Twelve Whole-Food Plant-Based Kale Recipes You Should Try This Week (2024)

Kale every day. Your body will thank you. Kale is incredibly beneficial to your health, and I've selected a mix of stir-fries, salads, grain bowls, and soups to keep your kale levels topped up!

1. Spicy Tahini Noodles with Roasted Vegetables - (101 Cookbooks)
This is my favorite kind of weeknight meal. Noodles tossed with a quick sauce, topped with an abundance of roasted vegetables - roast a pan of kale along with your other veggies here. Really tasty. Get the recipe here.

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2. Instant Pot Minestrone Soup - (101 Cookbooks)
A stand-by. Making really good minestrone in the Instant Pot with dried, un-soaked beans is totally possible! No need to use mushy canned beans. Loads of kale. Skip the Parmesan rind to keep it WFPB. Get the recipe here. Also, more Instant Pot recipes here.

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3. Kale Stir Fry with Crispy Curried Tofu - (Lauren Caris Cooks)
Everyone needs a strong stir-fry repertoire, and this version is packed with goodness - curry-spiced tofu with kale, cabbage, and carrots. Get the recipe here.

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4. Harissa Spaghettini - (101 Cookbooks)
I wrote this recipe nearly a decade ago(!), and it's still in regular rotation. Black olives, pine nuts, lots of kale, and a big dollop of harissa. Boom. Get the recipe here.

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5. Hazelnut & Chard Ravioli Salad - (101 Cookbooks)
We're talking about plump raviolis tossed with toasted hazelnuts, lemony flecks of chard (or kale!), and deeply caramelized onions. You've got crunch from toasted hazelnuts, and brightness from a bit of zest. Choose a vegan ravioli and skip the Parmesan to keep it WFPB. Get the recipe here.

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6. Grilled Corn Kale Salad - (The Almond Eater)
This. For lunch. Today. Get the recipe here.

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7. Curried Cauliflower Rice Kale Soup - (Cotter Crunch)
Curry-spiced and creamy (you can use coconut or a nut milk), this is a hearty soup packed with cauliflower, kale, and carrots. Get the recipe here.

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8. The Prettiest Purple Kale, Eggplant & Blackberry Salad - (Green Kitchen Stories)
Love this brilliant combination of roasted eggplant and purple onions with warm spices. Massaged kale with herby dressing, and black lentils with creamy avocado. Hazelnuts bring the crunch, and juicy blackberries top it off. Skip the feta to keep it WFPB, and use maple syrup in the dressing if you're looking to keep it vegan. Get the recipe here.

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9. Roasted Vegetable Orzo - (101 Cookbooks)
I often make this with a whole wheat orzo (or small bean-based pasta), and non-dairy yogurt. You can also substitute all sorts of different whole grain for the pasta - farro, quinoa, or a brown rice blend. Get the recipe here.

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10. Sweet Potato & Kale Tortilla Soup - (Local Milk)
Sweet potatoes, kale, cilantro, tomatoes, spices, and chiles all in a beautiful bowl. Simply skip the quest fresco, and ase a dairy-free yogurt to keep it WFPB. Get the recipe here.

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11. Chopped Kale Salad with Peanut Chili Vinaigrette - (Little Broken)
A chopped kale salad with feisty peanut chili dressing. I can imagine this in a lettuce wrap (or spring roll) with a bit of grilled tofu as an ideal lunch! Get the recipe here.

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12. An Excellent, One-pan, Protein-packed Power Pasta - (101 Cookbooks)
A full pound of chopped kale goes into this! It's pasta and lentils simmered in crushed tomatoes, finished with lots of chopped kale, saffron, swirls of tahini and chopped almonds.Perfect weeknight dinner. Get the recipe here.

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Bonus! Autumn Kale Slaw - (Green Kitchen Stories)
Another beautiful green Kitchen Stories recipe. Carrots, kale, apples, and hazelnut come together in a crunch-tactic autumn slaw. Get the recipe here.

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Bonus! Creamy Kale Pasta - (Pinch of Yum)
Five ingredients. And I'm going to bet you have all of them. Use whatever pasta you like, and my sense is you can scale back the olive oil a bit, or use a really rich, thick homemade nut milk, and scale it back a lot. Get the recipe here.

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Bonus! Kale Detox Salad with Pesto - (Well and Full)
All the good things in one bowl. This is an ultra-super green salad. With roasted potatoes, brown rice, chickpeas, a bit of kick from jalapeño chiles, and a carrot top(!) pesto. Brilliant. Get the recipe here.

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Twelve Whole-Food Plant-Based Kale Recipes You Should Try This Week (2024)

FAQs

How do you sneak kale into your diet? ›

Below are a few tips to get them to enjoy kale, or to sneak it into their diet:
  1. Kale chips. ...
  2. Kale smoothie. ...
  3. Mix them into these delicious vegetarian kale-quinoa burgers.
  4. Mix it into their favourite salad. ...
  5. Make kale pesto. ...
  6. Blend kale into a soup. ...
  7. Make it disappear. ...
  8. Make it sweet.

What to do with kale before eating? ›

Blanching Greens. Blanching kale softens its tough texture and its infamous bitterness. It also sets the green color, allowing you to cook it further without losing as much green as happens otherwise. All it takes is a quick dunk in boiling salted water and a rinse in ice-cold water after draining.

How do you use large amounts of kale? ›

Fresh Salads, frozen for smoothies, dehydration into kale chips! I make lasagna with layers of hot Italian sausage in red sauce and sautéed kale in Parmesan cream. You can cook down a lot of kale, and it works well with the spicy sausage. Caldo Verde soup!

What happens to your body when you eat kale everyday? ›

Being a good source of calcium and Vitamin K, kale may help in boosting bone health. Consumption of kale may help in detoxifying the body. It may help in managing malnutrition problems. Being a good source of iron and Vitamin C, it may help in boosting immunity.

Why is kale a laxative? ›

Our findings indicate that kale modifies certain gut microbes, such as [Eubacterium] eligens and [Ruminococcus] gnavus, and improves bowel movements, particularly in those with smaller stool amounts.

Why do I feel so good after eating kale? ›

Kale is a nutritious food rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin K, and beta-carotene. It also contains nutrients that can support eye health, weight management, heart health, and more. Loaded with important micronutrients and antioxidants, kale is one of the most nutritious leafy greens available.

What is the healthiest way to prepare kale? ›

Steaming is a better option than boiling because you don't lose as many nutrients with this cooking method, according to Gray. “You're not giving it heat treatment for very long, so it's closest to raw that you can get and you still are cooking it to some degree,” she said.

How to prepare kale for the week? ›

How to Prep Kale for the Week
  1. Choose the sturdiest, crispiest looking kale at the store or market. ...
  2. Next roll the kale leaves like a burrito, as you would if you were to chiffonade basil. ...
  3. Throw the kale leaves into a salad spinner filled with cold water and ice cubes and soak for about 5 minutes.
Aug 18, 2020

Is 2 cups of kale a day too much? ›

Manganiello says you can eat kale every day, just don't overdo it. She recommends one to two servings maximum of kale per day, leaving room for other healthy foods that provide an assortment of nutrients.

How to make kale taste better? ›

Massaging Kale – massaging kale with a little oil and/or lemon juice for just a few minutes makes it more tender and easier to chew. Plus, it adds an extra boost of flavor.

What are 3 ways you can eat kale? ›

Here are 10 ways to use it.
  • As a Substitute for Spinach. Kale works nicely in recipes that call for spinach, like those for egg dishes, salads or lasagna. ...
  • In a Dip. Cooked kale can be chopped or pureed to make a variety of dips. ...
  • Juiced. ...
  • Sauteed with Veggies. ...
  • In a Salad. ...
  • As Pesto. ...
  • In a Soup.

How do I introduce kale to my diet? ›

Here are 10 ways to use it.
  1. As a Substitute for Spinach. Kale works nicely in recipes that call for spinach, like those for egg dishes, salads or lasagna. ...
  2. In a Dip. Cooked kale can be chopped or pureed to make a variety of dips. ...
  3. Juiced. ...
  4. Sauteed with Veggies. ...
  5. In a Salad. ...
  6. As Pesto. ...
  7. In a Soup.

How to eat kale when you don't like it? ›

6 Ways to Eat Kale (Even if you hate it)
  1. Soup. My favorite way to eat Kale is finely chopped in soup. ...
  2. Smoothies. It's well documented that I don't care for smoothies but my family loves them. ...
  3. Pureed/Finely Chopped in Casserole Type Dishes. ...
  4. Stir Fry's. ...
  5. Powdered Kale. ...
  6. Kale Chips.
Aug 8, 2014

What is the most nutritious way to eat kale? ›

While raw kale may boast the highest nutrient content, the study found that steaming retained the most antioxidants and minerals, compared with other cooking methods ( 7 ).

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