My Sweet Kale Quinoa Salad with Feta is a perfect balance of sweet, salty, tangy and crunch. A perfect salad for Holidays, brunch and potlucks. This salad stands up quite well for a brunch or buffet dinner.
This salad is chockfull of sweet goodness. Curly Kale, quinoa, golden raisins, feta, roasted sweet potatoes and our Maple Vinaigrette Dressing. If you want to add more protein, I recommend poached chicken breast or a breaded chicken cutlet. Another great add on is walnuts or pepitas.
Building the Salad
I start with Kale. For this salad I like the Curly type vs Lacinato Kale which is a flat leaf. Equally delicious but this works best for this type of salad. I remove the leaves from the stems. Chop it into bit size pieces. Rinse and dry well. Once you have done this, add two thirds of the dressing to the Kale and toss very well. You want every single piece coated. Then allow the Kale to sit with only the dressing for about 30 minutes. If it goes over, it’s not a problem. This well help to tenderize the Kale. Massaging is always the best way of doing this but, this dressing is sweet and sticky, so I just opt for tossing well.
The Sweet Kale Quinoa Salad with Feta has Quinoa and Sweet Potato which must be cooked. While the Kale is sitting, I cook 1 cup of quinoa per package instructions. Typically it takes about 20 minutes to cook.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel 1 sweet potato and dice it up into bite size pieces. Place the pieces in a bowl and toss with 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. I then place the sweet potato pieces on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet. Roast on 375 for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Make sure they are not over done. They will be too crispy and flavorless. You want a bit of browning but fork tender. Allow the potatoes to cool.
Once your quinoa and potatoes are cooked and cooled, it’s time to assemble the salad. Add the remaining ingredients to the Kale and add the rest of the dressing. Add another pinch of salt and pepper. Toss and serve. Once tossed, this salad stays intact for quite a while. It also refrigerates well. Ours doesn’t make it past one day, but I’m sure you get could another day out of it.
Delicious, nutritious, sweet and perfect for entertaining, holidays or anytime you feel like having something extra delicious.
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Looking for another brunch or buffet salad idea? Try our Lemon Arugula Pasta Salad.
Sweet Kale Quinoa Salad with Feta
Equipment
- parchment paper
- Rimmed sheet pan
- Small pan with lid for quinoa
- Large bowl
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Kale curly
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked cooked to pacakge directions
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup feta crumbled
- 1 whole sweet potato peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 recipe Maple Vinaigraitte dressing see link below
Instructions
Make 1 recipe of Maple Vinaigraitte Dressing
Quinoa
- Cook quinoa to package directions. About 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees for roasting the sweet potato.
Kale prep
- Remove kale leaves from stems and chop into bite size pieces. Follow by a good rinse and dry well. I use a salad spinner to speed up the drying process.
- Once you have prepared Kale, add the Maple Vinaigrette dressing. About 2/3. This will allow the kale to tenderize. Let sit for about 30 minutes or as long as the rest of the prep takes. Set aside.
Sweet potato
- Peel the sweet potato and cut into bite size pieces. About 1 inch or so.
- Place potato in bowl and add 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, pinch of salt. Toss well and place a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. You want these slightly brown but tender. If it cooks too long it will dry out.
- Once cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool.
Assembling the salad
- To finish the salad, add feta, raisins, quinoa, sweet potato, salt, pepper to the kale and toss. Taste it and add remaining dressing if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
All content and photographs ©Claudia’s Table and claudiastable.com
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