Broccoli Kale Salad

This vibrantly green Broccoli Kale Salad is packed with fresh broccoli, massaged kale, crunchy almonds, avocado, and feta cheese. Tossed in a lemon garlic dressing, it makes the perfect side to any dinner and can easily be turned into a meal of its own by adding your favorite protein.

Jump to:

• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🥦 Prepping broccoli
• 🥬 Massaging kale
• 🍋 Lemon garlic dressing
• ⏲️ How to store
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🥗 More salad inspiration
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Trying to get a little bit more green into your daily diet? It's easy to do when you make a big broccoli kale salad for lunch or as a side dish to your dinner.

This salad is packed with delicious flavor, but is also a great way to get your daily greens in.

You can omit or add any ingredients you like to complement the broccoli and kale and turn it into a salad your whole family will enjoy.

🗒 Ingredients

One of my favorite things about this salad is that you can really make it however you want with whatever ingredients you want.

Lots of people keep the broccoli raw in their broccoli kale salads, but I often like to steam it for a sweeter more tender flavor and texture (raw broccoli can be very earthy tasting and a bit bitter). You can prep it however you want!

Here's everything I use in my salad, but be sure to check out the variations on recipe section of this post for more ideas (and be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this page for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Lacinato kale: this is my favorite variety of kale to use for salads, but you can use any variety you want.
• Lemon garlic dressing: I share my recipe below, but you can also feel free to use the dressing of your choice, including a store-bought variety.
• Salt
• Broccoli florets: you can either keep them raw or steam them quickly.
• Red onion
• Shredded carrots
• Avocado
• Feta cheese
• Toasted almonds

If you want to make my lemon garlic dressing, here's what you need:

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Honey
• Minced garlic
• Dijon mustard
• Salt & pepper
• Red pepper flakes

🥦 Prepping broccoli

It's up to you on whether or not you want to steam your broccoli. Keep it raw if you want or you can steam it briefly.

If you're going the steaming route, fill a pot with about 1 inch of water, place the steamer basket in the pot, and bring the water to a boil.

Add the broccoli to the steamer basket, cover, and steam for about 3-4 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender but still bright green.

If you don't have a steamer basket, just put the broccoli right in the pot with a small amount of water (just enough to cover the bottom) and cover it. Steam for about 3-4 minutes, until tender.

Remove broccoli from pot and immediately dunk in ice water to stop cooking and to cool broccoli quicker. Drain and let cool completely before adding to salad.

🥬 Massaging kale

A lot of people think they don't like raw kale, but that's probably because they're not massaging it!

Massaging raw kale leaves with your hands helps tenderize it and makes it easier to chew and packed with more delicious flavor.

For this recipe, put your roughly chopped kale in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the dressing you're using for the salad and ¼ teaspoon salt.

Using your hands, gently massage dressing into the kale for a couple minutes to tenderize it.

See how the kale is transformed?

Now, add the raw or cooled broccoli florets to the kale, along with the sliced onion, avocado, shredded carrots, feta, and almonds.

Toss to combine.

🍋 Lemon garlic dressing

I almost always make homemade salad dressings because it's the easiest thing ever!

All you have to do is add all ingredients to a mason jar and shake well to combine.

If you don't have a mason jar, you can put everything in a medium bowl and whisk together to combine.

Drizzle as much dressing onto the salad as you want.

This is a true POWERHOUSE of a salad.

I love everything about it from the crunchy, slightly sweet broccoli to the tender kale to the creamy feta and avocado.

There's not much this a broccoli kale salad doesn't go with and it can be served as a side to steak, chicken, fish, or pasta.

It also makes a great lunch on its own.

⏲️ How to store

If you're planning to make this salad a bit ahead of time or are going to store leftovers, I recommend waiting to add dressing or just add dressing to your individual servings.

You can store the salad in an airtight container in the fridge and it should keep fresh for about 2-3 days.

🎉 Variations on recipe

This broccoli kale salad is packed with so much so many delicious and nutritious ingredients, but one of my favorite parts about it is that you can add anything you want to it!

Here are some ideas:

• Add protein: the nuts add a tiny bit of protein to the salad, but for more, you can add grilled chicken, roasted salmon, shrimp, steak tips, tuna salad, and so much more! Chickpeas or edamame are a good way to add plant-based protein.

• Add more crunch: if you like more crunch than just the nuts in your salad, consider roasted chickpeas, croutons, pumpkin seeds, fried onion strings, or toasted pine nuts.

• More vegetables: other veggies that would work well in this salad include cucumbers, green or red peppers, roasted sweet potatoes, and roasted beets.

• Other cheeses: if you don't want to use feta cheese, you can use goat cheese, gorgonzola cheese, parmesan cheese, or the variety of your choice.

• Alternative greens: If you don't like kale or want to add additional greens, I recommend spinach or argula.

• Additional add-ins: for more unique add-ins, include chopped pears, sliced red grapes, kalamata or Greek olives, dried cranberries, chia seeds or flaxseeds, or the herbs of your choice.

• Other dressings: I like the lightness of my lemon garlic dressing here, but you can and should top this broccoli kale salad with the dressing that makes you happiest. You can use a vinaigrette, ranch dressing, Italian dressing, caesar dressing, tahini sauce, or a simple Sriracha drizzle.

The options are truly endless on the delicious twists you can make to this salad.

🥗 More salad inspiration

I love making salads that step outside the typical iceberg lettuce and veggies box and have so much fun getting creative with my ingredients.

Here are some of my favorite fun salad recipes:

I'm also always up for a delicious beet salad!

I hope this salad helps bring a little more green into your life!

Are there any ingredients you'd add to it?

📖 Recipe