Kale Feta Salad Recipe

Even if you're not the biggest fan of kale, this kale feta salad is hard to resist. It's tossed with an easy homemade dressing, and when you pair it with crunchy cucumbers, chickpeas, and creamy feta cheese, you'll get a variety of textures and flavors in each bite. Bring it as a side dish to your next party, or make it as part of your meal prep routine, and you'll be eating more dark leafy greens before you know it. To get started, add two tablespoons of olive oil to a large mixing bowl. Then add three tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, which you should get from one large lemon. Next, add in one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a half teaspoon of fine sea salt, a half teaspoon of dried oregano, and a quarter teaspoon of ground black pepper. Stir well to mix the dressing. Then set it aside while you prepare the veggies. You'll need one bunch of kale for this recipe, which is usually about one pound in weight. I'm using Tuscan kale or dino kale today, but you can also use curly kale for this recipe if you prefer. Remove the stems from the kale by running your fingers down the stem, pulling the leaves away as you go. You can save these kale stems to make green juice, or use them to make a veggie stock later. Roughly chop the kale into bite-sized pieces so your kale salad will be more enjoyable to eat. Then add that to the big bowl of dressing. Because kale can have a tough, chewy texture, it really benefits from a quick massage. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, go ahead and massage the kale to help soften the leaves. If you'd rather skip this step, feel free to just give it a big stir and let the kale rest in the dressing to help it soften up. Next, dice roughly half of a small red onion. I've got about a third cup to a half cup here. Go ahead and add that to your bowl of kale. Next, slice one cup of cherry tomatoes. These tomatoes are on the larger size, so I'm going to cut them into quarters so they will easily fit on a fork. Once those are sliced, you can add them to your salad bowl. Now you'll need to thinly slice about half of a large cucumber. I'm cutting these slices into quarters as well so they will be more manageable to eat. Once you have about one cup of sliced cucumber, you can add that to the salad bowl too. Give these veggies a big stir so everything gets coated in the dressing. Now open a 15-ounce can of garbanzo beans, which you may also know as chickpeas. Drain and rinse these well. Then add them to the salad to make it more filling and add extra texture. You can finish this off by adding roughly two ounces of feta cheese or about a half cup of loosely packed crumbles. Toss this salad together, and then it's ready to serve. It tastes like a refreshing Greek salad, but with dark leafy greens in each bite. I could eat this every day. This salad will keep well for up to three days, so store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for an easy packed lunch. And if you enjoyed this recipe, be sure to check out my other videos for more.