Kale Chicken & Apple Salad

This paleo, Whole30-friendly, nutritious kale salad is a perfect lunch meal that is super quick and easy to put together. Simple pre-cooked chicken together with fibre-rich carrots and apples make this meal both satiating and delicious.


Kale Chicken & Apple Salad (Paleo, Whole30)

I Love A Good Kale Salad

Kale is not to everyone’s liking but its nutritional profile is just too good to ignore: it’s a rich source of vitamin K, antioxidants, iron, and fibre, to mention a few.

So I hope that you will try this kale salad because I honestly think that it might change your mind about this amazing leafy green. Plus, it has a lot of other nutritious and tasty ingredients that make it a wonderful, complete paleo meal.

How To Prepare Kale For A Salad

The most important thing about using kale in a salad is that you have to give it a good massage.

Kale is very fibrous and hardy, and unlike thinner spinach or lettuce, it can feel a little tough and chewy in the mouth. Massaging it with a little salt and/or lemon juice breaks down those tough fibres, making the leaves softer and more palatable.

Simply cut up the leaves (minus the hard stems), sprinkle with a little salt or drizzle with lemon juice, and use your hands to squeeze and massage the kale for 20-30 seconds.

Massaging kale for the salad
 

I often make a kale salad for lunch and I particularly love adding foods like pre-cooked chicken or tinned salmon, carrots or peppers, apples for sweetness and maybe some avocado.

Meal Prep Tip

Cook up a batch of chicken breasts in the oven or a frying pan on the weekend and store in the fridge for about 3 days. You can also easily get pre-cooked chicken at a store. Then simply slice it up and add to a salad during the week.

You can also use pre-cooked chicken in my kohlrabi, pear and chicken salad or shred the meat to use in paleo wraps.

Kale salad with chicken and apple

Dressing For Kale Chicken Salad

For the dressing, you have a few options: mayonnaise with mustard and lemon juice (what I used in this recipe), my egg-free, dairy-free creamy avocado dressing, or a lovely Italian dressing with balsamic vinegar, herbs and olive oil.

Please note that this recipe is for one filling portion but you can simply increase the number of ingredients to make a larger batch of the salad. It keeps well overnight, or you can mix it and store it without the mayonnaise and mustard until just before serving.

If you have some leftover kale, you can use it to make this lovely kale pesto recipe.

Kale salad with chicken, apple, carrots and mayonnaise
 

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Kale Chicken & Apple Salad (Paleo, Whole30)

Chicken & Kale Salad With Apple

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Author: Irena Macri
Servings: 1
Course: Salad
Cuisine: European
Print Pin Save
5 from 5 votes
Calories: 308kcal
This satiating and nutritious kale and chicken salad is quick and easy to prepare. It has the addition of carrots and apple and is dressed with mayonnaise-based sauce. Paleo, Whole30, gluten-free and low-carb.

Ingredients 

  • 2-3 leaves of kale stem removed and leaves roughly chopped (about 2-3 cups of chopped kale)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 100-150 g cooked chicken 4-5 oz., sliced
  • 1/2 medium carrot grated
  • 1/2 medium apple red or green, sliced and chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onion/scallions
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard like Dijon or yellow
  • A pinch of cracked pepper

Instructions

  • Sprinkle the kale with salt and drizzle with lemon juice. Using your hands, massage and rub the leaves for 20-30 seconds until slightly softened.
  • Add the kale and the rest of the ingredients to a mixing bowl. Mix well allowing the mayo and mustard to incorporate evenly. Serve then and there, or store for a day or overnight as it will keep well until the next day.

Nutrition

Calories: 308kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 1455mg | Potassium: 703mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 16805IU | Vitamin C: 129mg | Calcium: 330mg | Iron: 3mg
Keywords: Kale, apple recipes, Green Salad, Chicken salad
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Chicken & Kale Salad With Apple (Paleo, Whole30)
Irena Macri
By Irena Macri

About the author: Hi, I’m Irena Macri. I share delicious recipes that I have cooked and loved. I am a published cookbook author, have been food blogging for over 10 years and have a Diploma in Nutrition. You will find many healthy recipes as well as my favourite comfort food. More about me here | Subscribe to my newsletter and freebies

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Comments

12 Comments
  1. This looks great – will make it this week for sure! As a coeliac I find lunch hard, but this is a fast, easy, healthy and delicious option. Thank you 🙂

  2. 5 stars
    This salad was amazing… I didn’t know about softening the kale so this was a great tip. I made the creamy avocado dressing and also added a handful of pumpkin seeds to this. Thanks for the recipe.

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