This Bacon Blue Cheese Kale Salad is easy to make and sure to be a hit with your whole family!
Want to know the trick to getting your whole family to fight over kale salad? Bacon. I swear it does it every time.
Picture this, “What’s for dinner, mom?” You answer, “Salad.” Can you hear the groans already?
Now picture this, “What’s for dinner, mom?” You say, “Bacon.” I bet you’re picturing your family doing backflips and singing your praises. Am I right?
Of course, there’s a whole lot more to this salad than just bacon, and it’s really the combination of everything that makes this one of my personal favorite kale salads. I’m telling you, when I make this, it disappears. Fast.
There’s crispy bacon (did I already mention that?), lots of salty blue cheese, sweet caramelized onions, toasty walnuts, and crisp apple slices. The kale is more like a vehicle to help you get more of all the other good stuff into your mouth all at once.
If you’ve ever thought that kale salads might not be your thing, this is the recipe you want to try. It will change your mind! The dressing is very easy to make and is sweet enough that it complements kale’s bitterness perfectly. The whole salad can be made in under 15 minutes and makes a healthy, easy and tasty dinner topped with a seared salmon fillet or some baked chicken.
One of my favorite recipes on my site is for a salad I call The Best Kale Salad, but I think I’ll have to change the name because I swear THIS one has now jumped to the top of my list.
Ingredients
- 2 strips bacon thinly sliced
- ½ red onion thinly sliced
- 8 cups kale either washed and torn off stems or pre-packaged baby kale
- ½ cup chopped walnuts toasted (see note)
- 1 Fuji apple sliced
- ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add the sliced bacon to a frying pan over medium heat. Once the fat begins to render from the bacon add the red onion. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is crispy and the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Drain any excess fat from the pan.
- While the bacon and onions are frying prepare the rest of the salad. In a large bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients until they are smooth and creamy.
- Add the kale to the bowl and toss to coat. Once the bacon and onions have finished cooking let them cool for 1 minute then add them to the bowl with the kale.
- Add the walnuts, sliced apple, and blue cheese to the kale and toss everything together well.
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