Easy Healthy Soy Gochugaru Spicy Kale Salad
This Soy Gochugaru Spicy Kale Salad is an easy go-to for any meal, any occasion. It’s a salad I add as a quick dish to lunch, or as a base to a potluck salad. It’s spicy, savory, and super healthy! I specifically also love to make this when I host or make Korean BBQ because it tastes great together! This salad recipe should only take 5 min to make, and only a few ingredients!
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Spicy Kale Salad Goes Well With Any Topping
There are endless ways to customize this Spicy Kale Salad and make it your own! It’s also a great base to add in other toppings: raisins, nuts, dried berries, cheeses etc. This Spicy Kale Salad tastes really good topped with salmon, chicken, or any protein you like – like my Miso Salmon. To add some bulk to the salad, I sometimes sprinkle on some of my favorite grains like quinoa and brown rice.
A great topping for this salad: panko. Toast some panko for 2-3 min on medium heat until browned and add it on top for crunch.
Massage Your Salad For Better Kale
A lot of people tell me they don’t like kale for its tough texture – but it’s actually because they’re missing this key step: massaging! To fix this, add in half of the dressing into the kale first, and massage well. Let it sit for 20 minutes. The acid in the dressing and the massaging helps break down the kale cells and soften the stems.
Depending on your own tastes, you can adjust the flavor balances and amount of dressing however you like. Adjust the saltiness with soy sauce, and the spiciness with gochugaru.
Spicy Kale Salad Ingredients
- 5 cups kale ~8 oz, chopped & stems removed
- 3 scallions medium, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup panko optional
Dressing
- 1 tbsp Korean red chili flakes
- 1 ½ tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 ½ tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tbsp Sweetener of Your Choice honey, sugar, or plum extract
- 1 tbsp Sesame Seeds grounded
- Mix all the ingredients together for the dressing.
- In a bowl, add in kale and thinly sliced scallions.
- Pour in the dressing, mix well
Spicy Kale Salad
By Tiffy Cooks
Ingredients
- 5 cups kale ~8 oz, chopped & stems removed
- 3 scallions medium, thinly sliced
Dressing
- 1 tbsp Korean red chili flakes
- 1 ½ tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 ½ tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tbsp Sweetener of Your Choice honey, sugar, or plum extract
- 1 tbsp Sesame Seeds grounded
- ¼ cup panko optional
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together for the dressing.
- In a bowl, add in chopped kale and thinly sliced scallions.
- Add in half of the dressing first and massage well. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
- Pour in the rest of the dressing and mix well
- Optional: toast panko for 2-3 min on medium heat until browned and add on top for crunch.
I needed to make something with kale that didn’t involve firing up my oven. (Kale chips!) this was a hit and is my new favorite way of eating kale. I used tahini instead of ground sesame oil and subbed the chili flakes with chili bean paste because that’s what I had on hand. 5 star for sure!