Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
The most amazing Chicken Kale Salad Recipe
A pile of crispy seasoned chickpeas, juicy bursts of roasted tomatoes, tender strands of chicken and essentially the most superb creamy tahini dressing tossed with ribbons of kale. Introducing – my Chicken Kale Salad. Now THIS is a kale salad I crave!
It is a absolutely loaded kale salad that was deliberately designed to be satisfying to have as a meal. It has nice number of textures and flavours – crunch and saltiness from chickpeas, (tender) chewiness of the kale leaves, contemporary juiciness from the tomatoes, tender meaty bits of chicken all tossed with a wealthy, cream tahini dressing. It’s extremely filling. And the excessive scrumptious issue goes with out saying!
However actually, absolutely the star right here is the tahini dressing which is so creamy, it’s onerous to consider there’s not a drop of mayonnaise in it. The richness is pure, from tahini, enriched with olive oil, balanced with the contemporary tang of lemon and a very good hit of savouriness from parmesan.
You may really skip all of the add-ins and simply make this salad with kale and that creamy tahini dressing, and it will nonetheless be scoff-worthy. However I actually hope you do that recipe in its entirety too, as a result of it’s one thing else!
I’m not going to lie – the substances record is longer than 95% of the recipes on my web site. As a result of there’s various parts to this salad. However it’s price it! And we’re simply making a salad right here. It’s completely straight ahead. 🙂
The kale (& onion)
First up, the kale!
Tuscan kale – That is the primary recipe I’m sharing utilizing tuscan kale, ordinarily I take advantage of the extra frequent curly kale. Also referred to as often known as cavolo nero, black or lacinato kale, the leaves are formed like silverbeet/chard and never as bushy/curly as common kale (curly kale) so it’s extra appropriate to chop into slaw-like strips like I do on this recipe. The leaf can be softer than curly kale.
If utilizing common curly kale (which you completely can), don’t attempt to reduce it into strips (it will get all crumbly). Simply chop or tear into small chunk measurement items.
Onion – Only a quarter of a purple onion which we sliced very finely so it flops all through the salad. I just like the freshness if provides into this salad.
creamy tahini dressing INGREDIENTS
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Tahini – That is plain pureed sesame and it’s the star participant right here, offering richness and creaminess within the dressing so it clings to each little bit of the kale (and all the things else it touches). You’ll want to get hulled tahini which is the extra frequent selection right here in Australia (pale beige color) not unhulled tahini (darker in color and bitter). Tahini is usually discovered within the well being meals aisle in grocery shops, else alongside spreads.
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Additional virgin olive oil – The oil on this dressing, slightly than utilizing simply tahini which makes the dressing too thick.
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Parmesan – For a very good hit of savoury flavour. It’s finest to grate your individual however even pre-grated is okay as a result of we blitz it easy. Various – Anchovies. Oh sure! Use as many as you dare so as to add flavour and salt with out the sauce tasting fishy.
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Lemon – The tang on this dressing, to stability out the richness of the tahini and olive oil. More energizing than vinegar, although you may substituted with apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.
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Garlic – Only one clove, else the uncooked garlic flavour is a bit of too full on (blitzing actually brings out the flavour of uncooked garlic!).
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Water to skinny the sauce to a toss-able consistency. Don’t fear, it doesn’t dilute the dressing flavour, there’s masses of flavour within the dressing!
burst roast tomatoes
Named as such as a result of they burst in your mouth! Actually simply cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes, as I appear to make use of extra usually lately) roasted in a bit of oil, salt and pepper till they’re a bit of wrinkled which suggests within the inside is superbly tender.
THE CHICKEN
To maintain issues simple, I simply use a retailer purchased roast chicken and shred it myself. In case you poach and shred your individual, toss the chicken in a pinch of salt and pepper earlier than utilizing on this recipe (as a result of retailer purchased chicken is brined so the flesh has salt).
crispy seasoned chickpeas
And final however actually not least, the crispy chickpeas! I’m utilizing my go-to spice combine for chickpeas right here, not too long ago featured within the Spicy maple roast carrots recipe. It provides nice crunch into this salad and good little salty seasoned pops, in addition to including a starch to fill the meal out. And it’s a “good starch” too, that can preserve you feeling fuller for longer. 🙂
Whereas there are a number of parts to this salad, there’s a pleasant workflow to it:
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Get these bursty tomatoes and crispy chickpeas within the oven (half-hour)
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Whereas they’re baking, chop and “marinate” the kale leaves to melt them (20 minutes)
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Make the dressing, shred the chicken and slice the onion.
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Assemble and eat!
1. Burst roast tomatoes & crispy chickpeas
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Bake collectively – Toss the tomatoes in oil, salt and pepper. Then drain the chickpeas and put them, nonetheless moist, onto a separate tray. We’re going to oven dry them earlier than tossing within the seasonings (much less effort and simpler to get them crispy than towel or air drying!). Bake each for 12 minutes or till the tomatoes are tender and wrinkly, by which era the chickpeas will probably be completely dried.
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Toss the chickpeas in a bit of oil which can make the spice combine stick, then pop them again within the oven for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or till the chickpeas are crispy (you’ll know, they clatter).
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Burst tomatoes – Allow them to cool on the tray till you’re prepared to make use of them. Don’t deal with them, they’re delicate and vulnerable to, nicely, bursting!
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Crispy chickpeas – As soon as the chickpeas are prepared, simply set them apart to chill barely earlier than utilizing. No person needs a 3rd diploma mouth burn from sizzling little crispy balls of chickpeas!
2. STRIPPING KALE LEAVES
As a result of the stem of kale leaves are fairly robust and fibrous, I take away the leafy half from the stem. I simply rip it off – fast, simple, efficient!
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Separate the leaves then work one leaf at a time.
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Seize the stem after which seize the leafy half together with your different hand and pull it up the stem which can rip the leafy half cleanly off the stem. Don’t fear about crushing the kale leaves, they’re hardy and may take it. Actually, we crush them intentionally to melt them!
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Stated leafy half. 🙂
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Stem – Discard or throw into your subsequent batch of vegetable inventory.
3. Making the kale salad
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Soften kale – Kale is a bit of chewy when eaten uncooked. So I like to melt it earlier than utilizing in salads. To do that, simply therapeutic massage / scrunch the chopped kale with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon every salt and pepper. Not a lot is required – a bit of goes a good distance, you can be stunned! About 10 seconds of enthusiastic scrunching is all that’s wanted to disperse the oil onto every little bit of kale. Then set it apart for 20 minutes which can soften the kale leaves. Actually, the kale can preserve like this in a single day, it gained’t go soggy like different leafy greens.
In case you don’t thoughts the chew, be at liberty to skip this step!
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Blitz dressing – Use a stick blender to blitz the dressing till easy. A stick blender works finest. In case you use a blender, you’ll want to actually scrape the perimeters / blades nicely. For a meals processor, you’d have to make use of a small one. To make it by hand, finely grate the garlic utilizing a microplane or nice grater and blend very nicely till easy. You should have some little parmesan lumps however the dressing will nonetheless be tasty.
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Toss the kale with about two thirds of the dressing (we drizzle the remaining on on the finish). No have to be precise right here, simply eye ball it.
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Add ins – Add the chicken, purple onion and cherry tomatoes then toss once more simply to disperse them.
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Crispy chickpeas subsequent! Simply pile them on.
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End by drizzling with the remaining dressing and an enormous bathe of freshly grated parmesan. Then DIG IN!
However it doesn’t want it.
Actually, as I mentioned within the opening, it doesn’t want all of the extras. You may skip the chicken, the chickpeas, the onion and tomatoes, and simply make a large bowl of kale tossed on this dressing and will probably be an awesome kale salad aspect dish.
However if you wish to make an announcement meal-worthy salad, I urge you to go all in, no less than as soon as, to expertise the greatness of this kale salad! And I hope you turn out to be obsessive about it as I’ve. 🙂 – Johnsat x
PS Nice one for making forward as much as 2 days. Even the “marinated kale” retains completely and gained’t go limp like common leafy greens as soon as they arrive into contact with oil.
Ingredients
- 5 very tightly packed cups Tuscan kale (cavolo nero) , leafy part stripped off stem, sliced into 1 cm / 1/2" ribbons (Note 1)
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
- 1/4 red onion , very finely sliced
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken , I use store bought (else poach your own, Note 2)
- 2 soft boiled eggs , halved (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt/kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 400 g/ 14 oz can chickpeas , drained but not dried
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp EACH garlic powder , onion powder
- 1/4 tsp EACH cooking salt / kosher salt & black pepper
- 4 tbsp (60 g) tahini , hulled (Note 3)
- 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup parmesan finely grated (pack the cup tight), plus extra for serving
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt/kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 large garlic clove , peeled
- 4 tbsp water (plus more, if needed)
Instructions
- Oven – Roast tomatoes 12 min at 200°C/425°F (180°C fan). Roast plain chickpeas 10 min, toss with oil & seasonings, roast 20 min until crispy (same temp).
- Salad – Massage kale, leave 20 min. Blitz dressing. Toss kale, chicken, tomatoes, onion with half. Pile on chickpeas, drizzle with remaining dressing, shower with parmesan. EAT!
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/425°F (180°C fan).
- Roast tomatoes – Toss the tomatoes with the oil, salt and pepper on a small tray. Roast 12 minutes, then cool on the tray.
- Crispy chickpeas – Drain the chickpeas then spread on a tray (still wet). Bake 10 minutes (same time as tomatoes). Push the oven dried chickpeas to one side of the tray. Drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with the chickpea spices, salt and pepper. Toss well using a rubber spatula, then return to the oven for a further 20 – 25 minutes until they're crispy (They should clatter! Note 4).
- Soften kale – Rub/scrunch the kale with the oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Put the kale in a large bowl then drizzle with the oil and add the salt and pepper. Set aside for 20 minutes (softens leaves).
- Tahini dressing – Put the ingredients in a jug just large enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until smooth, using extra water if needed to loosen into a thick but pourable consistency (see video).
- Toss – Pour half the dressing over the kale and toss. Add onion, chicken and most of the tomatoes (save a few for decoration). Toss again.
- Serve – Transfer into a serving bowl or individual bowls. Top with remaining tomatoes, all the chickpeas and eggs if using. Drizzle with remaining sauce then sprinkle with extra parmesan. DIG IN. SWOON!
Notes
* You could totally just make this with the kale and tahini dressing if you’re just in need of a tasty kale side salad. Everything else are add-ins that makes this into a satisfying, interesting meal-size-salad!
1. Tuscan kale, also called cavolo nero, black or lacinato kale, has leaves shaped more like silverbeet (chard) slightly flatter than curly kale so more suited to cutting into slaw-like strips and the leaves are slightly softer too. To use regular curly kale, chop into bite size pieces (don’t slice thinly, doesn’t really work well).
Removing the leaf off the stem – Grab and rip it off! Quick ‘n easy, watch the video 🙂
2. Chicken – I use store bought roast chicken. If cooking your own, I recommend poaching it using this method. Shred then toss with a pinch of salt and pepper before using.
3. Tahini – Mix well if the oil is separated. If it’s set like cement, microwave to warm (it will loosen) then use a stick blender. Hulled is lighter in colour (standard tahini). Unhulled tahini is darker and more bitter (harder to find), I don’t use this.
4. Roasted chickpeas should be crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside (else they are like little rocks!). 10 minutes dry roasting makes them extra crisp (better than air or towel drying) though they will start to soften after an hour or so. For ultra crisp though, and longer lasting crisp, you need to deep fry.
Re-crisp by popping in the oven for 5 minutes or so (same temp per recipe).
5. Storage – Oil rubbed kale will keep just fine for 2 days. Keep the components separate then assemble when required. Crispy chickpeas can be revived – see above note.
Nutrition per person, assuming 3 servings. It’s filling! Easily stretch to 4 with bread or double the chickpeas.
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