Nutritious & Flavorful Kale Salad with Beets and Quinoa: The Perfect Healthy Thanksgiving Side
Loaded with vibrant color, delightful texture, essential nutrition, and incredible taste, this kale salad truly has it all.
As the holiday season approaches, my thoughts inevitably turn to Thanksgiving! Do you also find yourself dreaming of festive feasts and family gatherings? I’ve already started exploring Thanksgiving menu ideas in my healthy cooking workshops, which always fills me with excitement for the upcoming celebrations. Hosting Thanksgiving every year is a cherished tradition, but my family has their beloved classics, which means I can’t always introduce too many new dishes to our main table. This is where my recipe development for classes truly shines, allowing me to get more creative in the kitchen. My focus is always on enhancing nutrition, maximizing flavor, and adding exciting variety to holiday spreads.
We all know that the traditional Thanksgiving buffet often features an abundance of rich, high-calorie, high-saturated-fat comfort foods. While these dishes are wonderful in moderation, I find immense joy in crafting vibrant, nutritious alternatives that truly stand out. It’s these “other” menu items—the ones packed with fresh ingredients and unique flavors—that often become year-round favorites, long after the holiday season has passed. This remarkable kale salad with beets and quinoa is a prime example. I’ve been absolutely captivated by it for quite some time, preparing it regularly, and I genuinely believe it would be a stunning and wholesome addition to any beautiful Thanksgiving table.
“Candy Cane” Chioggia beets add both striking color and valuable nutrition to this vibrant kale salad.
Whenever I discover Chioggia beets—often affectionately called “Candy Cane beets” due to their unique appearance—at the grocery store or a local farmer’s market, I make sure to stock up. On the outside, they possess a slightly lighter hue than their common red counterparts. However, their true magic is revealed when sliced, exposing beautiful, concentric stripes of red and white. Beyond their visual appeal, Chioggia beets offer a distinct advantage: they are notably milder in flavor and softer in texture compared to standard red beets, making them perfectly suited for shredding and enjoying raw in salads like this one.
Should Chioggia beets be unavailable, don’t fret; conventional red beets make an excellent substitute and work wonderfully in this recipe. For those using red beets, a helpful tip is that they can be shredded ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week, maintaining their color and freshness. However, for Chioggia and Golden beets, it’s best to shred them closer to the time you plan to serve, as their vibrant internal colors can begin to brown once exposed to air. Regardless of the variety, beets are a nutritional powerhouse, rich in essential fiber, folate, manganese, and potassium. They also provide good amounts of magnesium, iron, vitamin C, and various B vitamins, making them an outstanding addition to any diet. Incorporating beets regularly can significantly contribute to reducing inflammation, supporting a healthy heart, aiding in blood purification, and protecting your digestive, brain, and eye health.
The secret to a truly delicious and tender kale salad lies in the simple, yet transformative, act of massaging the kale.
I frequently hear people express reservations about kale, often describing it as “overrated,” “overdone,” or simply disliking its earthy and sometimes tough texture. However, in our kitchen, kale is a staple, and for good reason! Its nutritional profile is nothing short of impressive: it’s exceptionally high in Vitamins K, A, and C, along with significant amounts of B6, manganese, copper, fiber, and calcium. Beyond these vital nutrients, kale is brimming with antioxidants, boasts potent anti-inflammatory properties, has been shown to help lower cholesterol, aids in the body’s natural detoxification processes, and provides excellent support for cardiovascular health.
For a long time, we primarily incorporated kale into our smoothies, blending away its perceived toughness and bitterness. That all changed the day I discovered the magic of massaging kale. This simple technique can completely transform kale, turning it from a bitter, fibrous green into a wonderfully silky, tender, and even subtly sweet base for salads. To achieve this, first, remove the thick, fibrous ribs from the kale leaves, then wash them thoroughly. Once dried, place the torn or thinly sliced leaves into a large bowl. Using your hands, gently yet firmly massage the kale for 1-2 minutes. This physical action breaks down the cellulose structure within the leaves, helping to wilt them slightly and release their natural sweetness, making them much more palatable and digestible. This single step is a game-changer for anyone who has been skeptical about enjoying kale in its raw form.
This salad is a feast for the eyes and the body, bursting with color and packed with essential nutrition.
While massaged kale undeniably takes center stage in this vibrant salad, the supporting cast of ingredients deserves equally high praise for their vital contributions. Every element has a purpose, carefully selected to create a harmonious blend of taste, texture, nutrition, and color. The addition of quinoa, a complete protein, not only boosts the satiety factor of the salad but also adds a delightful, slightly chewy texture. Pecans are another star player, providing both healthy fats and additional protein, crucial for sustained energy. When crushed and infused with warming spices like cinnamon and cumin, they contribute an incredible depth of flavor and a satisfying crunch that elevates the entire dish.
The star beets round out the impressive nutritional profile, infusing the salad with natural sweetness that can help curb sugar cravings. Beyond their health benefits, their striking colors – whether the bold crimson of red beets or the mesmerizing stripes of Chioggia beets – make the salad visually exciting and incredibly appealing. Finally, the homemade dressing, a simple concoction of avocado oil, fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, minced shallots, sea salt, and white pepper, ties all these wonderful components together. It adds a perfect balance of acidity, richness, and a subtle sweetness that brightens every mouthful, ensuring that each bite is a delightful symphony of flavors.
Shredded Kale + Candy Cane Beets + Quinoa + Spiced Pecans = a truly delicious and wholesome experience!
With the holidays just around the corner, I’ll be traveling to the west coast this week to visit family, so I’m already getting organized for the festive period. The most challenging part for me is always finalizing the menu. There are so many wonderful choices, alongside numerous traditional dishes that my family considers “must-haves” on the table. This often leaves little room to add too many new items each year. However, this shredded kale salad with beets and quinoa is definitely making it onto our holiday spread; its vibrant flavors and nutritional benefits are simply too good to pass up. I will also likely be preparing this sensational salad, which is another crowd-pleaser.
Beyond these, some of my other cherished Thanksgiving sides that consistently grace our table include deliciously roasted root vegetables with oranges, these incredibly healthy and satisfying mashed potatoes and roots, fresh and flavorful super clean green beans almandine, and, of course, a homemade healthy cranberry sauce. If you’re looking for more inspiration, be sure to check out my Instagram stories to see all the new, yummy recipes I’m teaching in my classes this month. Remember, there’s always room on the buffet for one more innovative and healthy item, especially when it’s as delightful as this kale salad!
📖 Recipe
Kale Salad with Beets and Quinoa
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Ingredients
- 1 large bunch kale
- 1 cup cooked Quinoa
- 2 beets shredded
- ½ cup pecans
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
Dressing:
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon minced shallot
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
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First, prepare the kale: tear the leaves from their tough stems and wash them thoroughly. Use a salad spinner to remove most of the excess moisture, then spread the leaves on a clean kitchen towel to air dry completely. Once dry, thinly slice the kale and place it into a large mixing bowl. Now for the secret step: use your hands to massage the kale leaves for 2-3 minutes. This crucial step helps to break down the tough fibers and significantly soften the kale, while also mellowing out any bitter taste, leaving you with tender, sweet greens.
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Next, prepare the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients (avocado oil, fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, minced shallot, sea salt, and white pepper) until well combined and emulsified. Set aside.
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Prepare the spiced pecans: Combine the pecans with cinnamon and ground cumin. To achieve a fine, crushed texture, pulverize them in a coffee or spice grinder. Alternatively, a food processor, mini chopper, or even a mortar and pestle can be used, or simply chop by hand for a coarser texture.
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Shred the beets: Use the shredding disc of your food processor to quickly grate the beets. If you don’t have a food processor, a standard box grater works just as effectively for hand-shredding.
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Assemble the salad: Add the shredded beets and cooked quinoa to the bowl with the massaged kale. Pour about half of the prepared dressing over the mixture. Sprinkle the spiced nut mixture evenly over the salad. Mix all the ingredients well to ensure everything is thoroughly coated. Taste the salad and add more dressing as needed, adjusting to your preference. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.