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I’ve made this salad several times and it’s become a household favorite…even the teenager loves it! Thanks!
Michelle
I might have just crossed the line: Bread, Parmesan, and Salad all typed together in the same recipe title.
So, uhmmm, yes – this IS the best day of 2015 so far, thanks for asking.
It’s almost hard for me to describe how much I love this salad AND I KNOW I say that almost every time, but this time (just, come on, stick with me) it’s really the truth. It’s like everything wonderful that I love all in a bowl waiting to add extra happy to my meal with its tangy, crunchy, delicious green presence, and yet the only words the come to mind (mind-blowing! life-changing! the best kale salad ever!) can’t even really touch it.
We’re talking about bits of buttery toasted bread, a handful of finely shredded Parmesan cheese, and shredded baby pieces of kale that are small enough to be super delicious all tossed together in a bowl with a homemade shallot, olive oil, and lemon dressing.
The pure definition of simple and MOST YUMMY SALAD. These foods just bring out my best creative writing.
Pinkie promise, I would eat this kale salad every day for the rest of the month and never get tired of it. It goes with everything (even skillet chicken with bacon and white wine sauce, maybe?) and it always always ALWAYS tastes good to me.
But so let’s talk about what it is, in case you were feeling confused about the title or the fact that this is indeed a kale salad in spite of it being mostly a bread and cheese bowl. I’m a born rule-breaker.
I’ll start with the part where we soak the bread cubes in a little bit (…) of butter and then toast them in the oven to make some kind of crazy simple and delicious homemade crouton-esque crunchies.
Always a good place to start, friends. Alwaysssss.
And then, that dressing. HELLO THAT DRESSING.
Why is it so good?
Something about the olive oil and lemon juice and delicately minced shallots? I don’t even pretend to know these things, but it’s seriously the simplest thing you’ve ever shaken up together in a jar and it will leave your mouth a tiny bit puckery and so very happy for a lifetime.
Thank you, toasted bread, Parmesan, and kale with a homemade shallot dressing, for making my Minnesota-in-February life a totally crunchy, colorful, bearable thing right now.
KALE YEAH!
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Parmesan Kale Salad:
Toasted Bread and Parmesan Kale Salad
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 (we served it as a side with 7 people and still had a little left over) 1x
Description
This is THE BEST Kale Salad! Lots of shredded kale, Parmesan cheese, homemade breadcrumbs, and a lemon olive oil dressing. So simple, SO GOOD.
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- juice of one lemon
- juice of one orange
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Salad
- 6–8 slices French bread or baguette
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 5–6 cups fresh kale, very finely chopped
Instructions
- Dressing: Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to mix. Taste and adjust as desired.
- Breadcrumbs: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the bread on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping the pieces over halfway through baking. When the bread is very dry and crusty, remove from oven and allow to cool. Break the bread into pieces and place in a food processor. Pulse until crumbs form. Toss the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Spread on the baking sheet and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
- Salad: Toss the kale, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and dressing together. Serve immediately.
Notes
If you’re storing leftover salad that’s already been tossed with the dressing, you’ll probably find that the bread soaks up the dressing so you might need an extra squeeze of lemon juice or olive oil to re-moisten the salad.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: toasted bread and kale salad, kale salad, parmesan kale salad
This looks so fresh and delicious! Definitely going to give it a try 🙂
I LOVE bread with my salad. It makes it feel more hearty. Plus carbs are juts ALWAYS a good choice.
I LUHVE kale IN things, but I’m still trying to LUHVE it in salads. BUT, me thinks that buttery toasty bread is gonna do the trick! Pinned!
I definitely will try this as soon as the snow goes away so I can get to grocery store
Ooh, I like the idea of combining kale and Parmesan. I’ll have to try it for lunch tomorrow! Pinned!
I tend to agree ~ I somewhat have an allergy to most veggies and just don’t eat them. But this might be a game changer for me. When you added the butter to the croutons? They kind of are croutons, right? You won me over. I can do this salad. Might add a little meat like chicken though.
Yes – they kind of are croutons. Like crushed up croutons. 🙂
Definitely need this to make my Boston-in February life a bit better right now too! I am loving kale salads right now-and crunchy buttery breadcrumbs are a needed addition. Thanks!
Looks awesome! Can we cheat and just bang up some already made croutons? 🙂
Also, may I add… You should have a FB share button next to the “Pin it” button. You’ll get a lot of traffic that way, no?
You can! But you shouldn’t! 🙂 The homemade ones are so darn simple and sooooo darn good.
No lines have been crossed when it comes to kale salad yumminess! This looks FAB!
Oh yay for this salad! I love it when the ingredient list is short but the flavor looks like it’s going to be so big. And those amazing bread crumble-tons…I don’t think any of us make homemade croutons enough. I know I don’t…but they’re always sooooo good and so much better than you could ever buy. I’m gonna break out and do it for this yummy salad.
can I just say – I love the word crumble-tons! 🙂
I’m not the biggest fan of kale in salads, but this looks delightful! I think the bread and parm are the things that draw me in. Also, I love how it looks simple, but still flavorful. Gone are the iceberg, grated carrot, and ranch side salads from my childhood 😛
KALE YEAH is right! Can I have an extra side of croutons? I’ll bring the wine!
yes. it was actually really hard for me not to eat most of the croutons before tossing the salad together. whoops…
That looks and sounds heavenly! I’m both a kale and Parmesan freak. Your photos make me want to dive right in and not want to come out.
This looks awesome!
I can’t wait to plant my garden this year. All sorts of greens and planning on having a winter garden as well so YEAH… if all goes well I could have this salad all year long.
Ha! “Kale yeah” really made me laugh. I’ve been wondering how else I can make myself enjoy kale (aside from smoothies where it doesn’t taste like kale!) and I think this is the jackpot. Woo! Thanks Lindsay!
Yum! Looks so healthy and I love the combination of kale and parmesan!
Kale-yeah indeed!! But really, that toasted bread is calling my name. Totally spoonable!
This salad looks amazing, the combination of the kale and citrus dressing sounds just like what I need to beat the winter blues.
This looks amazing and if I had not just got back from the grocery store I would be making this tonight. I was going to go get ingredient for another one of your recipes 🙂
Also, Kale Yeah made me crack up. I might just use that phrase from now on just because! HA. Your blogs are the best!
K, I just bought a HUUUUUGE head of Red Kale – totally planning dinner right now!
red kale?! I didn’t even know that was a thing.
You have outdone yourself this time! My list was all ready made for tonight for that chicken-bacon jazz you posted the other day. Now I will add what I need for this salad (but I do have the kale, thanks to community farm, which has kale coming out their ears). I don’t suppose it would hurt to throw in some other lettuces from the farm, either…not to mess with your recipe or anything 🙂
no – that sounds great! 🙂
Oh my goodness, this salad sounds like heaven! I could totally eat it every day as well!
This salad sounds perfect. Add a little grilled chicken and it becomes a whole meal. Yum! I think I’ll have to try this.
Lindsay, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but when I print out your recipes, the number of servings does not show up on the printed copy, even though it appears with the recipe on your website. Is there anything you can do to change things so the number of servings prints? It would be very helpful to have that. Thanks.
Thanks Susan! We’ll keep that in mind for the upcoming redesign! 🙂
This looks amazing!
This looks delicious! I love kale salads and I bet the citrus and shallot would be a wonderful match to the parmesan and toasted bread. If I were hoping to have leftovers, I think I would be tempted to keep the toasted bread separate and just sprinkle it on top so that it doesn’t get soggy. Can’t wait to try this!
I actually sort of liked how they soaked up the dressing and got soft the next day. But I also love crunchy – I guess either way works. 🙂
This INSTANTLY caught my eye! It looks so yummy. Parmesan and kale pair so well with one another. I love shallot dressings too.When I’m not worried too much about fat (pot lucks maybe) I might even add bacon pieces to this. The toasted bread was just the kicker. Can’t wait to eat this!
Yes, bacon and we have a deal.