Kale, Pomegranate, and Avocado Salad with Zesty Tahini Dressing

This delicious kale salad has so many delicious textures and tastes of pomegranates, avocado, and a drool-worthy dressing! This salad is perfect for your holiday table, or just any occasion. Full of antioxidants and omega-3’s. Vegan, Paleo, Keto, and Whole30 approved.

That time when I said I hated kale……. I take it all back. So maybe I’m not quite on the “love” spectrum, but I’ll comfortably put myself in the “really like” boat. I am absolutely in love with arugula, and would eat it all day long without anything else. Kale not so much, but I am a huge advocate of mixing up my nutrients.

Sooooo, even though I really want to stuff my face with an arugula salad EVERYDAY, I cheat on arugula a bit. I’ve officially decided kale is a good option. But here is the thing with kale. It needs a lot of love; and by love I mean flavor. I’ve been making and eating my Pomegranate Avocado Salsa like crazy the past few weeks. Thank you to a few of my friends who are also obsessed and are making it for holiday festivities. So the thought occurred to me that this pairing would work really well in a salad. And I wanted something festive for December. Because I’m a nerd, and green and red food in the form of plants is really exciting to me….

So this salad was born!!

How to Make Kale, Pomegranate, and Avocado Salad with Zesty Tahini Dressing

So the star of this salad is definitely the dressing. Have you ever had the Whole Foods Zesty Tahini Dressing? It’s ridiculously good. And maybe the kale salad with that dressing was one of my inspirations behind this salad.

We start by making a simple blend of tahini, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos or GF Tamari, avocado oil or olive oil, garlic cloves, and cumin. Add a little water to thin it out if needed. I will also add, that the recipe actually makes WAY more dressing then you need for the salad. Save for a later use! You’re welcome.

Before we toss together the salad ingredients, we’ll work on the kale (if needed). Sometimes kale is very tough and needs to be “massaged”. This is the key to a delicious kale salad! It requires us to remove the stems (not needed for a salad), and possibly rubbing a little lemon juice and sea salt on the leaves if they are extra tough. This should only take a few minutes! And sometimes, it doesn’t even need to be massaged. This batch in the picture, DID NOT.

Now toss together the remaining ingredients: avocado, pomegranate seeds, and pistachios. Drizzle with the dressing and toss!

Isn’t it purdy??? I mean, you could easily serve this all month long in December and be the cool person who serves something delicious, festive, and full of all the good nutrients in life.

This salad is an absolute nutrient powerhouse!! Like better than any possible meal I could possibly think of. And you know what? You don’t sit there eating it thinking, “wow, this bowl of food is full of Omega 3’s and antioxidants and is really helping my body during this busy season.”

No, you don’t think that. Because you’re too busy saying, this salad is so doggone delicious that I want to eat it everyday. And then I want to eat it for breakfast.

And I can’t say enough about this dressing being the perfect pairing with crunchy kale, crunchy pomegranate seeds, avocado, and pistachios. It’s just perfect. And you need to make it for lunch, for your friends, for your Christmas dinner. Go crazy!!! I certainly am CRAZY about this dish!!!

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Kale, Pomegranate, and Avocado Salad with Zesty Tahini Dressing

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 3 -4 servings

Author Amy Rains

5 from 5 votes

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Ingredients

For the Salad:

• 5 cups loose kale leaves rinsed & chopped
• Seeds of 1 pomegranate remove skin and membrane to strip seeds
• 1 large avocado peeled, de-seeded, & diced
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
• Salt + pepper to taste

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 3 tbsp coconut aminos or GF tamari soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
• 2 large cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

1. Prepare the kale. If the kale is extra tough, it may need to be massaged. Remove the stems first and chop. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt and lemon juice. Gently rub the leaves with your fingertips. Do not over massage! Or this leads to mushy kale. It should only take a few minutes for the whole bowl.

2. Make the dressing: mix together all of the dressing ingredients (lemon juice through water) in a high powered blender or food processor. You will have more than enough dressing for the salad, and will only need about 1/2 cup of the dressing. Reserve the rest in a jar and save for later use (your welcome).
3. In a large bowl, mix together kale, pomegranate seeds, and avocado.
4. Pour 1/2 cup of the dressing over the salad, and toss to coat. You can add more if needed.
5. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pistachios on top.