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Loaded with textures and flavors, this kale salad with tart green apple and toasty walnuts is the perfect side dish for just about any meal. It’s fresh, crisp, and crunchy and features a delicious vinaigrette you’ll want to spoon over everything.
Why This Recipe Works
The star of the show is the toasted cumin vinaigrette. It’s one of my favorite vinaigrettes for its wonderful balance between fresh and toasty flavors. Not only is the vinaigrette great for this fall green salad, but I also recommend drizzling it over roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes or tossing with cooked grains to make a simple pilaf.
In addition to the must-make vinaigrette, the combination of salad ingredients just hit all the notes. Toasty, crunchy walnuts, flavorful greens (I can’t get enough of baby kale), tart green apple, creamy goat cheese, and just a handful of basil for a light herby note.
Ingredient Notes
Cumin Seeds
Cumin seeds are the main flavor of my vinaigrette. I use them also in vinaigrettes, soups and even sauces. If you don’t have cumin seeds in hand, I recommend you buy some!
White Balsamic Vinegar
White balsamic vinegar is my favorite vinegar to have on hand for homemade vinaigrettes and balsamic vinaigrettes. It’s tangy yet mildly sweet, which is perfect for creating a vinaigrette that’s tangy without being too harsh.
Walnuts
Walnuts are one of the stars of the show! Toast raw walnut halves then give them a rough chop. If you don’t like or don’t have them on hand, you can use pecans instead.
Greens
This salad is best with hearty baby greens like baby kale. Baby kale is one of my favorite greens because it’s incredibly flavorful, holds up well to a dressing, but it also tender enough that you don’t have to fight it (like you sometimes do with mature kale). Use all baby kale or look for a “power mix” made up of baby kale, baby chard, and baby spinach.
Goat Cheese
Use fresh goat cheese known as chevre for this salad. Keep it cold until just before serving to make it easier to crumble. If you don’t like goat cheese, you can use feta instead.
Basil
A handful of basil leaves add just the right amount of herbiness to this salad. You can also use parsley, cilantro or chives.
Test Kitchen Tips
- Keep an eye on the cumin seeds as they toast in the oil on the stove top. They can go from perfectly toasted to burnt quickly! Immediately pour the hot oil over the shallots in the glass measuring cup. The hot oil will slightly sizzle the shallots, which will cook out their harsh flavor.
- For a bit of spice, consider adding a dash of red pepper flakes to the oil with the cumin seeds.
- If you like herby salad, add some parsley leaves in addition to the basil.
Variations on this Recipe
- For even more fall and winter vibes, add some dried cranberries to the mix.
- Any crisp apples with work for this salad. If you like honeycrisp use those! Got braeburn on hand? Those will work as well.
- Feel free to mix up the type of lettuce you use. Red leaf lettuce or any leafy salad greens will work.
- Swap the goat cheese or crumbled blue cheese.
Other Side Dishes to Try
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Kale Salad with Apple and Walnuts
Description
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Ingredients
Toasted Cumin Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup minced shallot
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Kosher salt
Salad
- ⅔ cup raw walnuts
- 8 cups baby kale
- 1 green apple, thinly sliced then cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 ounces fresh goat cheese (chevre), crumbled
- 8 large basil leaves, thinly sliced
Instructions
Toasted Cumin Vinaigrette
- Add shallots to a glass measuring cup or jar.
- In a small skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add cumin seeds and cook, swirling skillet, until cumin seeds are toasted and fragrant. About 1 minute. Immediately transfer oil and cumin seeds to jar with shallots.
- In now-empty skillet, add walnuts and cook, over medium heat, until toasted and fragrant, 2–5 minutes.
- Add vinegar, Dijon, honey and ½ teaspoon kosher salt to shallot-oil mixture; whisk to combine.
Salad
- In a larger serving bowl, combine greens, apple, goat cheese, basil and cooled toasted walnuts. Drizzle with vinaigrette and gently toss; season with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately.
Am going to try this recipe this weekend to take to a friend’s BBQ salmon dinner. It sounds really delicious as we love all the ingredients for this salad. Thank you for providing this — sometimes a person just runs out of imagination and is grateful to others who can fill in the gaps!