Kale Salad with Apple Tahini Dressing (Vegan + GF)

This Kale Salad with Apple Tahini Dressing is the salad you’ve been dreaming of, it’s crunchy, creamy, sweet and ultra healthy. It’s made with healthy seasonal ingredients like fennel, carrots, kale, apples, tahini and shredded beets.

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If you’re traveling to holiday dinner and need to bring a side dish I highly recommend bringing this one. The ingredients in this salad are tough enough to stand up to a long drive.

I went apple picking with my daughter, friends, and family to celebrate Ava’s birthday. We had so much fun picking apples. Luckily the trees were low to the ground so that she could easily pick them on her own. We didn’t need to use a cherry picker or sit on each others shoulders! Easy picking meant full bushels of apples for us all to take home.

We must have picked at least five pounds of apples. I needed to find ways to use them up, (other than apple pie). I thought that a nice apple dressing would be a healthy way to showcase the seasonal produce. I was right!

With only five common ingredients, I made the best dressing. Apple dressing is slightly sweet, savory and creamy. It’s also unique! Who has ever heard of an apple dressing? The thick creamy texture (thanks to the tahini) compliments the other ingredients.

So if you come home with more apples than you know what to do with, I hope you’ll give this recipe a try!

What’s in Kale Salad with Apple Tahini Dressing

Full ingredient amounts can be found in the recipe card.

For the Salad

• Baby Kale
• Beets
• Carrots
• Fennel
• Cucumbers

For the Apple Tahini Dressing

• Tahini
• Apple
• Maple Syrup
• Garlic
• Apple Cider Vinegar

How to Make it

This salad is so easy to make that it barely warrants any directions. Beyond chopping the ingredients and blending the dressing there isn’t much to do!

Step 1: Slice and peel the apple so that you get roughly 1/2 cup of apple. In a high speed blender combine the tahini, apple, maple syrup, garlic and apple cider vinegar. Blend until it’s completely smooth. You can add some water to thin it out but the dressing should be the consistency of a dip.

Step 2: Wash and peel the beets. Using a cheese grater, grate about 1 cup of beets. In a bowl combine the kale, sliced carrots, grated beets and cucumbers. Add 1/4 cup of dressing and toss until each piece is coated with apple tahini dressing.

If the Dressing is too Thin: Add more Tahini.

If the Dressing is too thick: Add a little bit of water.

Ingredient Substitutions

Maple Syrup: Any liquid sweetener will do. You can use agave or honey. If you don’t want to add any sugar you can use a little bit of stevia or just replace the 1/4 cup of maple syrup with 1/4 cup of water.

Raw Carrots: To make this salad even more delicious you can add roasted carrots instead of raw. Simply toss the chopped carrots with oil salt and pepper. Arrange them in a single layer on a sheet tray and roast for about 25 minutes. Or until they’re golden around the edges.

Apple Cider Vinegar: If you don’t have apple cider vinegar you can use white wine or champaign vinegar.

Raw Garlic: You can also use 1/4 tsp of garlic powder instead of fresh.

Tahini: You can use sunflower butter or any other kind of nut butter as long as it is unsweetened.

Storage

This salad can be made up to five days in advance. The baby kale is hearty so it won’t wilt! When I bring a salad to other people’s homes I always use tougher greens like baby kale so that the salad won’t be wilted and soggy by the time we get there.

• To keep this salad fresh for a week store the salad and the dressing separately. Dress it right before you eat it.
• Perfect Meal Prep: Kale salad is great for making into portions for the week. I love storing the food in my 12 oz mason jars. I just pull one out of the fridge at any time for a quick lunch or dinner.
• You can purchase pre-sliced beets and coleslaw mix to save time on prep.

More Raw Vegan Salad Recipes

• Microgreen Salad
• Rainbow Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
• Broccoli and Microgreen Salad with Balsamic Viniagrette
• Detox Cabbage and Carrot Salad with Carrot Ginger Miso Dressing