Tahini Kale and White Bean Salad
- PREP 20min
- TOTAL 20min
This easy kale and bean salad is packed with good-for-you ingredients, is crave-worthy, and can be made in advance. Since kale is such a hearty green, it can be hard to digest when served raw. We massage the kale leaves with salt and lemon juice to prevent this. Some of the kale’s structure breaks down by rubbing the salt and lemon into the leaves, making the kale a deeper green color and much more tender than if left raw.
For the dressing, we use our favorite tahini sauce recipe. It’s very simple to make. I also love this tahini salad dressing, which is less creamy but still delicious.
You Will Need
1 bunch kale, about 7 cups leaves
3 ounces walnut halves, about 3/4 cup, lightly toasted
2 (15oz) cans white beans such as chickpeas or cannellini beans, about 3 cups cooked
1/2 cup homemade tahini sauce
Juice of half a lemon
Fine sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Lemon slices, optional
Directions
Strip the leaves from hearty kale stems and chop or tear them apart. Rinse the leaves under cool water, then pat or spin them dry.
Add the kale to a large bowl, and then use your fingers to massage the leaves with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the juice from half a lemon. After about a minute, the kale will be a deeper green and feel more tender in your fingers.
If using canned beans, drain and rinse them. Add the beans, walnuts, and most of the tahini sauce to the kale. Toss well, then adjust with more sauce if the salad seems dry — we like to be generous with the dressing.
Top with freshly ground black pepper and serve with a few lemon slices as a garnish.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- To toast nuts: Add them to a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook, shaking frequently, until fragrant and lightly browned. Watch the nuts carefully, they can go from toasted to burnt quickly.
- Cooked chickpeas: Canned beans are fine, but for homemade, here is our recipe for how to cook chickpeas.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.