This kale salad recipe with cranberries and hazelnuts is a flavorful, healthy, and pretty dish to add to your table! Whether it’s a holiday celebration or a random Wednesday evening, you’ll keep coming back to this go-to kale salad with cranberries because it’s filled with so much goodness, a lovely color, and is incredibly easy to make! The turmeric vinaigrette is the best part!
Cranberry hazelnut kale salad with turmeric vinaigrette
The base of this kale salad is… kale! Kale is a wonderful hearty green that is packed with nutrition and doesn’t get soggy or time like regular lettuce does.
A little crunch from the hazelnuts and sweetness from the dried cranberries makes the whole vegan kale salad extra special.
When we add the honey turmeric dressing – everything comes together in a tasty + beautiful way to create the perfect salad!
Love kale salad? Check out what to serve with kale salad for more kale salad inspiration!
How to make kale salad with cranberries
Because kale is a hearty green, it needs 30 more seconds of your time to soften it up.
The best way I’ve found to get the dressing into the kale that begins to make it more tender is to massage the kale with the dressing using your hands.
This will ensure that every piece of kale has dressing on it, leaving you with a better-tasting kale salad.
What you need for cranberry hazelnut kale salad
What you need for turmeric vinaigrette
How to make this cranberry hazelnut kale salad
Scroll down to view the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, nutrition values, and step-by-step instructions.
- Start by making your vinaigrette by combining the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, honey, dijon mustard, turmeric, and sea salt together (you can do this in a mason jar). Shake the dressing ingredients until fully combined.
- To make the kale salad, add just the raw kale to a large bowl and pour ½ the vinaigrette over it. Massage with your hands for 30 seconds. This is one of the most important steps so don’t skip it!
- To the massaged kale salad, add the dried cranberries and chopped hazelnuts. Toss and serve. It goes great with any weeknight dinner, or as the base for a healthy lunch during the holiday season!
Can you prep this salad in advance?
Yes, it makes a great make-ahead option!
To keep it the freshest, I wouldn’t add the dressing more than 2-3 days ahead of time and wait to add the hazelnuts until right before serving so they don’t get soft.
Since throwing the salad together is quick, I would suggest having your kale chopped and ready, the dressing made and stored in an airtight container or a jar, and having the hazelnuts and cranberries ready to go.
Then all you have to do is simply combine everything together with a good toss right before serving your kale salad with sweet cranberries!
How long will kale cranberry salad last?
Once you’ve mixed the salad together you can keep leftovers for 2-3 days.
Because kale is a heartier green, it won’t wilt the same way lettuce would the next day after having dressing on it.
However, the freshness will decrease the longer it sits. If you need a healthy lunch to prep ahead, this can be a great option!
Substitutions
Below you’ll find a list of substitutions that will work well in this easy kale salad recipe.
If you try something different out, please leave a comment below letting us all know how it turned out!
Kale – While this is a kale salad if don’t have kale or enjoy it, use lettuce or spinach instead. You won’t need to massage the lettuce with your hands, toss it with tongs. Baby kale is a good alternative to common curly kale, and it’s a much more tender kale option.
Dried cranberries – Substitute any dried fruit for the dried cranberries. Currants, diced dried fig,s and dried apples would be delicious. Fresh apple or pear would be a great addition as well!
Hazelnuts – Use any nut or seed instead of hazelnuts here. Crunchy almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and pecans all would be tasty substitutes.
Olive oil – Avocado oil and light olive oil will work here too!
Honey – Maple syrup is a good sweetener to replace honey. You can always omit the sweetener for a more tangy dressing.
Lemon juice – Apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar are good alternative acids to use. in this simple dressing Orange juice would be delicious in this salad dressing too!
Want a sweeter dressing to massage into your kale leaves? Try it with honey poppy seed dressing instead!
More recipes you’ll love
- Kale crunch salad
- Kale, feta, pear and walnut salad with honey poppy seed dressing
- Cucumber shrimp peanut salad
- Buffalo chicken salad
- Paleo sweet potato casserole
Kale Salad Recipe with Cranberries, Hazelnuts, and Turmeric Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Turmeric Vinaigrette
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ tsp dijon mustard
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Kale Salad
- 1 bunch kale, chopped
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup hazelnuts, chopped toasted if desired
Instructions
- Start by making your vinaigrette by combining the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, honey, dijon mustard, turmeric, and sea salt together (you can do this in a mason jar). Shake the dressing ingredients until thoroughly combined.
- To make the kale salad, add just the raw kale to a large bowl and pour ½ the vinaigrette over it. Massage with your hands for 30 seconds. This is one of the most important steps so don't skip it!
- To the massaged kale salad, add the dried cranberries and chopped hazelnuts. Toss and serve. It goes great with any weeknight dinner, or as the base for a healthy lunch during the holiday season!
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this delicious kale salad recipe, I’d love it if you left a star rating and comment below letting me know how it turned out!
XO
Heather
Originally published November 2020. Updated November 2022.
2 comments
Best kale salad I’ve ever had! I substituted slivered almonds because I couldn’t find hazelnuts at my local grocery store. Definitely helps to let the dressing sit on the kale for at least 10 minutes. So tasty!
Woohoo! I love that you love it as much as I do!