Kale Quinoa Salad with Walnuts, Cranberries, and Feta

This kale quinoa salad is a healthy and hearty salad that stores well in the fridge, making it perfect for meal prep days. You’ll love the crunchy walnuts and sweet, chewy cranberries!

I’m partnering with California Walnuts to bring you a year of nutty and delicious walnut recipes. This post is sponsored by California Walnuts, but all opinions are my own.

Anyone else feeling kind of over winter? It’s so cold and grey and icy and windy and ICK. I can’t walk on our street without shuffling my feet because it’s one solid sheet of slippery ice. I’m such a huge klutz that it’s a complete miracle I haven’t fallen and broken something.

But I’ve always lived in Michigan and probably always will, and this is what we do. We shuffle along through winter until we get a glimpse of spring. It will come…eventually.

I’ll be here in my nice warm house eating salads and waiting for spring’s arrival. I know it’s been a whole week since I shared a kale salad…’tis the season right? Kale salads and football food. It’s all about balance. For me, I love for a salad to be a meal, and this one definitely is. Another thing that makes a salad sky-rocket to the top of my favorites list is its ability to stay fresh in the fridge for a few days. This one definitely fits the bill, in fact, as many kale salads do, this one gets better with time. To a reasonable extent of course. It’s not going to be good three weeks later, obviously.

About this Salad:

This salad packs tons of great crunch thanks to the kale and Brussels sprouts and it has nice chewy dried cranberries for textural variety. There are three things that make this kale quinoa salad satisfying and completely suitable for a meal: Quinoa, walnuts, and feta. All three are great sources of protein and nutrients and together they make this a power-packed salad.

I used my homemade creamy poppy seed dressing for dressing this kale quinoa salad but you could use a store-bought poppy seed dressing. I’ve also used a vidalia onion dressing on it and that was mighty tasty as well. It would also be great with this sweet and tangy honey mustard dressing. I’d be willing to bet that you probably have all the ingredients you need for a homemade dressing and they are so easy to whip up.

However you decide to dress this salad, though, it’s going to be a favorite! Because it stores well, it would make a great salad to bring to a picnic or potluck.

Enjoy!

More Make Ahead Salad recipes you may enjoy:

• Mango Salad (one of my favorites, try it on taco night!)
• Southwestern Chopped Salad in a mason jar
• Lentil Salad Recipe with Feta, Lemon, and Parsley
• Creamy Southwestern Orzo Salad (everyone loves this salad!)
• Make Ahead Eight Layer Salad from Wishes and Dishes
• 7 Layer Salad by Real Housemoms 

 

Verdict: I love this kale quinoa salad. It’s filling, flavorful, and so dang tasty.
Husband’s take: No complaints from him about this crunchy salad.
Changes I would make: None are necessary! It would be mighty tasty with some chopped apples added, though.
Difficulty: Easy!

This Kale Quinoa Salad is sponsored by the California Walnut Board. All opinions are always my own. Thank you for supporting Rachel Cooks by reading about products and food I use and love in my own home.