Lemony Curly Kale Salad Recipe

Last Updated on January 26, 2025

Lemony curly kale salad is a nutritious and succulent side dish that is easy to throw together.  When kale is in season, this makes a perfect side dish for any meal.

The dressing is just shallots, lemon juice and zest, with olive oil and a bit of grated cheese.  Mix this together and have it with any meat you like.  I had it with sauteed shrimp.

Start by tearing up the curly kale into small, bite-sized pieces, discarding the tough stem and vein.  I ended up with 6 or 7 cups of kale from one bunch.  

You could have this raw, but I decided to blanch the kale in boiling water for about a minute and a half, then cooling it in an ice water bath.  This insures that the kale is tender but still retains some nice texture.  

I then put the cooled kale into a salad spinner to get rid of the excess water, then placed it on some paper towels to pat it dry.  If you don’t have a salad spinner, you can just put it on paper towels and press the excess water out.  Here’s a link to the

The cheese I used was the mild tasting queso quesadilla.  You could also use feta, coarse grated Parmesan, or aged ricotta Salata.  The salad just needs a little cheese because you don’t want to overpower the taste of the kale and lemony dressing.

Kale is loaded with vitamins and nutrients, and it should become one of your go to vegetables.  It has great flavor and works really well with this simple lemon dressing.

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Lemony Curly Kale Salad

Easy kale salad with a fresh, tasty dressing.

4.34 from 3 votes

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: curly kale salad, kale salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 155kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 1 bunch curly kale , torn into bite size pieces
• 1 large shallot , finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp papper
• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 oz . coarse grated cheese , queso, feta, Parmesan, ricotta salata or other white cheese

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Instructions

• Blanch the kale in a large pot of boiling water for 1 1/2 minutes.
• Place the kale in an ice water bath the stop the cooking
• Dry the kale in a salad spinner or by patting with paper towels until most of the water is absorbed
• Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, then add to the kale in a large bowl
• Fold in the coarse grated cheese
• Adjust the salt and pepper seasoning if desired
• Serve cold

Nutrition

Calories: 155kcal