Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Perfect as a light lunch or even a meatless Monday dinner option!
Four years ago, I met Jason. He was weird as ever, telling me he couldn’t pronounce my name, even though he was 100% Korean. I was in utter shock but by the end of the night, I gave him my phone number, which was the best decision I’ve ever made.
These four years have gone by so fast, and together, we’ve grown so much. He was with me when I graduated college and grad school, and now he’s completely supportive in this career change with the blog. I’ve seen him leave his 9-5 job that he began post-college, not knowing what he wanted to do, and now he has one year left in his architecture graduate program.
Although the long-distance relationship that we have puts a bit of a strain on our relationship, I could not be happier. Jason has become my best friend, my better half and my superhero.
To celebrate, we made a trip to our favorite restaurant: Lawry’s Prime Rib. It’s actually become a bit of a ritual to celebrate our anniversary here year after year. It’s the one time I can really indulge in meat!
So at Lawry’s, we first start off with their complimentary, piping hot sourdough bread. Now I don’t know about you guys but I am a bit of a carbaholic. And this bread here – yeah, I could totally skip over the prime rib and eat this entire plate for dinner. No joke.
Next up they have this spinning salad to get your appetite going before the main course. It may not look like much but you’ll be sure to finish this salad in the blink of an eye.
Then we have the prime rib where the chef comes by with his cart and slices up the meat right in front of you before ladling off their homemade au jus. With a side of their mashed potatoes, creamed corn and yorkshire pudding, this dish will rock your socks off. I usually get the California cut but if I could handle it, I would totally get the beef bowl!
But with all that meat, there has to be a bit of a balance so today, I bring you a kale salad, chockfull of avocado, quinoa, pomegranate seeds, pecans, and crumbly goat cheese tossed in a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. It’s perfect as a light lunch or even a meatless Monday dinner option.
Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 4 cups chopped kale
- 1 avocado, diced
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup pomegranate arils
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
For the Meyer lemon vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
- Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
- To assemble the salad, place kale in a large bowl; top with avocado, quinoa, pomegranate arils, pecans and goat cheese. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately.
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Everyone is commenting about honey and am I blind bc I don’t see that ingredient in the recipe
There’s actually no honey in this recipe.
Thank you! Outstanding flavour! I steamed the kale for a couple of minutes and couldn’t get enough of this stuff. Highly recommended and just what I needed to get past this horrid hangover. Can’t wait to make it for others 🙂
Do you have nutritional value
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, I recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
This salad is my lunch every day! I roast the pecans the the toaster oven so everyone at work can salivate 🙂 Now that Poms are not in season I have been using strawberries. I also switch back and forth from goat to feta. Love both. Roast those pecans! Thanks for the recipe!!!
Has anyone tried to make the salad dressing ahead of time and dressing salad throughout the week? Would the dressing keep? Refrigerated or room temp?
The dressing should keep in the fridge for at least 2-3 days.
How do I cook quinoa if I buy it in bulk at the store? Have never cooked it before…. Thanks
It is best to cook quinoa following package instructions.
I tried this recipe after finding it on Pinterest. It was outstanding. Absolutely delicious!
How do you get around the pomegranate seeds? I buy fresh ones but they have seeds.
There are many tutorials available online on seeding pomegranates.
thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! i was looking for a light yet tasty side salad for a pasta bake that i made for dinner and this fit the bill beautifully! i left out the quinoa since i was already having lots of carbs and i added fresh squeeze orange juice in addition to the lemon. my fiancé loved it. we both devoured it in about 2 minutes 🙂
I just made this for Christmas dinner and it was a HUGE hit! Thank you! Looking forward to making it again and again.
I came across this recipe on Foodie. I have made it almost a dozen times…can’t tell you how many people want this recipe! Delicious! I have used dried fruit in lieu of pomegranate anrils and it turns out great!!! So glad I found this recipe…thank you!
Do I need one half cup of quinoa, cooked OR one half cup of cooked quinoa?
The recipe is correct. You need 1/2 cup cooked quinoa.
This salad was absolutely delicious! THANKYOU so much for sharing! I have made it twice and loved it!!
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Hi, Chungah!
This looks good, but I don’t see any instructions about what I would substitute for Meyer lemons. Like, if I am using regular lemons, how much OJ do I add to the viniagrette?
FYI, I tried your Zucchini Parm wedges recipe tonite. VERY good! We loved it. We have SO much zucchini growing in our garden, so I need lots of different ways to use them up 🙂
Karen, you can use the same amount of lemon juice in place of Meyer lemons.
Chungah, you make so many beautiful salads and this one I just had to comment on. Incredible photographs, too. The kale, quinoa, pecan and goat cheese has me salivating – plus I have 3 ripe avocados that will find there destiny when I make this one tomorrow!
This recipe was deeeeelicious as usual!
If I don’t like goat cheese, will feta work?
Yes! Feta should be a great substitute.
Both my husband and I really enjoyed this salad and the leftovers kept well even with the dressing on it overnight.
Think I’m missing something – couple comments mention substituting something for the agave nectar – but I don’t see it in the ingredient list.
I have updated the recipe to use sugar instead of agave.
Ah. Gotcha. Thx.