Deb’s Kale Salad with Apple, Cranberries and Pecans
A flavorful, vegetarian raw kale salad loaded with Granny Smith apple, cranberries, pecans, radish and goat cheese, tossed in zippy honey mustard dressing.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 22, 2024
I just walked into my closet, tugged on the little string that dangles from the ceiling for light and counted fourteen pairs of boots. Fourteen pairs. That’s twenty-eight individual boots. Most are black, a few pairs have heels, one pair of riding boots covers my knees, and all but the rain boots are made of leather. Needless to say, I love boots. They are my footwear of choice in the cold weather months and I will never have enough of them. At this rate, they will soon require a closet of their own.
I harbor the same deep affection for kale salads. Kale salads make me happy. They are a staple in my diet in the same way that boots are a staple in my wardrobe and I will never tire of them. Kale salads, I tell you, are the answer to all sorts of problems.
Too hot outside to cook anything? Kale salad. Tight jeans? Kale salad. Feeling sickly? Kale salad. Hung over? Wanna eat all your troubles away? Kale salad. Don’t know what to bring to a potluck with paleo, gluten-free and vegetarian attendees? Put on your best announcer’s voice and shout, “kaaaale salaaaaaaaad!”
There are a few tricks to making a kale salad taste really great, which I’ve elaborated on here. Every time I’ve heard from a real-life friend or commenter that one of my kale salad recipes turned them on to kale salads in general, I’m thrilled.
This salad is the fourth kale salad to appear on my blog and surely not the last. It’s hearty and holiday worthy, full of crunch from crisp apple, radish and pecans, studded with sweet, ruby red cranberries and tangy crumbled goat cheese, and tossed in a zippy honey mustard dressing. What’s not to love?
Watch How to Make Deb’s Kale Salad
The recipe came from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman, from which many more recipes are to come. I would imagine that if you’ve found your way to this food blog, then surely you are familiar with Smitten Kitchen.
Deb’s blog is, simply stated, the best. Honestly, I sometimes wonder why anyone (myself wholly included) bothers with food blogging when Deb has so clearly mastered the medium. Her writing is captivating and witty. Her recipes are unfailingly stellar in both concept and execution. Her photos make you want to quit whatever it is that you’re supposed to be doing when you find yourself drooling at her blog and hop into the kitchen immediately.
I had been eagerly awaiting the release of her cookbook for months and now that I have my own copy resting on my coffee table, I can say that it is magnificent. Every recipe has been meticulously tested and illustrated in photographs by Deb herself, and Deb never lets you down. If you like to cook, you are going to want this cookbook. If you’re not sure what to buy as gifts this holiday season, make it this cookbook. Seriously. Did I mention that she has a full vegetarian section and 90 pages of desserts in there?
I made a few alterations to Deb’s kale salad recipe, given the season and what I had in stock in my pantry. I added a chopped Granny Smith apple and traded dried cranberries for the dried cherries. I also used apple cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar, though I’m not sure I can really taste the difference in the end result.
I’m making this salad again this evening for girls’ night with Downton Abbey and will be making it again for my family’s Thanksgiving. It’s a winner.
PrintDeb’s Kale Salad with Apple, Cranberries and Pecans
A hearty, holiday-worthy raw kale salad with chopped Granny Smith apple, cranberries, toasted pecans and goat cheese, tossed in a zippy honey mustard dressing. It’s both vegetarian and gluten free.
Ingredients
Salad
- ½ cup pecan halves
- 8 ounces kale (I used regular curly green kale, but Deb recommends Cavolo Nero or Lacinato, Dinosaur or Tuscan Kale)
- 4 to 5 medium radishes
- ½ cup dried cranberries or dried cherries
- 1 medium Granny Smith apple
- 2 ounces soft goat cheese, chilled
Dressing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard
- 1 ½ teaspoons honey or maple syrup
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread the pecans on a baking tray. Toast them until lightly golden and fragrant, about 5 to 10 minutes, tossing them once or twice to make sure they bake evenly. Remove the tray from the oven and set them aside to cool.
- Pull the kale leaves off from the tough stems and discard the stems. Use a chef’s knife to chop the kale into small, bite-sized pieces. Transfer the kale to a big salad bowl. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the kale and massage the leaves with your hands by lightly scrunching big handfuls at a time until the leaves are darker in color and fragrant.
- Thinly slice the radishes (this is easier to do if you first chop off the root end so you can place the base of the radish flat against your cutting board). Add them to the bowl.
- Coarsely chop the pecans and cranberries and add them to the bowl. Chop the apple into small, bite-sized pieces and add it to the bowl as well. Crumble the goat cheese over the top.
- In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour the dressing over the salad. Toss until the salad is evenly coated with dressing. Serve immediately, or for even better flavor, let the salad marinate for 10 to 20 minutes beforehand. This salad keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman.
Make it vegan: Omit the goat cheese, and use maple syrup instead of honey in the dressing.
If you love this recipe: Be sure to check out my kale salads roundup here!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi Kate…first, a disclaimer: I am in no way domestically competent. You could even call me the anti-Martha. ;) So anything I do whip up needs to be SIMPLE and EFFORTLESS. That is what I discovered in your delicious kale salad recipe! With a few ingredients on hand for a casual potluck I was hosting, I searched Google and this recipe matched them most closely. I made it without radishes or pecans (which I didn’t have on hand), and I forgot to add the goat cheese (whoops!). Even so, the 4-5 people who actually tried salad before it disappeared praised it to the heavens. That dressing is to die for and SO easy!!! I will definitely be serving this again, with the goat cheese and perhaps the radishes (not a big fan of nuts in my salad). Thank you for sharing this…I am a new fan!
Hey Teri! Thank you very much for your comment! I’m delighted to hear that you all enjoyed the salad! It’s one of my favorites.
There are cherries in the method, but not in the ingredients. Can you clarify? Thanks.
Sorry about that, Andrew. I just fixed the recipe. I mentioned a couple of times that you can use dried cranberries or dried cherries, and I accidentally specified dried cherries in the method.
This is an absolutely delicious salad and I make it at least once a week!! The only thing I haven’t put in yet is the radishes, but everything else you have listed. Thanks from the Oregon coast for the great idea of combining delicious ingredients to make this scrumptious salad!!
Thanks, Theresa! Glad to hear you’ve been enjoying the salad!
One of our family brought this for Thanksgiving Dinner and it was absolutely wonderful. I’m making it this weekend. Planning to use the cranberries and put in everything. I’ve never heard of massaging the kale, but looks like that will bring out the best in the kale. Thanks for this recipe.
Thank you, Deb! I’m glad your family member introduced you to this salad. It’s one of my favorites!
I make this recipe ALL the time, it’s so delicious! Perfect for gluten free gals like me and great for a potluck!
I made the kale salad for Christmas dinner. It was awesome! Even those who turned up their noses at the idea of kale loved it.
I used pension lime infused olive oil and cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar, and honey from my brother-in-laws beehives. I used much less dressing, the recipe made enough for three salads. I used the dressing to massage the kale with and then added the oceans apples etc.
Wonderful, my husband says make it all the time.
Thank you!
Persian lime infused olive oil!
This looks wonderful! As do your other kale salad recipes. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook was on my Christmas Wish List… I got it! I’ll definitely be making this one (AND some of the other kale salad recipes). By the way, Trader Joe’s sells chopped, roasted pecans… love saving a few steps without compromising a recipe.
This salad is awesome! I am so happy to learn about black Kale. It is so much tastier than regular kale. Great new healthy lunch idea for me. Thank You!!!
Thank you, Carlyn! Glad you enjoyed it!
OMG!!! I made this salad today. Had no idea kale could be this delicious. I didn’t have radishes so i substituted in purple onion and it was delicious! Great recipe. So glad I discovered this site today.
Awesome! Thank you, Josie. I have quite a few kale salad recipes you might enjoy! https://sooka.info/2014/12-favorite-kale-salads/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I HAVE MADE THIS SALAD AT CHURCH FUNCTIONS FAMILY FUNCTIONS,FOR MY FAMILY AND IT GETS RAVE REVIEWS NOTHING IS LEFT IN THE BOWL.I LEAVE OUT THE FETA CHEESE BECAUSE EVERYONE DOES NOT LIKE BUT THE REST OF THE INGREDIENTS MAKE TO THE T. PSST.MY FIRST LADY OF OUR CHURCH JUST CALLED AND ASKED FOR THIS RECIPE FOR OUR JEWELRY PARTY TONIGHT SEE WHAT I AM SAYING.
Sharian, so glad you enjoy this recipe! Thank you for sharing it with your friends!
Yum! Just made this. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it, Anna!
Fabulous salad that my book club LOVED! However, I substitute celery for the radishes. Can’t imagine it with the radishes. I’ve got Smitten Kitchen, and I haven’t tried anything from that book that we haven’t loved.
Thank you, Ruth!
Delicious salad. Five stars. It is now my house salad as it is delicious, healthy and takes a second to make if I keep a stash of toasted pecans in my fridge. Am having it tonight as a matter of fact :-)
Yay! Thank you, Cara-Lee.
This salad was excellent. I liked it and the best part was it was still excellent the next day! It wasn’t all soggy like most salads get with regular lettuce and dressing on them. On another note, I wish people would only comment after they tried a recipe, not “oh this looks good, I’m going to try it.” People, like me who are searching for recipes want to read reviews not previews (just a pet peeve of mine). Thanks again!!
Thank you, Elaine! You’ll probably find the most genuine feedback about the recipes if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the comments and skim upward from there.
Such a tasty salad! I have made this salad every week now for the past 4 weeks and it never gets old to me! Ditto what Elaine said about the freshness. The kale was crunchy and flavorful to the last bit. The pecans added such a smooth yet bold aroma and crunch. Just all around yummy! A great staple for my iron deficiency! Thank you!
Thank you, Kecia! So glad you enjoyed it!
…I forgot to give the star rating… :D
I made this salad for a dinner party and it was absolutely phenomenal! Everyone — including my flatmates, three twenty-year-old boys — claimed that it was the highlight of our meal. Will definitely become a staple. Thanks so much!
Hooray, thank you, Camille! Glad to hear it.
Hi Kate
Thank you for sharing your recipes. I just found your site today while looking up kale salad recipes. I would never have thought to rub kale with sea salt…WOW! I am loving the kale without adding anything else. :-)
I’ll let you know how the salad turns out once I am done munching plain kale with a small amount of sea salt! Dianne
Love that! Thanks, Dianne!
I was looking for a good kale salad tonight and found yours. Your writing is delightful and the salad and dressing are delicious. It made me laugh that you wrote this in November of 2012, and mentioned you were going to watch “Downton Abbey.” I am making your fabulous salad in January, 2016 for a “Downton Abbey” dinner party. Oh, and I’m wearing black boots.
How perfect! Thank you so much, Claudia. Hope the salad was a hit at your dinner party!
Could I add cooked, cooled quinoa to this successfully, do you think?? Maybe double the dressing if I did…
You are my go-to source for salad recipes and they’re always relish! Is there any reason why it wouldn’t work to sub the cranberries for pomegranate seeds in their recipe? I’d like to make this for Rosh Hashanah (without the cheese) and pomegranates are symbolic for the holiday.
Thank you, Susan! Happy to hear that. You can pretty much always sub pomegranate arils for dried cranberries in my salads. :)
Made this for Thanksgiving. Got rave reviews! So good that I made it again for dinner tonight! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
I had to sub a few things for what I had on hand (mixed nuts instead of just pecans, dried cherries, and a different kind of cheese), but the salad was absolutely delicious! My husband who is always wary when I make a kale salad, was totally and completely won over. He kept saying how delicious it was.
Can’t wait to try all your other kale salad recipes :-)
Great! I hope you try some others, Jessica. :)
Simple, elegant, and delicious salad. I followed the recipe exactly.
Thanks, Terry!
I really enjoyed this salad. I switched goat cheese for feta and pecans for walnuts
Sounds delicious!
This salad was amazing the only thing I omitted was the radish which I don’t think made any difference.
Hi Kate,
Thank you for forwarding this kale recipe, it is brilliant! We had doubters at our family gathering, but everyone loved it.
We have a honey allergy. I am substituting a water/ sugar mix. It is OK, but not as good as honey. Would something else work better, possibly maple syrup?
SusieQue
Hi SusieQue! Maple syrup would be the best alternative for recipes like this.
This salad did not disappoint! I omitted the cheese (didn’t have any) and used toasted sliced almonds instead of pecans (didn’t have pecans), and used maple syrup in the dressing. It was a side dish served along with butternut squash soup for 6 of us – our friends loved it! And it’s very healthy and low calorie. I can’t wait to make this again. Thanks for sharing!
That’s great! And, you are welcome Sonya. Thanks so much for your review.
Could you make this ahead ?
You can make ahead, Amelia. I would recommend waiting to add the dressing until ready to serve. Also, the pecans are the best freshly toasted but you can make ahead(thinking a few hours or day).
We made this for the first time tonight and loved it so much we are changing our Thanksgiving menu to squeeze it in. YUM, YUM, YUM! (For the record, I think cherries are perfect for this in a way dried cranberries couldn’t be.) Thank you, Kate!
Three yums, thank you! It is a great pairing salad for Thanksgiving. Great choice. Thank you, for your review Rachel :)
Hello Deb,
I made this recipe a few years ago when I started trying to include kale in my family’s diet and not only was it a success, it was a resounding success!
Now, any time I go to any family event, this salad is requested specifically and it never fails to get praise. At least three people will come up to me to ask for the recipe every time and even non-salad eaters tell me they look forward to it. ;)
So kudos to you for this combination of flavours and textures, it’s simply quite brilliant!
Thank you!
P.S. In one of my earlier attempts I tried making a few substitutions, cashews for walnuts, raisins for cranberries, adding pumpkin seeds, etc. but it was never as good. I just kept reverting back to your original recipe. This has been the only time in my experience when I wasn’t able to make something better! It’s just that good!
Thanks again!
Thank you, Evie! I appreciate the review.
Really helped to “massage” the kale. Made it tender and tasty. The salad was received very well despite initial skepticism. Great discovery.
It’s the key for kale! I am happy you enjoyed it, Paul.
I tried this kale salad and it turned out really well. took it to my friend’s house Christmas Day and it was a hit. It is really great! Love it!
That’s great, Andrea! Thanks for the review.
I made this with the vegan variation. I’m not a big salad eater because I find them boring. This one is excellent. Such a great mix of flavors. I think toasting the pecans is what turns this from good to great! Thank you!!
You’re welcome Susan! I’m happy this salad wasn’t boring. I agree, some salads can be boring. That’s why I like to make mine loaded and colorful!
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to make it! Does anyone know how big a serving is according to the nutrition chart?
Hi Vivi! The serving size is 1/4th of the recipe, which is a medium portion of pasta, I’d say. Hope that helps.
This was the 1st kaoe salad my family ever tried. We loved it. Thanks so much for sharing!
Delicious! I did add bacon because why not?
How far in advance can we prep/massage the kale
before a big party? Presume the dressing can be made in advance also.
Perfect kale salad! Great mix of sweet and tang. The dressing is perfect, and just the right amount to dress the whole salad.
I’m glad you think so, Megan. Thanks for the review!
Excited to make this tonight. What is a good substitue for radish?
You could just omit it, if you don’t like radish!
I absolutely LOVE this salad. It’s good with feta, too. Last night I didn’t have pecans so I used roasted pine nuts instead, with white balsamic vinegar instead of apple cider. Even better the next day. Didn’t get a chance to take a picture, too busy enjoying it!
I’ve never been much of a cook, but you’re changing that as I’m trying to eat healthier. I also made your spaghetti squash burrito bowls, which turned me into a spaghetti squash fan. Now that I know what to do with it!
Thanks, Kate, and give Cookie and little pat for me.
Diana
You’re so sweet, Diana! Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the review. I’m happy the blog has been a great resource for you.
Love the receipts have any others that are not salads
I have a lot of recipes that aren’t salads. Checkout the different course search option on the blog!
Hi. I have a question about the Deb’s kale salad w/apple. Can I use Poppyseed dressing instead of making a honey mustard vinigrethe?
I like it with this dressing, but if you prefer poppyseed, let me know what you think!
Yummy! This salad looks so healthy and fresh! Love the idea of adding the pecans for some extra sweetness and crunch.
Thank you!
Very nice dressing and salad! I substituted aged gouda for the goat cheese as I had it on hand. I also really appreciated your kale salad success tips and employed them all.
Thank you, Laurie for sharing!I really appreciate the review.
Again this is a delicious salad Kate. My friends loved it.
Great to hear!
This was well received! Several family members commented that it would make a good salad for Christmas lunch/dinner, given the great colors.
A feta substitution worked well.
Delicious–it will definitely be a repeat recipe!
Wonderful, Ali! Thanks so much.
How mich salad is a serving, though?
A classic, super good salad. Next time I will lower the honey in the dressing.
Thank you for your review, Nathalie!
This salad is really amazing! Very tasty.
Great to hear, Georgie! Thanks for your review.