Spicy Kale Caesar Salad with Roasted Garlic and all the Parmesan in the world. This unique, delicious kale Caesar is loaded with flavor for a wild adventure!
First kale salad of 2015! Let’s break the internet with it!
My intention for this post was to talk about creating healthy habits in the New Year. And then actual New Year’s Eve happened. I realized mid-hangover on New Years day that any sort of discussion about “health,” “balance,” or “grabbing life by the balls” would have to wait for a day that felt – oh, I don’t know – more healthful, balanced, and grabby life by the balls-y.
I wanted to chat about goals and resolutions and motivate you to never eat anything processed again, but then realized I’m ill-qualified for the position.
As I was attempting to type balance-y homeostasis words, I was nursing a massive red wine-induced headache, with an overly-full belly of spaghetti squash con chicken chile colorado con huevo con guacamole y 6 ibuprofen, y 20 ounces of bulletproof café con butter. And a side of blueberry oatmeal, because why not?
In my pajamas on the futon with an un-washed face, disheveled hair, wearing glasses that are held together in the middle with masking tape (Harry freaking Potter-style) because, oops, I stepped on them a few weeks ago.
I took one look at myself in the metaphorical mirror and went, “Huh uh.” This girl knows no moderation.
There’s a saying among writers that you should always write what you know.
What do I know being “healthy?” I know being “healthy” requires some semblance of “balance,” which is a magical chemical equation about which I know very little. For me, balance is an averaging of the peaks and troughs on this sinusoidal wave of life.
For instance, my stints of super clean eating are immediately backlashed by full pints of Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk something or other…consumed in 8 minutes flat all by me onesie. This is my balance. So what do I know about being healthy? I shrug my shoulders and say it’s in the eye of the beholder.
Oh my gosh, here’s where I talk about kale. Are you ready for the shift? Kale’s the yin to your Ben and Jerry’s yang < – proven fact.
Kale Caesar Salad:
Kale Caesar salad. It’s an old soul with new soul spunk. Meaning, kale Caesar is yesterday’s news but it’s still freaking DUH-licious today.
And it ignites our metabolism like whoa.
Say sayonara to all the Christmas cookies and cocktails. I made this recipe months ago and held onto it knowing you’d be ready for it in due time (after all the Christmas cookies had been eaten) I figured some of us would be turning over new leaves and making resolutions involving kale.
The real wonderment of this recipe is in the parmesan cheese and the roasted garlic.
You’re pretty much guaranteed to win the awesome-at-life award if you go super liberal on the parm n’ garlic.
I adapted the dressing from Running to the Kitchen’s Sriracha Kale Caesar Salad.
Adding a little heat to the dressing puts such a positive spin on the thing, but if you’re spice-adverse, you can leave the sriracha out.
Taste it down deep in your loins.
Spicy Kale Caesar Salad with Roasted Garlic
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 2 heads kale thinly sliced
- 1 large bulb garlic roasted
- ½ cup to 1 parmesan cheese grated (to taste)
For the Caesar Dressing:
- ½ cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise*
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon anchovy paste**
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- sea salt
Instructions
Roast the Garlic:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Chop the top off of the bulb of garlic, and drizzle the with olive oil. Wrap the bulb in foil and place in the oven. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes, or until garlic cloves are very soft and golden brown. Allow bulb to cool before peeling the cloves.
Prepare the Caesar Dressing:
- Add all ingredients for the dressing to a small blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepare the salad:
- Remove and discard the stems from the kale leaves. Thinly slice the kale and place in a large serving bowl. Add desired amount of caesar dressing and toss well. (Optional: place salad in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours - this will help make the kale leaves softer). Add the parmesan cheese and roasted garlic and serve!
Notes
**You can substitute anchovy paste with one anchovy fillet You can also blanch the kale leaves to make them softer.
Hi Julia,
I LOVE garlic… This recipe is amazing! I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on my list.
I have been collecting healthy, tasty salad recipes from around the web for a couple years and decided to start putting them on my blog to better organize and share them. I used this recipe and want to double check that it’s alright with you… http://www.mariasalad.com/spicy-kale-caesar-salad-with-roasted-garlic-recipe/
Let me know!
Thanks again for this tasty recipe!
Maria
Haha – we had a similar state on New Years day. This salad looks so so incredible – I didn’t set any healthy-eating goals (because: cheese. and ben & jerrys), but I’d eat this salad for a whole week straight!
yup, gonna need this in my life. I feel healthier just looking at the photos! 😉
Firstly, this kale Caesar salad looks amazing and I love the roasted garlic on top! I could eat heads and heads of roasted garlic by itself I love it so much! Except, since we are talking moderation here, I did that once and felt awful the next day, so I guess I will have to settle with a few cloves on top of the salad! I’m glad that you had a fun New Year’s Eve, but not that you had a hungover New Year’s Day! I guess they usually go hand in hand though 🙂 I hope the rest of your 2015 is treating you very well though!
Yay first kale of the year!!! Sooo many things… I love kale Caesar! The fact that it’s spicy melts my heart. NY Super Fudge Chunk is my fave and is the best/worst thing about living down the blocK from a 7-11! And no shame about the glasses. Mike wore his glasses which were missing a earpiece for like a year. We called them his double manacles! Hahaha! Happy new year!!!
I love that you made a kale casesar salad. After the indulgent Christmas period i just had.. this recipe is all that I need!
One of my resolutions is to eat more kale! So I am relying on your cookbook to help me this year! This salad looks delicious.
This salad is perfection! Of course, I will eat just about anything with roasted garlic on it! P.S. Let’s start a broken glasses held together by tape trend. Mine are currently being held together with (get this) purple zebra print duct tape (because it’s the only duct tape we have in the house, obvi). My vision is so bad it costs over $500 to get new glasses, even with insurance….so my only hope is to recruit people to make it cool!
This looks wonderful! I ADORE roasted garlic (like, seriously, too much) so this is right up my street!
I would anything with that dressing on it!!!!! Splendid!!!!!!
I think moderation could be my one and only resolution for life! Loving this salad because anything Caesar is amazing, and roasted garlic just takes it over the top delicious!
Roasted garlic bulbs really are the best thing eva – so’s this one!
HaaaHaaa, I feel ya, I too was feeling a little hypocritical when starting my New Years post ;} This is a fabulous salad, one I honestly can’t wait to try!
I could definitely use some yin in my life right about now and this looks like one fab way to get it! I can just smell that roasted garlic through my computer screen. Feed me all the kale!!
I could just slurp up roasted garlic by the handful, is that weird?! Also, I love love love Hampton Creek! Grab life by those balls girls!
OH my gosh, the garlic on top is making my mouth water. What a great salad, I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks, Carrie, let me know when you do! The roasted g really is a palate pleaser 🙂