This is an amped up version of Chick-fil-A’s Popular Kale Crunch Salad - it packs in extra crunch with crispy apples, crunchy carrots, pistachios, and a crunchy seed topping. All topped with a light maple Dijon vinaigrette. If you like the Chick-fil-A kale salad, you’ll love this recipe! And, it's ready in just 15 minutes!
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Do you ever get in a salad rut? I love a healthy salad, especially for lunch or a light dinner, but tend to get lazy, reaching for my standards - typically a Cesar salad or a light spring salad mix with easy veggies. While there's nothing wrong with that, sometimes you need something that jolts you out of your norm, and this salad, my friends, does just that.
There's a reason that the Chick-fil-A Kale Side Salad is a hit - it's simple, delicious, and so satisfyingly crunchy. But I believe my version is, dare I say it, even better. I've added even more crunch and color to the salad by using carrots, red cabbage, apples, and pumpkin seeds, and have subbed out the almonds for pistachios, which add a bit more color and a delicious buttery flavor. And, a surprise ingredient - Everything bagel spice! Yum!
This salad is so good, and so fast and easy to prepare, it's going to be your new favorite salad - just in time for summer!
Key Ingredients
There are just a handful of ingredients needed to make this easy copycat recipe. Here's what I use, and how it differs from Chick-fil-A's version.
- Fresh Kale. Like the Chick-fil-A kale crunch salad, this copycat version uses curly kale. You could substitute most other types of kale, but I find the curly variety to work best here.
- Cabbage. I know, I know, the Chick-fil-A version uses green cabbage. But come on - that red pop of color is worth the switch, don’t you think?
- Carrots. I used just one carrot here and chopped it up. It adds a nice sweetness, extra crunch, and even more color.
- Granny Smith apple. Again, this is a new ingredient that varies from Chick-fil-A's version, but Granny Smith apples have just that right amount of tartness to balance the other flavors, while still being crunchy and juicy at the same time.
- Dried cranberries. This is a crunch salad, which is totally satisfying, but the cranberries add not only a nice touch of sweetness but also a bit of a counter to all the crunchiness happening here. You could also use dried sour cherries as a substitute for the cranberries.
- Chopped pistachios and pumpkin seeds. The Chick-fil-A kale salad recipe uses almonds, but I opted to use pistachios for their buttery taste, which goes great with these ingredients and salad dressing. And the pumpkin seeds add a great extra crunch.
- Everything bagel seasoning. What’s that? You never heard of putting everything bagel seasoning directly on a salad? It’s good for more than your morning avocado toast! This delicious spice combo goes incredibly well with this crunchy salad. Trust me. This crunchy salad topping will be your new go-to trick.
- Maple-dijon mustard vinagrette. A delicious lemony, sweet, mustardy, light salad dressing that you should definitely consider making a double batch of. It goes well with everything.
Expert Tips For Making this Chick-fil-A Kale Salad Recipe
- Massage your kale. You’ll want to cut the kale leaves from the stem, chop them up, place them in a large bowl, then massage the kale leaves with a bit of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt. This is a necessary step - kale leaves are thicker and can taste a bit bitter. Use your hands to do this (there's really no other way) and be sure to get every piece. Massaging them in this way helps to break them down a bit and remove some of that bitterness. Don't skip this step!
- Make the Dijon maple dressing. Combine everything in a small bowl and whisk it until it emulsifies, or go the easy route and do what I do: add everything to a small mason jar and shake vigorously. If you love this dressing as much as I do, you may want to make a double batch so size your jar appropriately. It will keep in the fridge for a week or two.
- Go easy on the dressing. You’ll want to add just a little bit at a time - depending on how large your bunches of kale are, you may not need the whole batch. The last thing you want to do is saturate the salad or have it swimming in dressing. Add just a bit, mix, then add more if you need to.
Variations and substitutions
This kale crunch salad is easy to customize.
- Go nut-free. Omit the nuts here if you must. There will still be plenty of crunch from the other ingredients.
- Add some extra crunch. This salad has plenty of satisfying crunch, but if you want to swap the pistachios and pumpkin seeds for something else like walnuts, pecans, or sunflower seeds, that works too. Use what you have on hand.
- Add some protein. Grilled chicken breast, salmon or shrimp tastes amazing with this kale crunch salad.
- Add extra veggies. Broccoli is the obvious choice for extra crunch, but you could also add in red bell peppers or radishes. Or, you could add some creamy avocado for a nice contrast to all the crunchy bits in this salad.
- Add some cheese. This is a great vegan recipe, but if you're not opposed to adding some cheese, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese or goat cheese is a nice touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! In fact, this salad only gets better with time. If you’re going to be serving it to a group, it will still taste fabulous if you make it 3-4 hours ahead of time. Meal prep tip: If you’re eating it on your own or planning to store it for longer than 4 hours, don’t add the dressing to the full salad.
To soften the kale, simply mix a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl, pour over the kale leaves, and gently massage them all. Be sure to really get in there and give them a good rub. It should only take a couple of minutes and makes a world of difference.
You can store the salad with the dressing for about a day, and it will still taste great. If storing longer than a day, store the salad and dressing separately.
Sure! I love the maple Dijon dressing used in this Chick-fil-A kale salad recipe, but you could do a simple vinaigrette or even just a little olive oil and lemon juice with great results.
What to serve with this Kale Crunch Salad
This delicious salad is a great meal on its own, but it’s also great as a side dish. I love serving it with:
- Grilled Chicken, Pork, Steak, Shrimp or Baked Salmon.
- Pasta. This is a hefty salad so think simple pastas here. This easy salmon pasta or even my cold salmon pasta salad are both great mains to serve with this salad.
- A simple soup (it goes really well with this potato corn chowder).
- Crusty Bread. My Rosemary Parmesan Bread is a great companion for this salad.
I hope you love this Crunchy Kale Salad as much as I do! If you try it, please leave a comment below to tell me what you think! And don’t forget to tag me with a pic @frontrangefed on Instagram!
More Easy Salads
- Kale Salad With Shaved Brussles Sprouts And Maple Spiced Walnuts
- Healthy Chicken, Pomegranate And Arugula Crunch Salad
- Chopped Zucchini Salad With Parmesan And Herbs
- Cucumber Salad With Basil, Feta, Chickpeas And Cranberries
- Strawberry Spinach Salad With Goat Cheese And Candied Walnuts
- Cherry Salad With Burrata And Hot Honey
Recipe
Kale Crunch Salad (Chick-fil-A Copycat)
Ingredients
For The Kale Crunch Salad
- 2 large bunches of curly kale
- 1 large carrot chopped
- ¼ small head of red cabbage chopped
- 1 Granny Smith apple diced
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup pistachios chopped
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning
For The Maple Dijon Dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- pinch of salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- lime zest (from one lime)
Instructions
- Prepare the kale. Remove the kale from the stems, then chop, wash, and dry your kale and place it in a large bowl. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, plus a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt, over the top of the kale. Use your hands to massage the olive oil mixture into the kale. Be sure to get every piece and give it a good rub. This should take 1-2 minutes and will help break down the kale fibers (and give the kale a touch of sweetness!)
- Make the dressing. Combine the ½ cup olive oil, ½ teaspoon Dijon, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon maple syrup, 2 tbsps red wine vinegar, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, pinch of salt, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, and lime zest in a bowl. Whisk the ingredients together and set aside.
- Assemble your kale crunch salad! Add the kale, chopped carrot, chopped cabbage, and diced apples to a large bowl. Toss with ½ cup of the dressing. Top with ¼ cup dried cranberries, ¼ cup chopped pistachios, 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds, and 2 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning. (Note - you can add more of the nut and seed mixture to get your perfect level of CRUNCH!
Notes
- Don't skip massaging the kale! This is important as it will make your kale softer and less bitter. Skipping this step will result in a tough and bitter salad.
- Be careful when adding your maple dijon dressing. Add a little bit at a time - you don't want your salad swimming in dressing!
- Store for 1 day with dressing, or 3 days if storing salad ingredients and dressing separately.
Jill Murven says
This was so yummy! Perfect for a lunchtime meal with some friends. We had it with a chardonnay ????
Sarah Jenkins says
Thanks Jill - sounds delicious!
Sara says
Bring on the crunch!! This salad is super crunchy and delicious in all the right ways. LOVE the everything bagel seasoning addition.