Kale Detox Salad
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This kale detox salad is super nourishing without skimping on flavor. You’ll love the combo of crunchy raw vegetables, marinated mushrooms and roasted Brussels sprouts tossed in a light balsamic dressing.
Have you ever felt like you needed to detox? I usually feel like I need one most after the holidays, a vacation or a weekend that’s full of indulgences.
Feeling this way makes total sense because alcohol, high sugar foods and processed junk can slow down or hinder our digestive systems (source). Of course our bodies have their own natural detoxification system but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to get back to the basics and help your body with the cleansing process.
This kale detox salad is a great place to start because it’s packed full of delicious foods that contains vital nutrients and are perfect for cleansing. It has at least seven of the 14 liver cleanse foods listed in this article.
And it’s tasty too! The roasted Brussels sprouts and marinated mushrooms add dynamic flavors as well as texture variety so the salad is really satisfying and can easily be enjoyed as a meal.
PS – You don’t have to be in need of a detox to enjoy this salad! It’s a great salad to add to your everyday routine.
Ingredients Needed:
- Lacinato kale – I prefer Lacinato kale (also known as Dinosaur kale, Black kale or Tuscan Kale) for this salad, but you can use curly kale if that’s all you can find.
- mixed greens or spinach – or additional kale
- red cabbage – green cabbage works too
- carrots
- black beans
- portobello caps
- bell pepper – I prefer red, but any color works.
- Brussels sprouts
- raw sunflower seeds – I love the nuttiness and crunch that the raw sunflower seeds add to this salad, but I bet any seed or nut would be delicious.
- avocado
- balsamic vinegar
- olive or avocado oil
- lemon juice
- maple syrup
- garlic
- dijon mustard
- sea salt
- ground pepper
What to Pair With This Salad
This salad would be a great vegetarian side option for a weeknight meal or you could double the recipe and bring it to a cookout or potluck. You could also turn this salad into a meal-sized salad by adding some protein. It’d be delicious topped with chickpeas, tempeh, tofu or my apple cider vinegar chicken.
Storage and Make Ahead Tips
This salad will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Some of the ingredients can be prepped ahead of time – like the dressing and marinating the mushrooms and roasting the sprouts. These things do take a bit of time so it might be easier to do them the day/night before and keep the veggies and dressing in the fridge until you’re ready to prepare the salad. That’s what I did and it worked out great because the veggies were already cool. That said, adding warm Brussels sprouts to the salad is delicious as well!
More Kale Salads:
- Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash
- Mexican Street Corn Kale Salad
- Garlicky Kale Salad
- Quinoa Salad with Kale
- Massaged Kale Salad (with Avocado)
- Kale and Brussels Sprout Salad
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Kale Detox Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of lacinato kale, de-stemmed and chopped into bite size pieces
- 4 ounces baby mixed greens, spinach or 4 additional ounces of kale
- 1 cup chopped red cabbage
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler or spiralized
- 1 cup cooked black beans
- 4 small, or 2 large portobello caps, sliced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped or sliced
- 1 bunch Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and quartered
- 2-3 teaspoons olive or avocado oil
- 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1 avocado, sliced
Balsamic Dressing:
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Marinate the mushrooms: simply whisk together all ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and place mushrooms into the bowl to marinate. Stir occasionally (or shake if you’re using a sealable container) to make sure all the pieces are getting coated in the dressing. The mushrooms should marinate anywhere from 1 hour to overnight.
- Roast the sprouts: Preheat oven to 375°. Toss chopped brussels sprouts in 2-3 teaspoons of oil and sprinkle on a little salt and pepper. Add to a baking sheet and roast for 40-45 minutes (tossing occasionally) or until brussels sprouts are tender and brown.
- After marinating the mushrooms, add the mushrooms and remaining dressing into a large bowl with all the rest of the salad ingredients.
- Mix everything together. A large tupperware container works great for this because you can put the lid on it and shake all the ingredients to mix them up, but if you don’t have one, stirring everything together in a big salad bowl with a spoon will work.
- You can let the salad marinate a bit more before serving (this will help to soften the kale a bit) or you can serve immediately. To serve, place salad portion on a plate or bowl and top with an extra slice of avocado and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds.
- Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. You should be able to get at least 2-3 large salads out of it.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This Recipe? Rate & Comment Below!
This is amazing. Post turkey day detox is just what my body needed. The flavors and textures are just perfect. Thank you for doing to work of making health food craveable.
So glad this one was a win for you, Elizabeth! It makes me happy to hear it felt so good post-Thanksgiving and that the mix of textures worked. Thanks for coming back to leave a review, I really appreciate it.
What are you considering as a bunch of kale?
My bunch without stems was almost 8 oz
I find that a bunch is usually around 1lb, give or take. I’m sure the 8oz without the stems is just right!
What is a “bunch” of brussell sprouts? They’re sold by the pound or kilo.
Sorry for the confusion, Jennifer. One bunch will be 1 lb of brussels.
Very well explained. Loved it. I do follow a detoxification routine every now and then. I understand the importance of detoxifying our bodies from time to time. My approach is 100% natural. I learned about a few detox foods and salads from iahas.com, and they are excellent. I will add your blog to my list as well.
The nutrition info indicates the salad has 21 g of sugar. I see there is maple syrup in the dressing and carrots in the salad, what else is contributing to the sugar content? 21g seems high.
I just finished making this! It made a HUGE batch of salad, so I am really looking forward to eating this over the next few days!
Yay! Enjoy, Jenni!
Wow, this kale salad looks killer! You did such an amazing job at plating it too!
Super impressed.
Thanks for the awesome recipe.
This looks so yummy!
Izzy | Pinch of delight
Thanks Izzy!! It’s so good!
OMG this looks insane! Probably the healthiest recipe I’ve seen in a while but it looks so delicious! Way to make those hard to eat veggies into an amazing meal! Thanks ????
Awww. Thanks Ashley. I hope you get a chance to try this! 🙂
This looks delicious! I totally feel the urge to have “detoxifying” meals on Monday evenings after indulging on the weekend. This recipe looks filling and so so tasty. I will definitely be putting this together soon. I also created a detox meal that you could check out here – https://chooseloveoverlikes.com/2017/05/15/salmon-detox-bowl/.
Thank you for your beautiful recipes! <3
What a beautiful looking salad!
Thanks Em!!
i’ve been so in love with mushrooms lately, but haven’t tried marinating them yet! this salad has so many incredible flavors, i can’t wait to try it!
I was at wedding this weekend in New York which meant non stop bagels and goodies. This is hte perfect meal to get me back on track! It’s *almost* too beautiful to eat 🙂
Looks delicious. Would like more recipes.
Hi I’ve been trying to sign up for your emails but can’t get it to submit. Just discovered your site and great info and recipes. Please advise what the 7 Day Detox is and how I can get signed up. Thanks
I just made this for my family and it was delish! Had it for dinner with roasted sweet potatoe wedges. Yummy !
Thanks for a great recèpe to add to my book 🙂
So glad to hear that you liked it Rebekah. 🙂
This looks great! I just made four servings for this week’s lunches, and I’m looking forward to trying it.
I have been meaning to make this salad for some time, and tonight I finally did! It was delicious! My family said “I am full in a good way” 🙂
Yay! So glad you that were able to make it today and enjoyed it. 🙂
Wow this salad looks amazing!, definately going to try this soon, pity its hard to buy kale in Australia! will have to hunt around for it 🙂
this looks AMAZING! i WILL be making this.
Yum!! This has all of my favorite ingredients in one salad, it doesn’t get better than that!!! Delicious!!
wow! now that’s what i call a salad! 🙂 delicious!
Wow, this salad looks amazing! I love all the color! Will definitely be trying this soon.
love it!!!!! thank you so much for this recipe…..your ausome!!!!!
Would love to hear more about this cleanse! I’ve been looking for a whole foods cleanse to try out and this one sounds like it could be perfect!
I am anxious to hear more about your cleanse. I find the whole idea fascinating, but I have never done one myself because so many “cleanses” require you to take a million and one supplements. I am a real food kind of girl 🙂 This salad looks delish, and I am especially intrigued by the dressing. Yum, and thanks for sharing!
I just had a really excellent raw kale salad last night, and I’m thinking I might want to experiment with them on my own. I like the combination of ingredients in this salad, and how it’s hearty enough to make ahead of time and have on hand for lunches, etc. I think I could even give marinated mushrooms a go – not really a fan of them raw, but they do sound good with that dressing.
Hi Brittany! I always love your creative salad recipes 🙂 I did my own 7 day detox too after the Christmas break and felt so much better afterwards. Your body really does thank you for it! I’m like you though, sometimes I like to detox every now and then after a night out with my girlfriends or if I’ve been travelling and haven’t been 100% on my best eating behaviour. I checked out the conscious cleanse and will definitely give it a go next time I need a detox.
Thanks again!
I was thinking about beets on a salad and wanting to try brussel sprouts so this kills two birds with one stone! How long do you roast the beets and brussel sprouts?
I use this recipe for the brussels https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/2012/11/roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-a-apple-cider-vinegar-sauce/
And here’s a guide for roasting beets: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-roast-beets-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-172827
Hope this helps!
looks delicious!
omg this sounds delicious! You always have the best food combinations 😀
I saw this on my FB feed this morning the moment I woke up and wanted to jump out of bed and start roasting mushrooms. Oh heavens this looks outstanding!!!
Thanks lady!
That salad is BEAUTIFUL! Mmmmm
What a gorgeous and healthy salad! I’m excited to hear more about your cleanse over the next few weeks 🙂
Salad looks great! I think I need a detox! I am thinking of doing the 7DSD next week 🙂
Nice! The 7 Day Slim Down is definitely a good detox option.
What is 7 day slim down?
It’s a 7 day program offered through Tone It Up.
Gorgeous salad! If I’ve been away for a day or two I tend to feel a little sluggish due to being out of routine and eating foods I wouldn’t normally but a day of eats with salads just like this and lighter refreshing food and I’m back to my old self no time 🙂 Happy Friday!
Totally agree!
This salad sounds so good!!! I hope the detox is going well! I can’t wait to hear your final results 🙂
This looks so good. Just put it in my Evernote to make it later.
Thanks for sharing.
Yay! Let me know what you think. 🙂
This salad looks absolutely deliscious! I always wondered how people eat raw portabellos…duh, marinate them! I will absolutely be trying this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
No problem. I hope you like it Shannon.
I heard that Kale and carrots do not release their vitamins etc unless lightly cooked, so I will lightly bake them as well as the other veggies.