A healthy Citrus Kale Salad filled with some of the best healthy salad ingredients: avocado, cherry tomatoes, fresh citrusy clementines, pepitas and more, all dressed in a lemon vinaigrette.

citrus kale salad on a plate

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Why We Love This Recipe For Citrus Kale Salad

Today I am sharing a recipe from a cookbook that was written by my friend Brenda Bennett, from SugarFreeMom.com. She focuses on family-friendly recipes without any white sugar at all!

I picked this delicious citrus kale salad because of the yummy ingredients in it; like lemon, clementines and avocado. The tart lemony dressing is delicious with the kale and sweet clementines.

Recipe Highlights

A close up of citrus kale salad on a plate

Ingredient Notes For This Kale Salad with Citrus

  • Kale leaves: Regular curly kale with the stems removed is best for this recipe although you could also use Lacinato kale
  • Citrus: We used whole clementines as well as clementine juice and zest. But you could also use orange or another sweet citrus such as tangerine. For the dressing we used lemon juice and zest.
  • Other Vegetables: Avocado, cherry tomatoes
  • Feta Cheese: You could also sub in goat cheese
  • Pumpkin Seeds: Also known as pepitas–roasted and unsalted is best
  • Kitchen Staples: Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Shallot Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper
citrus kale salad on a plate alongside a glass of water

Instructions To Make This Citrus Kale Salad

  • Arrange the kale, clementine, avocado, cherry tomatoes, feta and pumpkin seeds in a salad bowl.
  • Combine the lemon juice and zest, clementine zest and juice, olive oil, shallot, salt and pepper in a jar, then cover and shake to combine.
  • Pour the dressing over the citrus kale salad and gently toss to coat.
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A close up of a citrus kale salad on a plate

Additional Kale Salads to Try

FAQs and Expert Tips

How to supreme citrus fruit?

Supreming citrus fruit basically means removing all the white pith. Carefully slice off the citrus peel, then hold the citrus fruit in your hand. Carefully slice between each thin layer of skin/pith to remove the citrus fruit slices. You can also watch my video of how to supreme an orange if you want more detail!

Make-ahead instructions:

Wash and cut kale, and supreme the oranges up to 3 days in advance. Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar. Keep all the ingredients refrigerated. Add avocado, cherry tomatoes and dressing before serving.

Variations to try:

This salad is so versatile! You can easily add in some grapefruit, orange slices, sunflower seeds or pickled red onion. You could also play around with the dressing. My Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe and Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing are good on practically all salads.

Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!

Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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citrus kale salad, naturally gluten-free and sugar-free

Citrus Kale Salad

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Description

Sugar Free recipe for Kale salad with Citrus, feta, Avocado and Pumpkin Seeds from the Sugar Free Mom cookbook. It is naturally gluten-free.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 cups chopped kale leaves (no ribs)
  • 2 clementines, segmented or supremed
  • ½ avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
  • ½ cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • ½ cup crumbled feta cheese, 2 ounces
  • 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon (or less to taste)
  • zest and juice of 1 clementine
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon grated shallot
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  1. Arrange kale, clementine, avocado, cherry tomatoes, feta and pumpkin seeds in a salad bowl. Combine lemon juice and zest, clementine zest and juice, olive oil, shallot, salt and pepper in a jar. Cover and shake to combine. Pour dressing over the salad and gently toss to coat.

Notes

Cooking Tip

Supreming citrus fruit basically means removing all the white pith. Carefully slice off the citrus peel, then hold the citrus fruit in your hand. Carefully slice between each thin layer of skin/pith to remove the citrus fruit slices. There are also plenty of YouTubes you can watch if you want more detail!

Make Ahead

Wash and cut kale, and supreme the oranges up to 3 days in advance. Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar. Keep all the ingredients refrigerated. Add avocado, cherry tomatoes and dressing before serving.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cup
  • Calories: 180
  • Sugar: 4 g
  • Sodium: 550 mg
  • Fat: 14 g
  • Saturated Fat: 3 g
  • Carbohydrates: 12 g
  • Fiber: 3.6 g
  • Protein: 6 g

Keywords: Citrus Kale Salad,Kale Salad with Citrus

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kale salad on white