The base of this salad consists of raw kale and raw Brussels sprouts. And I know, you’re probably thinking one of two thoughts:
- 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).
Ingredient Notes
To make these raw veggies extra delicious, I add some fun 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!
If you’re looking for a different flavor profile for this salad, try my Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette with this salad instead! It’s a classic pairing with kale, apples, and pomegranate seeds!
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.
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Kale and Brussels Sprouts Winter Salad
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 12 ounces Brussels sprouts (thick outer leaves removed and shredded)
- 1 head of Tuscan lacinato kale, sliced thinly
- 3 crisp apples or pears, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts or pecans
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1 large ripe avocado, diced
- Cashew Caesar Dressing (recipe below)
- Optional: vegan ricotta cheese for topping
Cashew Caesar Dressing Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked*
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt + more to taste
- 1/2 of a large lemon, juiced + more to taste
Instructions
Salad Directions
- To shred the Brussels sprouts, use the slicing attachment of your food processor. Alternatively, you can cut the sprouts by hand into very thin slices, or easiest yet, buy pre-shredded Brussels sprouts at your grocery store.
- Place the sprouts and kale on a serving platter. Arrange the apple slices on top, and add the nuts, cranberries, pomegranate seeds, and avocado. Pour the dressing on top and mix well.
Cashew Caesar Dressing Directions
- Place the soaked cashews and remaining ingredients in a high-powered blender and blend for 2-3 minutes or until the cashews are completely pulverized and the dressing is thick, smooth, and creamy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
Hi Ae.vita, did you get a chance to try this recipe? We hope you enjoyed it!
And we actually do include metric measurements on the newer posts now 🙂
This is in my top 5 favorite salads Of all time! My sweetheart added vegan feta for extra credit and it deliciously complemented the sweet elements. Highly recommend giving it a try!
Awesome, Janel. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Hi! Is the nutritional info for app size servings or mains?
Hi Kara, thanks for reaching out. This is the nutritional information for mains!
PS totally forgot to soak my cashews overnight/didn’t have time to soak them for an hour so I put them in my instant pot (water to cover) and pressure cooked for 5 minutes on high. Turned out perfect!!
Thanks for sharing, Morgan!
Wowwww!! You knocked it out of the park again Nisha! I was fearful because I’m not a kale fan but wow! Unfortunately my local grocery store was out of brussel sprouts, so I subbed with romaine. It was delicious! And I can’t get over how delicious the dressing is either! 🤤🤤 Bravo!
Awesome, Morgan. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Made this for Christmas Eve and my family loved it! My mom asked for the recipe. I opted to roast the brussel sprouts and it was delicious! Creamy dressing was so easy, garlicky and yummy.
Katie, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
I love this salad❣️We made it a few times already 😋
Uschi, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
I wonder if I can use cashew butter instead of using cashews for this dressing
I made this salad for a Mother’s Day family get together and I nearly forgot to return here to comment! It was wonderful. There were groans about apple but no one really tweaked about the kale and Brussels sprouts 😉 I was asked for the recipe by my niece my daughter and my husband’s first wife. My nieceand her daughter have serious nut allergies, so I’d made a special plate for them with hummus, seeded mustard and lots of lemon juice. Everyone liked it lots. Thanks Nisha 🙂
How long will the dressing keep in the frig after making?
This recipe seems good in theory and the dressing is sublime, but it really didn’t come out that good. The kale and Brussels sprouts were chewy and bitter. We should have massaged the kake, but what do you do with the Brussels sprouts to make them edible? They were very thinly sliced but tough to chew. Also, it has you arrange everything on the platter then pour the dressing on top and mix well which erases your careful arrangement of the beautiful ingredients.