If You Love Whole Food’s Sweet Kale Salad, You Can Make it at Home. This is a Healthy Salad That Takes Only 15 min to Put Together. Includes Healthy Nuts
When I find myself at Whole Foods, I make a beeline for their fresh salad section!
I always look for their kale salad and when they have it, I am jump with joy!
When it comes to Whole Foods’ salads, they can do nothing wrong!
I am not one for copy cat recipes, but, I am obsessed with their sweet kale salad to the point that I was compelled to reverse engineer it.
You guys love salad recipes, especially my kale salad with peaches and coconut. So, I figured that this recipe is something you can appreciate.
Remember my oven-baked apple chips that I made last week? They are the perfect ingredient for this recipe. If you can make the apple chips yourself, that would be good.
But, the store bought ones are not bad either. Choose the best method for you.
I did take a one major liberty with this recipe. Instead of shredding the kale, I went with baby kale that is easier to manage, but, just as delicious.
The best part of this recipe are all the wonderful, healthy nuts. I put sunflower seeds, walnuts and sliced almond. This is a great way for me to get my nuts!
If you want to use tofu instead of feta, try my air fryed tofu recipe. It’s going to add a whole different flavor to this salad.
What restaurant salad are you obsessed with that you would like to me to reverse engineer?
Whole Foods’ Sweet Kale Salad
Make the salad dressing
1) In a mixing bowl, add 3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
2) Add 2 tsp of vinegar. I used pomegranate vinegar
3) Add 2 tsp of honey. For vegan version, use agave
4) Add 1 tsp of orange juice
5) Add 1/2 tsp of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6) Mix well. For best results, let it sit aside for 30 min. It is not required, but, it does make the salad taste better
Assemble the salad
1) Take 5 Oz of baby kale. It is usually one entire container of baby kale
2) Add 1/2 cup of Apple Chips. You can make your own using my recipe, or, purchase it from the store
3) Add 1/4 cup of red onions and 1/4 cup of carrots (both cut julienne style)
4) Add about 2 Tbsp of dried cranberries
5) Add 3 Tbsp of sunflower seeds and sliced almonds
6) Add 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
7) Add 3 Tbsp of crumbled feta. If you want to keep this vegan, try my vegan feta recipe.
8) Add the dressing and toss well.
9) Garnish with orange zest (optional) and serve immediately.
Sweet Kale Salad (Whole Foods’ Copy Cat)
Ingredients
For the salad dressing
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp vinegar (I used pomegranate vinegar)
- 2 tsp honey or agave
- 1 tsp orange juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
To Assemble the salad
- 5 Oz baby kale
- 1/2 cup dried apple chips
- 1/4 cup red onions (julienne style))
- 1/4 cup carrots (julienne style)
- 2 Tbsp dried cranberries
- 3 Tbsp sunflower seeds
- 3 Tbsp sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 3 Tbsp crumbled feta
- 1 tsp orange zest (optional)
Instructions
Make the salad dressing
- In a mixing bowl, add 3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- Add 2 tsp of vinegar. I used pomegranate vinegar
- Add 2 tsp of honey. For vegan version, use agave
- Add 1 tsp of orange juice
- Add 1/2 tsp of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Mix well and let it marinate for 30 minutes
Assemble the salad
- In a bowl, add Kale Salad and Apple Chips.
- Add red onions and carrots
- Add about dried cranberries
- Add sunflower seeds and sliced almonds
- Add chopped walnuts
- Add 3 Tbsp of crumbled feta. Vegan Feta Version
- Add the dressing and toss well.
- Garnish with orange zest (optional) and serve immediately.
I used to work at Whole Foods in the deli. This sounds pretty close to the Sweet Summer Kale! The pomegranate vinegar is probably really delicious, just so you know though, in the deli, they used a white balsamic!
Thank you, Jessica. I do like white vinegar in this recipe, but, I almost never have it on hand, lol. Yes, you can use either vinegar.
Delicious, other than using a baby kale mix, followed recipe to a T. Used fig-infused vinegar. Thanks. Jennifer
That does sound delicious, Jennifer. Thank you so much for your comment. 🙂
I have been trying to eat more salads lately. This looks like it is full of delicious veggies.
I wish I liked kale as much as everyone else in this world seems to. I wonder if this would be just as good subbing in spinach?
Thank you, Christine. Kale is definitely an acquired taste. I think if you start eating it in small amounts, you will get to like it.
Love simple salad! And I love kale!
Thank you, Linda
Your salad looks delicious and I’m so glad you took the time to figure this recipe out! It’s just a fabulous salad and now I can make it at home, yay!!!