Baby kale salad with strawberry-mint vinaigrette, avocado, goat cheese, and almonds. This vibrant, healthy salad is perfect for summer.
Ever since I turned in my manuscript for Let Them Eat Kale!
, I…well…I haven’t eaten kale.
Not because I lost that loving feeling toward the leafy green, but because my kale tank was full and it hasn’t been until recently that I felt I needed to replenish it. So this weekend, I did a little house, dog, and cat-sitting, a little wine-ing (shocked?), and a lot of kale-ing.
I had strawberries that were ripe for the using and some fresh herbs, so I decided to make a strawberry-mint vinaigrette for the kale salad. The vinaigrette turned out sweet, tangy, and refreshing.
I used baby kale leaves because they require less prep than your standard curly kale. And I was busy wine-ing so I couldn’t be bothered to stop and massage the kale. No way, no how. Solution: baby kale.
I threw sunflower seeds, almonds, avocado, fresh chopped mint, and goat cheese into the mix and ended up with a flavorful, healthful, vibrant, spring salad. Ripe for the eating!
Baby Kale Salad with Strawberries, Goat Cheese, and Strawberry-Mint Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Strawberry-Mint Vinaigrette:
- 1 cup heaping ripe strawberries chopped
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar I used golden balsamic
- 3 leaves mint chopped
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup avocado oil
For the Salad:
- 5 ounces baby kale
- 2 cups ripe strawberries chopped
- ½ cup raw almonds
- 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
- 1 avocado peeled and diced
- 4 leaves mint chopped
- Goat cheese
Instructions
To Prepare the Strawberry-Mint Vinaigrette:
- In a small skillet, heat the balsamic vinegar and strawberries over medium-high heat and bring to a full boil. Allow mixture to boil and cook until strawberries are very soft, about 5 to 8 minutes. Mash the strawberries with a fork. Note: this will make your house smell like vinegar. But that's okay.
- Remove from heat, add the mint leaves, maple syrup, and salt and stir. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before transferring it to a cup or bowl and refrigerating until cool.
- Once cool, strain the strawberry pulp and mint leaves out of the mixture using a fine mesh strainer.
- Pour the mixture into a small blender, such as a Magic Bullet, along with the oil and blend until smooth (you can also whisk the strawberry vinegar and oil together by hand vigorously until combined). Set aside until ready to use.
To Prepare the Salad:
- Add all of the ingredients for the salad except for the goat cheese to a large serving bowl. Toss in desired amount of dressing (you will not need all of the dressing). Serve salad with goat chevre.
A lovely salad. And ohhh that vinaigrette. I can’t wait to try it.
haha the pink strawberries totally count!! I seem to always always have extra kale hanging out in the fridge. I need to make a salad I think! And with the goat cheese and avocado … two things I could never turn down…
Kale and strawberry, yay! I like the combination, not only because it is amazingly colorful and colorful dishes make me happy, but above all because it create an intriguing mix of flavors. The dressing is really cool too!
Love pink and green, totally preppy; and I’m loving this peppy, preppy little salad! Baby kale is my current favorite salad green and this dressing is the bomb!
Love this strawberry mint vinaigrette! such a great color too!
Julia, this salad is so beautiful! Thank you so much for bringing it to celebrate my virtual baby shower – this is such an amazing, sweet surprise… and full of strawberries, which I honestly just ate half a pound of – ha! You girls are wonderful. Thanks again for making this day so special! ♥
Wine, cats, and kale are three of my favorite things, so it sounds like you had a pretty perfect weekend 🙂 I love the strawberries and goat cheese together, I could eat just those two ingredients with a fork, but the addition of avocado, almonds, and mint makes it over the top delicious!
I want this right now! I wish I could eat this right now for lunch!
I want that vinaigrette on everything this spring! Beauty!
I have a bunch of mint growing out on my balcony– this would be a perfect way to use it up!
i bought 2 big bags of kale this weekend and have been looking for ideas…these look gorgeous..
You are the queen of greens for baby showers and I love you for it. This looks like one giant plate of OMGYUMIWANTTHAT.
Hey! I’m glad you bring the green!!!! This salad is all my favorites! I have never tried baby kale. I think I have to because I hate massaging kale!
Pink or no pink, this is gorgeous and hey, that dressing is pretty pink if you ask me! This looks so refreshing and delicious. Happy baby shower to Georgia!
Haha. Whatever happened to Hale Kale?! Loved that name! (totally kidding! I couldn’t help myself. :D) I’ve never found fresh kale but I got the frozen stuff and tried making a smoothie with it. A smoothie that made my tummy upset for days. Frozen kale and I aren’t friends.
Strawberries totally count as pink! And I know Georgia will be thrilled to find salad at her shower. 🙂 Thanks so much for bringing a salad to the party!
I’m just now realizing that I didn’t bring pink either… Um, unless one lonely pink straw in the photo counts as my something pink. I totally went yellow with lemon. Looks like we’re the rebels of the group. Love this salad!