Can you eat kale raw in a salad?

Often labeled as a superfood, kale is one of the healthiest and most nutrient-dense foods you can eat. This leafy green comes in a variety of colors, shapes, and textures. It's often eaten raw in salads and smoothies but can also be enjoyed steamed, sautéed, boiled, or baked.

What does kale pair with?

It's delicious with spaghetti squash and sweet potato noodles too! In a grain bowl. Add it to this buddha bowl or this veggie bowl, or make your own bowl with the sautéed kale, a grain like quinoa, farro, or brown rice, and a protein like baked tofu, tempeh, lentils, or roasted chickpeas.

Is it OK to eat a kale salad everyday?

Is it OK to eat kale every day? As kale contains a variety of nutrients, a person can consume it regularly as part of a balanced diet . However, some people may need to limit how much kale they consume. These include people taking beta blockers and blood thinners, as well as people with kidney disease.

Is kale good for high blood pressure?

Some foods can help lower blood pressure naturally, and kale is one of them. Because it contains high levels of magnesium, calcium, and potassium, along with other vitamins and fiber all working together, kale can help lower blood pressure .

What organ does kale help with?

May protect against heart disease Kale contains a number of nutrients that support heart health, including potassium, which maintains a healthy blood pressure. Another benefit of kale is that it contains substances that bind to cholesterol to help manage levels.

What are the enemies of kale?

Aphids, flea beetles, and cabbage worms (from those white butterflies you see flying around the garden) are a few annoying pests that can put a serious dent in your kale harvest.

Is it better to eat kale raw or cooked?

With this in mind, nutrition experts say that most people should focus on adding more vegetables, like kale, to their diet instead of worrying if raw or cooked kale is better. “Though most cooking methods result in loss of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, kale is still worth eating in whichever form you prefer .

Is raw kale better than raw spinach?

Both of these leafy greens contain a variety of nutrients that are essential for good health, Guerot stressed. "However, if you are looking for a food that is particularly high in fiber, vitamins K and C, kale is a better choice ," she said.

Can you eat bagged kale raw?

Kale can also be eaten raw , and the leaves 'massaged' between your fingers with oil or lemon juice to break down some of the fibres, and make it a bit more palatable.

Is it OK to blend raw kale?

While you really can use any green in a green smoothie (spinach, chard, arugula sorrel, mustard greens), raw kale contains large quantities of anti-oxidants and other anti-cancer nutrients as well as beaucoup chlorophyll, manganese, calcium, and B-vitamins, making it the ultimate healthy superfood.

Warm Kale and Caramelized Mushroom Salad Recipe (2024)

Why It Works

Browning the mushrooms creates a rich, earthy flavor that contrasts well with the bright, peppery kale and zingy dressing.
The heat of the mushrooms wilts and softens the kale slightly without needing to cook the greens.
Hearty enough for a vegetarian lunch, it’s also a great side dish or first course.

When you cook as a couple, you have to constantly deal with what each person does and doesn't like to eat. One of us (Matt) loves mushrooms, though, admittedly, mostly fried up English-style for breakfast; the other (Emily) used to dislike them, finding them to be either chewy, slimy, rubbery, or otherwise unappetizing.

We eventually realized that the problem wasn't with the mushrooms, it was how we'd been cooking them. We'd been treating mushrooms like most other vegetables, when we really should've been cooking them like meat. By searing mushrooms until deeply browned, you can bring out their earthy, meaty, umami-packed flavor, while their interiors remain tender and juicy. Now, we have no conflict—we both love mushrooms and work them into our meals all the time. Here, we toss them with baby kale and a flavorful sherry vinaigrette to make an easy, filling salad.

The key here is to develop a really good crust on the mushrooms, just like you would with a steak. And one of the best ways to do that is to avoid crowding the pan—mushrooms are prone to dumping a lot of liquid, which is why they often wind up steaming themselves instead of searing. The less crowded the pan is, the less liquid they'll dump, and the faster said liquid will evaporate, allowing the mushrooms to stop steaming and start searing. You don't even have to move them around much—just let them sit and sizzle in the oil, stirring just enough to brown them on all sides. The whole process can easily take six or seven minutes, if not more.

The choice of mushrooms is entirely up to you—we almost always start with a basic cremini (sometimes sold as baby portobellos) and then add in whatever varieties pique our interest, from cultivated oyster and shiitake mushrooms to wild chanterelles and black trumpets. Incorporating more than onetype of mushroomadds a wealth of nuanced flavor and texture to this dish—just keep in mind that if you use shiitakes, you'll want to remove and discard their tough, woody stems.

After a nice, crisping sear, what you end up with are mushrooms that will satisfy both vegetariansandpeople who think bacon should be a food group. They're salty and savory, crispy and juicy.

To finish the mushrooms, we add sliced shallots to the pan and cook them until softened and tender, then deglaze the pan with some sherry wine, reducing it until it's nearly evaporated.

Then, we toss the mushrooms and shallots with kale leaves and a dressing of rich, nutty sherry vinegar, mustard, a touch of honey, and olive oil. (If you don't have sherry vinegar, a good red wine vinegar is a fine substitute.)

Today, one of us (Matt) is thrilled that the other (Emily) is fully on board the mushroom train. Now, if only we could agree on Marmite and kidney beans...

Warm Kale and Caramelized Mushroom Salad Recipe (1)

November 2016

Recipe Details