This loaded kale salad features crispy bacon, crunchy almonds, blue cheese and dried cranberries. Easy enough for a weeknight meal, but fancy enough for a holiday dinner.
If you’re looking for something healthy to serve with your holiday dinner, this Kale Bacon and Cranberry Salad is the perfect solution.
Of course, a salad this amazing should be served all year long, but with the red and green colors, it really is a great, healthy side for any holiday meal.
It’s packed full of delicious ingredients, like bacon, almonds, blue cheese and dried cranberries, then finished off with a sweet and tangy lemon and Dijon mustard vinaigrette.
My family really loves my simple version of kale salad, so I knew this loaded version would be a big hit, and I wasn’t wrong.
Everyone went back for seconds, which is pretty great considering they normally don’t love kale–except in salad form. For some reason, that’s the one way they’ll eat it.
Obviously this salad works well with all kinds of substitutions. To start, any type of salad greens will work in this recipe.
Pecans, walnuts or pistachios could replace the almonds. Goat cheese or feta would be great in place of the blue cheese. And most dried fruits would work in place of the cranberries.
The one thing I wouldn’t change is the bacon. Unless you’d like to add more!
It’s always nice to serve something lighter and healthier with a big holiday meal, and I feel like this delicious salad tastes and looks fancy enough for a special occasion.
Although if you love it as much as we do, you’ll want to eat this Kale Bacon and Cranberry Salad all year long!
Be sure to save this Kale Bacon and Cranberry Salad recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Here’s what you’ll need to make Kale Bacon and Cranberry Salad
- Bacon
- Almonds
- Produce: lemons, garlic, kale
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Blue cheese
- Dried cranberries
- Dijon mustard
- Sugar
Kale Bacon and Cranberry Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 lb. kale trimmed and cut into ribbons
- 1 cup slivered almonds toasted
- 6 ounces bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
- 4-6 ounces crumbled blue cheese
- 1 cup dried cranberries
For the dressing
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients and toss to mix well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until slightly thickened.
- Toss the salad with half of the dressing, adding more as desired to coat evenly. Serve additional dressing on the side.
