A simple and delicious chopped kale and grapefruit salad with pistachios, blue cheese, and a fresh grapefruit vinaigrette!
Aaaand just like that it’s Monday morning and another weekend has passed. How does that happen so fast?! I can’t complain, I just have one more week of work and then we are headed south to Captiva, Florida for 10 days of sunshine and the beach. It looks like another brutal week of snow and cold here in Minneapolis, so I cannot wait to get away to warm weather.
One of my favorite things about going to Captiva is driving through Fort Myers and stopping at the Sunkist Fruit Stand (which is really more of a building than a stand) and buying a big ‘ol bag of grapefruit. It’s my favorite citrus and I feel like it’s so hard to find good ones except for this time of year. I prefer eating my grapefruit straight up or with a sprinkle of sugar (with a special grapefruit spoon, of course) but since I’ve been craving a lot of citrus lately, I decided to switch it up with this salad.
This chopped kale and grapefruit salad is so simple, yet so good. I used Lacinto kale, which I’ve only had a handful of times, and both my mom and I agreed we really liked it more than curly kale in this salad. The dressing is a simple combination of grapefruit juice, dijon mustard, olive oil, and honey, which pairs perfectly with the segments of fresh grapefruit, pistachios, and blue cheese. We ate this aside a new pasta dish (recipe coming this week, too!) but I think it’d also be great topped with grilled chicken or chickpeas as a meal.
Notes about this recipe:
- Lacinto kale is different from curly kale, as it is a little darker than curly kale and lit’s leaves look more like swiss chard.
- I used two large bunches of lacing kale, which after being chopped and rinsed yielded about 7 cups of kale. This was much less than what two large bunches of curly kale would yield, so if you use curly kale, you will likely only need one large bunch.
- Like curly kale, remove the leaves from the stem.
- Kale leaves hold up pretty well with the dressing on, so leftovers will stay good for about 1 day.
Ingredients
- For the salad:
- 6-8 cups or approximately 2 bunches of chopped Lacinto kale (leaves removed from stems)
- 1 large grapefruit segmented
- 1/2 cup pistachios unshelled
- 1/2 cup blue cheese
- For the dressing:
- 1/4 cup grapefruit juice approximately 1/2 grapefruit
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- To make the dressing:
- Place all ingredients in small mason jar and shake, shake, shake, until well combined.
- Pour over kale and toss well to combine.
- Top with grapefruit segments, pistachios, and blue cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
Welcome to greens & chocolate! I'm Taylor and am so excited that you stopped by! I'm a Minnesota girl in my 20's who's loving life with my husband Marc, our son Lars, and our Golden Retriever Maddie. I love cooking healthy meals, but it's essential that I have my dessert. All after a hot yoga class or a run, though! It's all about moderation here at greens & chocolate. 
A trip to Florida sounds amazing this time of year! Be sure to soak up some extra rays for this pale girl right here 😉 Your kale salad sounds fabulous! I like using dino kale for my salads too and looooove that grapefruit!
I could use a trip to Florida! Have fun! I can’t get enough citrus this time of year. This salad looks great!
What an awesome salad combo! I bet all these flavors make for one delicious treat!
Oooo a trip to Florida sounds so nice right about now! It’s been so cold by us!
This salad looks wonderful – I really need to use grapefruit more often at our house!