The day I made this Hungry Human Kale Caesar Salad, I was feeling exactly that – like a super hungry human! People often think you can’t get full by eating salad and to that I say, perhaps you just aren’t making mean and mighty enough salads!

Salads are one of my favourite foods to eat (and before you think, “Of course – what a typical Nutritionist – hear me out). The reason being, is that you can load them up with so many fun ingredients! Each bite brings a new kind of excitement and flavour profile. Truthfully, it never gets boring – unless of course you’re forever eating iceberg lettuce salads with bottled dressing. I’m here to tell you that we can do better and get more deliciousness out of our salads and this Hungry Human Kale Caesar Salad is proof!

A lot of people have mixed reviews about kale salads and I think it’s because they enjoy them while out at a restaurant and then try to replicate it and it’s never the same. That’s because the way they are prepared at restaurants uses a special technique that makes it so delicious. That special technique is … massaging your kale!

Actually, two things:

Massaging your kale
Slicing your kale into super-thin strips

Kale is a cruciferous vegetable and like most cruciferous vegetables, it’s very dense and fibrous. If you don’t prepare it properly, you’ll likely feel like a dinosaur chomping down on it and quickly become a kale-hating human.

Slicing your kale into super thin strips (removing the rib of the kale first) and then drizzling it lightly with olive oil and massaging it with your hands will help to break down the fibrous nature of it and make it much more palatable and enjoyable.

Another thing I love about this Hungry Human Kale Caesar Salad is that it’s made with homemade croutons! Croutons are so easy to make and much tastier than store-bought in my opinion. Not to mention, if you have bread and a blend of some italian seasoning kicking around, you can make these croutons. I used sprouted bread (I love the Silver Hills brand for this) because when a food is sprouted, it means that it’s “pre-digested” in a way, making it easier to digest and the nutrients easier to absorb.

I also made a Cashew-based Caesar Salad Dressing to make it dairy-free. I don’t eat 100% dairy-free all the time, but I definitely feel better when I do. If I am having dairy, I’ll try to stick to goat milk-derived alternatives since it’s easier to digest (also goat cheddar is just the BOMB!). The texture of this dressing is a bit chunkier than your traditional runny caesar dressing but when mixed together with all of the other ingredients, it still tastes creamy, dreamy and what caesar salad dreams are made of!

Making your own dressing might seem like an extra “annoying” step but the great thing is that you likely already have most of these ingredients on hand so when your Hungry Human Kale Caesar Salad craving hits, you can whip this up in no time!

I added bacon, egg [and thought I added chicken, but apparently forgot haha!] because again, I was a hungry human when throwing this salad (or “sally”, as I like to say) together, but you can really add any protein sources of your choice. You can also serve it as a side to a main dish.

… And now it’s probably the time of the blog post where you’re like “Okay, enough – just give me the dang recipe already!”. So, here you go!

Hungry Human Kale Caesar Salad

Ingredients

Salad

4-6 leaves of kale
2 slices bacon
2 boiled eggs
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Cashew Caesar Dressing

1/2 cup cashews, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
1/2 cup hot water
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp dijon mustard
pinch of sea salt

Croutons

1-2 slices of bread
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp italian seasoning (or 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil)

Directions

Wash and de-stem kale. Chop into very thin slices and transfer to a bowl. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and massage with hands for 1 minute until kale is a more limp texture.
Dump out the hot water the cashews were sitting in and dispose. Transfer soaked cashews, hot water, garlic, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast and sea salt to a food processor and pulse for 1 minute until smooth.
Slice bread into small cubes (think of the size of croutons) and transfer to a bowl. Dress with olive oil and italian seasoning (or oregano and basil).
Heat a pan and once hot, transfer croutons. Cook for 5-10 minutes until crispy without getting burnt. Remove croutons and transfer to a bowl.
Using the same hot pan, cook bacon until crispy.
If you haven’t cooked your boiled eggs yet, place 2 eggs in water in a pot. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to low and set a timer for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, remove from heat, pour out hot water and rinse with cold water.
Pour as much or as little dressing over the kale as you wish (you will likely have some leftover – if using leftover dressing, leave on counter for 20 minutes before enjoying as it will harden in the fridge). Mix until the dressing is mixed evenly throughout the kale.
Add croutons, bacon and boiled eggs to salad and mix.
Enjoy!