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Kale Caesar Salad

5 from 3 votes
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Caesar salads are a delicious and reliable salad, able to be ordered almost anywhere, and it will give you a dependable quality. However, who says you have to always have regular lettuce; why not some kale instead?

Make sure that you learn How to Make Buttery Garlicky Homemade Croutons for this recipe. Or why not make a more traditional Chicken Caesar Salad instead?

Table of Contents
  1. Kale Caesar Salad
  2. Kale Caesar Salad Ingredients
  3. How To Make Kale Caesar Salad
  4. Why Does This Recipe Use Mayonnaise?
  5. Does The Use Of Kale Make This Caesar Salad Taste Any Different?
  6. Pin this recipe to your SALADS RECIPE Boards and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!
  7. Kale Caesar Salad Recipe
kale caesar salad on a white plate

Kale Caesar Salad

A great Caesar salad is so much more than an easy lunch. It is nourishing, rich, fatty, and delicious and can be mixed with all kinds of additional ingredients to make a more varied meal.

One of the almost ever-present constants in Caesar salads, however, is the use of lettuce. Regular lettuce leaves or romaine hearts are pretty much all that you ever see.

But who says you have to always stick to the original? Why not experiment a little bit and make a Caesar salad using some kale leaves instead?                                                                                                         

kale caesar salad ingredients

Kale Caesar Salad Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing

 • Garlic

 • Mayonnaise, preferably full-fat

 • Anchovy paste

 • Parmesan cheese

 • Worcestershire sauce

 • Dijon mustard

 • Lemon juice

• Salt & pepper

Caesar Salad Ingredients

• Romaine hearts

• Garlic croutons

• Kale

• Parmesan flakes

• Fresh lemon juice

kale caesar salad dressing in bowl

How To Make Kale Caesar Salad

Caesar Salad Dressing

• Combine all of the ingredients together into a container that you can use an immersion or hand blender to mix

• Process and blend all of the ingredients together, adding in as much garlic and lemon as you want

Assembling The Kale Caesar Salad

• Place the lettuce and the kale in a large bowl

• Toss the dressing until the lettuce and kale are totally coated

• Top with croutons and the Parmesan

• Right before serving, mix the toppings in the very top layer of lettuce and kale, just enough so that there is a layer of toppings in every serving and it is spread easily.   

Kale caesar salad on two plates

Why Does This Recipe Use Mayonnaise?

Experienced salad makers might have noticed that this recipe uses full-fat mayonnaise rather than the more standard egg yolks and oil to make an emulsion for the sauce.

Purists will argue that this makes for an inauthentic Caesar salad dressing, but don’t listen to them. After all, mayonnaise is basically just an emulsion of egg yolks and oil anyway, so why go through all of the extra efforts and essentially make mayonnaise from scratch?

Just use regular, full-fat mayonnaise from the store instead. It will give the finished salad loads of intense creaminess and richness without you having to worry about potentially messing up making mayo at home.  

Kale caesar salad close up on white plate

Does The Use Of Kale Make This Caesar Salad Taste Any Different?

Most Caesar salad recipes will call for the more regular romaine hearts and lettuce leaves rather than kale. In fact, some might even argue that the use of kale makes this a totally different salad altogether.

However, kale is just as perfectly valid in a salad as any other type of leafy green, and it might even be better!

Kale is packed with nutrients and has an intensely distinctive flavor that is unlike any other vegetable or green.

Expect your kale Caesar salad to have a predominately strong and earthy taste, a bit more hearty than the simple crunch of lettuce. It isn’t spicy or peppery like arugula is, but it does hit some of those same notes.

If you find that your kale Caesar salad is just a little bit too biting in its earthiness, consider upping the acidity in this recipe to help compensate for it.

You could even swap out the lemon juice for lime juice instead, which could help to reduce any residual bitterness. Plus, it is actually the more historical option, as the original Caesar salad actually called for lime instead of lemon!

Looking for more delicious Salad recipes? Try these out:

7 Layer Salad

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Turkey Salad

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

Pin this recipe to your SALADS RECIPE Boards and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!

A great Kale Caesar salad is so much more than an easy lunch. It is nourishing, rich, fatty, and delicious and can be mixed with all kinds of additional ingredients.
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Kale Caesar Salad

A Kale Caesar salad is so much more than an easy lunch. It is nourishing, rich, delicious and can be a great appetizer too!
5 from 3 votes
Kale caesar salad close up on white plate
Prep Time
10 minutes
Course
Appetizer
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Author
Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients
 

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing

  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 3/4 cup full fat mayonnaise
  • 3 teaspoons anchovy paste
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or more to taste
  • salt to taste
  • ground black pepper to taste

Caesar Salad Ingredients

  • 4 cups of romaine washed, and torn into bite-size pieces
  • 1-2 cups homemade garlic croutons see post above for the recipe
  • 4 cups kale chopped, fresh
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan flakes

Instructions
 

How to Make the Caesar Salad Dressing

  • Combine all of the ingredients into a container that you can use an immersion or hand blender in to mix the ingredients. Alternatively, you can place this all in your blender.
  • Process and blend all of the ingredients together, adding in more garlic and lemon to taste if you want. ( I am Ukrainian so there is always room for more garlic!) Set aside

Assembling the Kale Caesar Salad

  • Place the lettuce and kale in a large bowl.
  • Toss with the dressing until it is all coated completely.
  • Top with the croutons and the Parmesan. I do NOT mix it in because as you know, they all go to the very bottom!
  • Right before serving, mix the toppings into the top layer of lettuce and kale, not the bottom, just slightly so that you have a layer of toppings for everyone to dig into.

Recipe Notes

This is NOT the traditional Caesar salad dressing as that one uses egg yolks and oil as the base, not mayo. This however is my VERY favorite Caesar salad dressing!

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

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  1. Ruth says

    Where can I find the nutritional information? Thank you, your recipes are great!🤗

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