This healthy kale chicken Caesar salad gets a seasonal update. Spring romaine lettuce is replaced with winter hardy kale and a gnarly celery root is peeled and sliced to add a very subtle celery flavor and a whole lot of crunch.
The salad is tossed with a quick and easy homemade Caesar dressing that uses just 4 ingredients: garlic, lemon juice, mayo, and olive oil. It's light on the mayo, keeping it relatively healthy.
This recipe also includes a quick pan-fried, breaded chicken for some protein. Homemade croutons are a tastier and healthier alternative to store-bought and they are really quite easy to make.
This kale Caesar salad is hearty enough to be a full meal and healthy enough to feel good about it.
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Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken & Breading
- ½ lb chicken breast
- ½ cup Panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese 1 ounce
- ¼ cup flour
Salad
- 1 celeriac
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 bunch kale
- ¼ cup chopped hazelnuts walnuts, or pine nuts
Croutons
- 1 large chunk hearty bread or corn bread for fun
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
Dressing
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 Tbs olive oil
Instructions
Prepare
- Cut out stems of kale and slice into bite-size pieces. Peel garlic and grate it on a zester to make a paste (or mince and pound it to a paste). Peel and cut celeriac into matchstick pieces, then put them in a bowl with the vinegar and honey (to keep it from turning brown, and add a little flavor). Zest the lemon, then cut it into quarters.
- Use a zester for the following: zest the lemon peel, garlic and even the Parmesan cheese. This helps the garlic incorporate better into the dressing, and it makes the Parmesan cheese go further (see post for an example)
Toast nuts
- Toss the nuts in a dry pan, and toast over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Set a timer for 3 minutes to check on them (they can burn fast). If they aren't done, set the timer for 1 more minute at a time, until they are done.
Make the croutons
- Cut or tear the bread into crouton-sized pieces (or roughly break it apart). Toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put them under the broiler for a few minutes, until crispy (or toast in a toaster oven).
Prepare the chicken
- Measure the flour, bread crumbs, and half of the Parmesan cheese into a large bowl. Get a clean plate set aside as well.
- Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Season with salt. Toss half of the pieces into the bread crumb-mixture bowl and toss to coat. Set aside on clean plate and repeat with remaining chicken. This version skips the typical milk-egg-flour process. The mixture sticks well enough for a quick pan-fry meal that the time saved is worth it.
Cook the chicken and make the dressing
- Place 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and heat it on medium-high.
- While that heats up, make the dressing: combine the garlic paste, mayo, lemon zest, juice from the lemons, and the rest of the Parmesan cheese in a bowl (or mason jar). Whisk in 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or shake the jar). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the chicken to the hot oil (if it isn't very hot, the breading will soak it up instead of frying). Cook until browned and no longer pink, turning occasionally.
Combine & Serve
- Massage the dressing into the kale with your hands. Add in the celeriac and hazelnuts, then place on your plates. Top with chicken and croutons.
Notes
Nutrition
Is it healthy?
Do I want half a cup of Parmesan cheese on my salad - of course I do, but I probably shouldn't. And how big of a dent are these croutons making?
While calories are not the perfect measure, I find it helpful to put each ingredient into perspective. This recipe serves two people as a main course (650 calories), or four as a side salad.
For those of you looking to enjoy this kale Caesar salad as your entire dinner, I advice you to follow the recipe.
However, if you are looking to customize the nutrition of this (or any) Caesar salad, consider the following:
- Skip the breading on the chicken to remove about 125 calories per serving.
- Use half of the croutons to save 50 calories or remove them entirely and add extra celery root for crunch.
- Swap some or all of the croutons for nuts for a higher protein substitute.
- Use more (or less) cheese. Each ounce of cheese is about 110 calories.
Using kale in salads
Kale Caesar salads are gaining popularity because kale leaves are just as sturdy as romaine, holding up to a thick coating of salad dressing.
When working with kale, whether it's lacinato (dinosaur) or curly, both are treated the same to make them more tender. First, remove the tough stems from the kale leaves. They can be cut away or simply ripped off the center stem by grabbing the base with one hand and ripping down with the other (as shown here).
Next, tenderize the kale leaves by massaging the Caesar dressing into them prior to serving. Both the massaging action and the lemon juice in the dressing helps break down the fibrous leaves, making them much more pleasant to chew.
Shredded kale, on the other hand, doesn't need the extra massaging step. Instead, simply toss the kale salad and dressing together 10 minutes before serving. The lemon juice will do all of the tenderizing you need, without turning them mushy.
If you're using baby kale for the salad, don't massage the leaves or dress them early. As Bon Appétit advises, "you definitely don't need to massage it—that stuff is delicate enough to eat on its own, and massaging it will just wilt it in a gross way."
Lastly, if you find kale to be bitter, try soaking it in hot water instead of massaging dressing into it. America's Test Kitchen shares this method, explaining, "When you soak kale, some of the bitter-tasting compounds found in cruciferous vegetables after they’re chopped, called isothiocyanates, are rinsed away. This results in a milder kale flavor."
Working with celery root
Celery root, also known as celeriac, is in season from fall through early spring. It's a specific type of celery plant grown for the root ball.
It has a delicate potato-celery like flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked. It's used raw in this kale Caesar salad, but you could certainly take the time to roast it for a warm salad option.
Smaller celery root will have a more pronounced flavor, which I recommend for salads. If you get one with a spongy center, it's still perfectly fine to use. Just cut around the spongy center and use the rest of the flesh.
Get more tips with the celery root guide.
Parmesan cheese
It takes a lot of restraint to not smother my Caesar salads with cheese. And I still do it from time-to-time when the craving hits. But most of the time, I try to keep it balanced.
Shredding 1 ounce of Parmesan cheese on a regular grater doesn't look like much cheese. It also doesn't incorporate well into the dressing. A microplane zester makes it really fine, perfect for mixing into a dressing and for clinging to the kale.
Other recipe Notes
This is one of my favorite kale Caesar salad recipes, although you should feel free to make your own variation as well.
- Hazelnuts: I suggest buying the chopped ones and toasting them. It saves the hassle of rubbing the skins off and then chopping them, but if you're not pressed for time, go for it! You can substitute your favorite nut if you prefer.
- Breading: you can also bread the entire chicken breast and cook it, then slice it up. That looks nicer if guests are coming over, but I like the fast cook-times on the nuggets (and more surface area is coated in the breading).
- Add other winter vegetables, like celery stalks, roasted parsnips, or make butternut squash croutons by following the steps on this autumn caesar salad recipe.
More recipes & resources
Try this Chinese chicken salad with mandarin oranges for another seasonal salad that is a meal on its own.
If you're wondering what else is currently in season, check out my calendars to see what produce is in season each month (and coming up soon).
Veronica T says
I look forward to this every fall and winter