Kale Pomegranate Salad with Apple, Fennel and Pepitas

A kale pomegranate salad with apples, fennel, and pepitas in a blue ceramic bowl.

5 from 1 vote

Kale Pomegranate Salad with Apple, Fennel and Pepitas

This kale pomegranate salad is bright, colorful, hearty, and packed with vitamins and nutrients. It's a quick and easy recipe that's perfect for dinner or meal prep, and a total crowd pleaser for parties.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Paleo, Vegetarian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 5

Total Time 35

Servings servings

Calories 229kcal

Author Danielle Esposti

Equipment

Mandoline
Vegetable Peeler

Ingredients

1 large bunch lacinato kale (tuscan kale), thinly sliced
½ pound brussels sprouts or about a bag of shaved brussels sprouts from Trader Joe's
¼ head red cabbage thinly sliced
1 small fennel bulb julienned
¼ cup paleo poppy seed dressing see Notes for recipe
1 crispy apple such as honeycrisp, julienned
¼ cup pepitas roasted and salted
1 pomegranate seeded
sea salt to taste
cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

Thinly slice the kale and red cabbage and toss into a salad bowl. With a very sharp knife, cut each brussels sprout in half, then thinly slice crosswise to shred, and add to the kale and cabbage. Trim the stalks from the fennel, peel off the tough outer layer with a vegetable peeler and then cut off the root end. Halve the bulb, core it, and then thinly slice and add to the remaining vegetables.
Toss the kale, cabbage, fennel and brussels with the poppy seed dressing. At this point, you can either move onto the next step, or let the veggies marinate in the dressing for several hours or overnight. The acid from the dressing will break down the tough vegetables a bit, although they'll still remain crunchy.
When you're ready to serve, cut and core the apple, then julienne using either a knife or hand held julienne peeler. Halve the pomegranate and remove the seeds.
Top the slaw with the apples, pepitas, and pomegranate seeds. Lightly toss, and then dust with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

I again turn to Saveur, this time for their Poppy Seed Dressing because it's perfection. This recipe is divine and cannot be improved.
To make it paleo, sub ¼ cup raw honey for the ½ cup white sugar.
To make it vegan, sub ¼ cup maple syrup.
To make it Whole30, substitute 4 soaked dates or 2 tbsp date syrup at the same time you add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan. It won't be as sweet, but it will be compliant and totally tasty.

Nutrition