of fat.
• Mandarin oranges add sweet flavor without needing a sugary dressing.
• Walnuts add crunch and make the salad more satisfying.
• The dressing is completely oil-free.
• Serve it as a side, or add beans, lentils, tofu, or tempeh to make it a meal.

Is Kale Good for You?

Yes. Kale is a nutrient-rich dark leafy green and is a cruciferous vegetable, along with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy.

Kale provides vitamin K, vitamin C, folate, fiber, and carotenoids including lutein and zeaxanthin. Lutein and zeaxanthin are mostly in the retina of the eye and are especially important for preserving eye health as we age.

Like other cruciferous vegetables, kale also contains compounds called glucosinolates. When you chop and chew kale, these compounds break down into other biologically active compounds that researchers are studying for their possible roles in protecting health. What matters much more is regularly eating a variety of vegetables, fruits, beans and lentils, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and other whole and minimally processed plant foods. Kale is one very nutritious green to include in that mix.

Make this salad into a plant-based meal

• Avocado, Papaya Gazpacho
• Easy Chana Masala With Chickpeas & Yams
• Sheet Pan Ratatouille with Creamy Polenta
• Tempeh Salad Sandwich

Which Type of Kale Is Best for Salad?

If you’ve ever thought raw kale was too tough, you may simply have been eating the wrong kind for your preference.

• Curly kale is the variety most of us recognize from the grocery store. It has tightly ruffled leaves and a fairly sturdy texture. It works very well in this recipe, but I definitely recommend removing the thick stems, chopping the leaves into smaller pieces, and massaging them first.
• Lacinato kale, sometimes called dinosaur kale or Tuscan kale, has long, dark blue-green leaves instead of tightly curled ones. It tends to be more tender than curly kale and is one of the better choices for eating raw.
• Red Russian kale has flatter leaves, purple or reddish stems, and a milder flavor. Younger leaves are often used in salad mixes and can be easier to eat raw.
• Baby kale is the most tender option. Because it is harvested while the leaves are young, you can usually add it directly to a salad without massaging it at all.

If you find tougher greens hard to chew, try baby kale or a tender young-leaf variety. Lacinato is also a good option. Curly kale has the most texture, but massaging it with avocado, as in this recipe, helps a lot.

To read more about greens and how they can be a great addition to a plant-based diet. Read my series Get Your Leafy Greens On (Part 1) and Part 2.

How Do You Make Kale Easier to Chew?

This is probably the most important step in making a good kale salad. First, remove the thick center stems. Kale stems are edible, but mature stems can be fibrous and tough when eaten raw. Save them for soup, a stir-fry, or vegetable broth so you don’t waste them. Then chop the kale fairly small.

Now for the fun part.

Add about half of the avocado directly to the kale and get your hands in there. Gently squeeze and rub the avocado into the leaves for a minute or two.
You’ll actually feel the kale begin to change. The leaves soften, shrink a little, and become much easier to chew. No need to keep going until the kale is limp. You still want some texture. Plus, as I mentioned when I first shared this recipe, there’s a bonus, your hands will feel nice and soft when you’re done!

Why Use Avocado Instead of Oil?

Many kale salad recipes call for massaging the leaves with olive oil. Avocado does the same job beautifully while keeping the fat in its whole-food form.
On PlantBasedCooking.com, I make recipes without oils. Instead, I use whole-food sources of fat such as avocado, nuts, seeds, and tahini when they make sense in a recipe.
In this salad, avocado is especially helpful because it softens the kale and adds creaminess. The walnuts add extra richness and crunch.
You won’t even miss the oil.

Fresh Oranges or Canned Mandarin Oranges?

Either works.

I originally made the recipe with canned mandarin oranges because they’re convenient and make this salad quick to put together. If you use canned mandarins, look for oranges packed in juice rather than heavy syrup, and save a couple of tablespoons of the juice for the dressing.

Fresh oranges are wonderful, too, especially when citrus is in season. Peel the orange and cut the sections into bite-sized pieces before adding them to the salad.

You could also try clementines or tangerines.

The citrus’s sweetness pairs well with kale’s slightly earthy flavor, which is one reason this combination tastes so good.

Can You Make This Kale Salad Ahead?

Kale is sturdier than delicate salad greens, which makes it a good choice when you want to do some preparation ahead. You can wash, stem, chop, and massage the kale earlier in the day and keep it covered in the refrigerator.

I prefer to add the walnuts and oranges closer to serving time so the walnuts stay crunchy and the fruit stays fresh.
If you have leftovers, you might notice the kale gets even softer the next day. Unlike lettuce salads, it doesn’t wilt right away after being dressed.

Easy Substitutions

One nice thing about this salad is that you don’t need to make it the same way every time.

No oranges? Try chopped apples, pears, strawberries, or pomegranate seeds.
You can replace walnuts with pecans, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds. You can add shredded Brussels sprouts with the cabbage or toss in a few dried cranberries for a little extra sweetness.

And if you’re just getting used to kale, there’s nothing wrong with using half kale and half romaine, spinach, or another favorite green. You don’t need to switch from no kale to eating a huge bowl all at once.

How Can You Make Kale Salad a Meal?

As written, this Kale Salad with Oranges makes a colorful side dish. To make it more substantial, add a plant-based protein such as chickpeas, white beans, lentils, baked tofu, or tempeh.

You could also serve it with a bowl of bean or lentil soup, a baked potato, a whole-grain dish, or half a sandwich.

I like salads that bring several plant foods together in one bowl, and this one does that nicely: dark leafy greens, red cabbage, carrots, citrus, avocado, and walnuts.
This is one of the easiest ways I know to add more variety to a whole-food, plant-based diet.

Better Kale Salad Starts with the Kale

If you’ve avoided kale salads because they seemed too tough, start by changing the preparation before giving up on kale altogether.
Remove the stems. Chop the leaves small. Choose a more tender variety if you can. And give those leaves a quick massage with avocado.

Then add the oranges, walnuts, vegetables, and dressing.

You may find that kale wasn’t really the problem after all. It just needed a little help.