You want me to serve a kale salad at the holiday table? No one will eat it! You want me to serve kale AND Brussels sprouts raw?? Are you crazy?
I get those concerns and doubts, trust me! In fact, my boyfriend voiced them to me the first time I made this salad. Then he tried it and took it back! First things first, you do need to shred the kale fairly finely and the Brussels sprouts very thinly. I recommend using the slicing attachment of your food processor to easily and quickly slice the Brussels sprouts thinly. If you don’t have one, you can slice them by hand (it just takes more time and upper body work). And to make these raw veggies delicious, I add some contrasting textures and flavors.
Crisp Apples and/or Pears: these provide a sweet and juicy yet crunchy textural addition Dried Cranberries or Cherries: they bring that irresistible chewy bite and sweet-tart flavor. Toasted Hazelnuts or Pecans: toasting the nuts brings that nice nutty and fragrant aroma and depth of flavor Pomegranate Seeds: not essential, but their crunchy yet juicy texture and sweetness plays well with the apples Avocado: creaminess to balance all those raw greens and crunchy textures Cashew Caesar Dressing: the star of this salad is the savory, flavor-packed Caesar dressing. Made with raw cashews, extra virgin olive oil, and just a few other ingredients, it takes 5 minutes to throw together and is ultra creamy and delicious. A generous amount of creamy dressing will make even alleged salad haters fall in love with kale!
PS: if you love classic creamy salad dressings, my Vegan Ranch Dressing is a must make! That’s all you need to know about this salad, so I’m keeping it short! Hope you enjoy the recipe and make it this holiday season! First holiday season as a vegan? Check out my holiday survival guide for vegans! For more Christmas recipes, check out this roundup of 40 fantastic Vegan Christmas Recipes.
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
