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Packed with flavor and texture, this Kale & Cranberry Quinoa Salad will knock your socks off! Quinoa is elevated to the next level when it's mixed with cranberries, walnuts, kale and - drumroll please - apple sage dressing made with real apple cider.
Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Kale & Walnuts
I'm going to be up front and tell you I have never been a huge fan of quinoa. I've tried a few recipes I found online, but I was never really impressed. Also tried a seasoned boxed quinoa from the store - eh.
TBH, they were just boring. I love lots of texture and different depths of flavor in my dishes. Keeps me interested in eating healthy when I actually want to eat it. I'm a firm believer that food should always be enjoyable, healthy or not!
I decided to give quinoa another chance when an idea for a cranberry quinoa salad recipe popped into my head. Of course, I couldn't just stop with cranberry & quinoa - I had to add some crunch (which is where the walnuts come in) and a little more depth with some greens (hey, kale!)
And then, this is my FAVORITE part, the salad is dressed with an apple sage dressing...that is made using just 3 ingredients - apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and sage!
HELLO FALL. Perfect holiday side dish, right?! Or just an anytime healthy lunch, which is how I'm enjoying it right now as I'm typing this up.
This cranberry quinoa salad is:
- vegan
- packed with flavor
- chock full of texture
- crunchy
- slightly sweet
- healthy
There are a couple of components to making this salad, but the recipe still remains simple.
First, you'll need to cook the quinoa. As it's cooking, chop the kale up or hand tear into bite-sized pieces (my preference!) and sauté it in a little veggie stock and salt.
This cranberry quinoa salad can be eaten either warm or cold. I've tried it both ways and each way is yummy. For a warm salad, you can go ahead and mix everything right away. To make a cold salad, place the cooked quinoa & kale into the fridge until cool, then mix with the remaining ingredients.
Recipe
Kale and Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Walnuts and Apple Sage Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 2 cups kale - chopped or torn into bite size pieces
- 2 teaspoons vegetable stock
- pinch of salt
- ⅔ cup dried cranberries
- ⅔ cup walnuts
- ½ cup Apple Sage Dressing - or to preference
Instructions
- Prepare the quinoa according to the package instructions.
- To make the kale, add it into a pan with the vegetable stock and sprinkle with salt. On medium heat, sauté the kale for about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cooked quinoa, sautéed kale, dried cranberries, and walnuts.
- Stir in desired amount of dressing.
Audrey Waldman says
Easy and very tasty! Love the dressing.
Angela says
I liked this salad but felt something was missing. It needs more flavor.
Joslyn says
I love this recipe so much! I needed a gluten-free, vegetarian side dish for Thanksgiving and this is just perfect. I did a test run before Thanksgiving and loved it. Great recipe as is, but also easy to make variations on. Thanks so much!
Lisa M Smith says
This is so good I didn't even get it into a serving dish before devouring the entire salad. I do not cook my greens though, I messaged my kale then added everything except the vegetable stock, and this was amazing!!! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! c;
Mabel B says
Thanks for the tip! I was considering not cooking the kale. Good to know someone's already tried this.