This kale salad is super simple, but oh so good. Kale and chickpeas are married with a bright lemon dressing for a flavorful and nutritious salad.

bowl of simple kale salad with lemon, chickpeas and Parmesan cheese.

This simple salad is packed full of nutrition. With a simple lemon and olive oil dressing, it is a perfect summer side.

Unlike most salads, it is actually better if it has a while to sit in the dressing making it a perfect make ahead for entertaining as well. All you have to do at meal time is toss and serve!

During this time of year, our CSA boxes are heavy on greens including a generous bunch of curly kale. Usually I cook kale in things like soup, on zuppa inspired pizza, even in sausage and kale quiche or baked into chips.

CSA box filled with fresh greens, cucumbers, radishes, squash, kohlrabi, and more.

However as hot as it’s been and as busy as we’ve been with my brother’s wedding and sister’s graduation I thought a kale salad would be a nice change.

Normally the kale salads I’ve had use a sweet dressing and dried fruit to balance out the kale. I wanted to try something different this time though.

We were planning to grill up some lemon and yogurt marinated chicken, so this simple salad dressed with lemon and olive oil called to me.

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Making Kale Salad

While kale has a reputation for being a bit tough and slightly bitter, you can easily combat that with a little planning. First, be sure to remove the ribs.

Then go ahead and run your knife through it to chop it relatively finely. While this is discouraged with more delicate greens, it is encouraged with kale!

bowl of chopped, dressed and massaged kale.

Also, go ahead and dress the salad a few hours ahead in you can. The prolonged exposure to the lemon juice, oil and salt help make for a milder texture and flavor in the kale and you don’t have to worry about soggy salad.

I encourage you to try this bright and fresh salad with your next bunch of kale as well. Meanwhile in case we get more kale next week, what are your favorite summer kale recipes?

More great salad recipes:

Red, White and Blueberry Dinner Salad is a perfect mix of sweet and savory with a little patriotic coloring thrown in for good measure!
Summer Corn Salad is another CSA favorite. It has all of the fresh summer produce favorites on a base of corn instead of greens!
Bok Choy Salad with Apples and Peanut Dressing is full of crunchy goodness and the flavor combo is fun too. it is definitely a must make!

5 from 6 ratings

Lemony Kale and Chickpea Salad

Author: Carlee

Servings: Servings

This salad is super simple but oh so good. Kale and chickpeas are married with a bright lemon dressing for a flavorful and nutritious salad.

Prep: 15

Total: 15

Ingredients

Instructions

Remove leafy green parts of kale from the stems. Discard stems and chop leafy part relatively finely.
1 bunch kale
Place chopped kale in a big bowl and drizzle in lemon juice and olive oil. Season with garlic powder, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Vigorously toss to coat kale in dressing. I like using my hands for this to make sure it is really coated.
4 Tablespoons olive oil, 4 Tablespoons lemon juice, ½ teaspoons garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, pinch red pepper flakes
Toss the chickpeas with greens. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours before serving in possible.
2 cans chickpeas
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and toss before serving.
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Leftovers hold up well for a couple of days covered in the refrigerator.