A kale caesar salad is a modern day twist to the classic caesar salad. Filled with crunchy and healthy Kale, you’re bound to receive an abundance of more nutrient compared to Romaine lettuce. This salad is creamy, crunchy, flavorful, and simply delicious! Let’s dive in…
The yolks provide this salad with the richness, while the anchovies bring a briny tang.
Why use Kale?
Kale has become very popular over the past decade. There’s numerous reasons why this fad is not going anywhere anytime soon. Below are a few benefits to eating good ole kale:
- Just a single cup of raw kale contains: vitamin A, K, C, and B6. It also has manganese, calcium, copper, magnesium, and potassium.
- Kale has a significant amount of antioxidants.
- Kale can help lower cholesterol levels and can reduce your risk of heart disease.
- Lastly, kale is an excellent source of minerals.
Preparing the Kale Caesar Salad
The Ingredients
Alright, before we dive into how we prepared this salad let’s first go over the ingredients needed…below is everything needed for this amazing kale caesar salad.
- Kale
- Day Old Crusty bread
- Egg
- Garlic cloves
- Salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Parmesan shavings
- Parmesan pecorino
- Dijon mustard
- Extra virgin Olive oil
- Fresh lemon juice
- Anchovies
Making the Croutons
Let’s prep some bread! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a small oven pan with parchment paper. Then, take half a loaf of day-old crusty bread and begin to tear it up. It’s important to just tear up the bread instead of cutting the bread for two reasons. Reason number one, tearing the bread allows the bread to catch dressing into its nooks and crannies. The second reason is tearing the croutons provides the salad more texture. Overall, tearing the croutons presents a more effortless look and not uniformed. Bake the croutons for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Making the Caesar Dressing
Okay, we made the croutons….now it’s time to make the dressing. Using either a blender or food processor add in the anchovies, Parmesan pecorino, garlic cloves, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and olive oil. Blend together until completely smooth. Up next the add in a poached egg yolk. I recommend, placing a large egg in a measuring cup then gently add about 1/2 cup of warm water. Then microwave the measuring cup for 30 seconds and cook until the yolk thickens and the egg whites are slowly forming. Next, slowly pour out the egg whites and water into the sink using a slotted spoon. Make sure the egg yolk lands on the spoon. Transfer the egg yolk to the dressing, again blend until well combined.
Give the dressing a taste, if not satisfied free feel to add more lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, or dijon mustard. Refrigerate the dressing until ready to use.
Preparing the Kale
On to the best part….putting everything all together. Before that, let’s talk about the kale. For the best results, remove the rib of the kale…one leaf at a time. Trim the leaves into bite-size pieces, but please avoid shredding the kale. After trimming the kale, place in a salad spinner or a large bowl. And submerge the kale in ice cold water. Leave the kale in the water for at least 5 minutes. Lastly, working in batches remove the kale from the water and dry using a kitchen towel or salad spinner.
Assembling the Kale Caesar Salad
Okay let’s make a salad! Give the dressing a quick shake then in a large serving bowl add in the crisp kale. Next top it off with shaved parmesan and homemade croutons. Lastly, dress the salad with the caesar dressing and give the salad a nice tossing. Before serving sprinkle a little fresh ground black pepper. Ta-da! You’ve made an amazing homemade kale caesar salad.
Looking for more lightly delightful eats? Check out the links below.
- Smoked Salmon Bites with Avocado and Cuccumbers
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- Peanut Butter & Chocolate Balls a Keto Snack
Kale Caesar Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Kale
- 1/2 loaf Crusty Bread day-old
- 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil plus more for croutons
- 6 Anchovy fillets packed in oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 small Garlic cloves
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Egg
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 1/2 cup Freshly grated Parmesan pecorino
- 1/3 cup Shaved Parmesan for serving
Instructions
The Croutons
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Tear the crusty bread into bite-size pieces. Spread the bread out on a the baking sheet. Toss the bread in olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Bake the croutons for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
The Kale Preparation
- Handling one leaf at a time, remove and discard the tough center stems from the kale. Trim the kale into bite-size pieces.
- Add the trimmed kale into a large bowl. Submerge the kale into ice cold water and leave for 5 mintues. Drain the water and using a kitchen towel (or salad spinner) pat down the kale until dry.
The Caesar Dressing
- In a blender or food processor add in the following: fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil, Dijon mustard, anchovies, garlic cloves. Blend until smooth.
- Crack the egg into a measuring cup. Carefully add half a cup of warm water to the measuring cup. Microwave on high for 30 seconds or until the egg yolk expands. Using a large spoon, slowly start removing the egg white water and retains the egg yolk. Transfer the egg yolk to the dressing. Blend again until silky smooth.
- Taste the dressing and feel free to season with more lemon juice, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, or olive oil.
Assembly
- In a large serving bowl, add in the trimmed kale, croutons, and dressing. Toss everything together and top off the salad with shaved parmesan.