Jalapeño-Lime Kale Slaw
Here is a simple recipe for a raw kale slaw. It is very quick to prepare but actually tastes best about 12 to 24 hours after preparing. The dressing is spicy, not the burn-your-mouth type of spiciness, but hot.
Disclaimer: my kids won't eat this!
I love it hot chili and lime! It balances the bitter greens. The spiciness feels just right to warm your belly on a cool fall evening. Last night we served it with warmed black beans and sticky brown rice, diced avocados, and baked delicata squash. I think it would be great with toasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top just before serving. The other week we served it atop a curried lentil and yam stew and the flavor combinations were fantastic!
You could go a lot of ways with this recipe. For example, the dressing would be great tossed with shredded Napa cabbage and carrots for another variation. Or use it to dress a salad topped with black beans and toasted pumpkin seeds. You'll probably come up with many ways to use this very tasty dressing.
Jalapeño-Lime Kale Slaw
Eating raw food, especially raw vegetables and greens as part of your meal can be helpful to digest other parts of your meal. Kale is a bitter dark leafy green. Bitter foods first stimulate the production of amylase in the mouth (a starch digesting enzyme). Then, in the stomach, bitter foods stimulate the hormone gastrin that in turn stimulates the release of gastric acid. As bitter foods make their way through your digestive tract, they then stimulate the release of bile from the gallbladder helping to break down the fats from your meal into smaller molecules so your fat-digesting enzymes can properly do their job! Kale is also high in Lutein, a carotenoid which helps to prevent age-related macular degeneration. It has also been found that there is a 35% reduction in overall neurologic decline with an increased consumption of green leafy vegetables!
Salad
Dressing
- Place salad ingredients into a large bowl, set aside.
- Place all ingredients for dressing into a blender and blend on medium speed until combined. I actually prefer place all ingredients into a wide mouth mason jar and use my immersion blender to blend the ingredients together. This way I don't dirty the whole blender!
- Pour dressing over salad and toss together. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve immediately or let it sit for about 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so. The kale with tenderize and become softer the longer it sits.
- Extra salad can be stored in a covered container in your refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Use this recipe in our Meal Planner
About the Author
Ali Segersten
Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University and a Master’s of Science in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from the University of Western States. She is a Functional Nutritionist, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them. Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book. Alissa is the founder and owner of Nourishing Meals®.Nourishing Meals Newsletter
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Comments
We made this again (it is one of our favorites) and shared with some friends who were afraid to try kale. Did add hakurei turnips since we didn't have red peppers on hand. Came out great.
I LOVE this recipe! I actually combined it with your slow-cook chicken tacos and some black beans for an incredible chicken taco salad. So delicious!
Thanks for sharing, loved it! We used curly kale since that is what was on sale at our supermarket and it was still delish.
Delicious and nutritious. Thanks for sharing!!!
WOW! This recipe looks so delicious. I love kale and it is so good for you! Very creative :)
ATX Gluten Free
I love this sauce! I had it over sauted veggies and quinoa.
Ali,
I just thought you might like to know that I made this lime dressing and poured it over cold rice and black beans. I added chopped kale and cilantro to create this gorgeous rice and black bean salad. I brought it for lunch today and shared some with my co-worker who loved it! I am on your blog now showing her all of my favorite recipes. Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for your feedback David! :)
Hi Ali,
We made this for dinner tonight. Great recipe! Had it with scrambled tofu and rice. Thanks.
Pam - Thanks! :)
Kelly - Yes, I think it is nice to treat ourselves with a little adult food once in a while, but great that your little one loves spicy! :)
Jennfer R. - Thanks, I like "Blogiversary"! Enjoy the slaw! :)
Happy Blogiversary :)
The salad looks fantastic and I will make it tonight -- we love kale!
Oh my... we would love this. Sometimes we adults need to make a little extra to eat, to treat ourselves to something special, like this. But my little one loves spicey food, so she may even jump in and join us!
Scrumptiously good!
Enjoy!