Hearty and nutritious, with pops of antioxidant sweetness, this kale salad with baked garlic shrimp is high in protein and fiber, so it’s sure to keep you full until dinnertime.
High-Protein Salads Like This Are Perfect for Weekday Lunches
I’m not the first person to make a kale salad, add superfoods like quinoa, carrots, nuts, and blueberries, and feel vindicated for the caloric ambush of cheeseburger and fries eaten the night before.
Hey, life’s pleasures are all about balance, am I right?
This superfood salad is a riff on one of my very favorite kale salads with quinoa. It’s my healthful choice (when I’m feeling virtuous) from Sammy’s Bistro, our usual post-ski lunch spot in Park City, UT. This particular kale salad, served vegetarian or protein-style topped with quick and easy baked garlic shrimp, is a far cry from those kale salads served with big chunks of chalky, bitter, and tough good-for-you greens.
Because it’s sliced thinly and tenderized with this flavorful lemony dressing, the kale in this salad melds perfectly with the nutty-flavored, protein-packed quinoa with sweet bursts of blueberry in every health-forward bite.
Enjoy!
What You’ll Need
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Kale — I like lacinato or dinosaur kale for its smooth leaf rather than frilly texture.
- Quinoa — The perfect vegetarian protein. Use white, red, black, or a combination of all three.
- Blueberries — Adds pops of juicy sweetness that offset the earthy kale. Feel free to swap in sliced strawberries, blackberries, grapes, or another fresh fruit.
- Carrot — I like to shred the carrot since the kale is already quite hardy.
- Almonds — I use sliced almonds but pistachios, walnuts, or pecans would work too.
- Lemon vinaigrette — Made with olive oil and sweetened with honey, you’ll feel good about this drizzle. A Dijon vinaigrette would work well here too.
- Baked garlic shrimp — A low-fat, high protein source of omega 3 fatty acids for heart health, and good general nutrition.
Other Salad Protein Toppers to Try
Craving a different protein option? Try grilled Greek chicken, or always juicy baked chicken breast, grilled salmon, or toss a handful of garbanzo beans on this salad for a vegetarian protein punch.
How to Prepare Raw Kale for Salads
Some recipes call for massaging kale with olive oil and lemon juice to help break down fibers and make more tender. While it’s a good idea and helpful for many salad recipes, I skip that step in this salad. Instead, thinly slivering the leaves does the job for me.
- Separate the stems from the leaves. Tough and woody, kale stems are distracting in kale salads. To trim, run a knife down each side of the the core of each leaf to remove the stem, and discard.
- Thinly slice the raw kale. What makes this salad so exceptional is the texture. By cutting it into thin slices, the kale blend with the quinoa and background ingredients in each bite, instead of taking over.
- First cut, then rinse and spin. Instead of rinsing the kale leaves first, rinse them of any extra debris after slivering the kale. This way, it’s more manageable to fit into a salad spinner without the rigid stalks.
- Pat and towel dry. After a turn in the salad spinner, lay out the sliced kale in an even layer on a kitchen towel, pat dry, and give a few minutes to air dry.
How to Make This Shrimp and Kale Salad (+ Tips)
- First, cook the quinoa. Contrary to most methods of cooking quinoa like rice, I cook my quinoa like pasta where it comes out perfectly tender and delicious every time. Get all my tips, tricks and recipe for perfectly cooked quinoa here. Drain and cool while prepping the rest of the salad.
- Prep the kale. See my tips above then add it to a large salad bowl or individual platters.
- Shred the carrot. To get perfectly thin curlicues of vegetables, one of my favorite tools in the kitchen is this 3 piece peeler set I give with nearly every wedding present. It makes longer wisps easy to make.
- Dress the kale and quinoa first. Moving every bit flavor from the vinaigrette to the kale and quinoa makes this salad doubly delicious. So the dressing will absorb and flavor, dress the kale and quinoa combo before adding the other ingredients. The acids in the dressing massage the kale in their own liquid way, and infuse tang into the neutral tasting quinoa.
- Add the flavor bursts. Savory and sweet is where this salads love languages meet. To the bowl of quinoa and kale, add the rest of the ingredients and toss to mix, adding more salad dressing to taste.
- Toss in the shrimp. This salad is awesome all on its vegetarian own, but if you’d like an extra boost of seafood protein, it is so good topped with easy, sheet pan baked garlic shrimp.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
High-Protein Shrimp and Kale Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 8 ounces kale , trimmed, stems removed, and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
- 1 cup blueberries
- ½ cup shredded carrot
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 12 cooked shrimp (I made this baked garlic shrimp)
For the Lemon Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey , plus more more to taste
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa. Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer under cold water. Add 3 cups water to a medium saucepan with the quinoa and kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Cook until al dente and the centers become transparent, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 12 minutes. Drain, fluff with a fork, and return the quinoa to the pot, cover with a kitchen towel and a lid and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Spread on a baking sheet and cool.
- Prep the kale. Meanwhile, cut out the stems from the kale leaves and slice finely into strips. Rinse the kale, then spin dry in a salad spinner and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Transfer to a large bowl with the cooled quinoa.
- Make the dressing. In a small bowl or a jar with a fitted lid, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, kosher salt, and black pepper.
- Dress the kale and quinoa first! Drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of the dressing over the kale and quinoa. Toss to coat, and let sit for a few minutes so that the kale softens and the quinoa absorbs the dressing.
- Finish the salad. Add the blueberries, shredded carrot, and almonds to the salad and top with cooked garlic shrimp. Add more dressing and salt and pepper if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
More Kale Salad Recipes We Love
We send good emails. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and have each post plus exclusive content only for our subscribers delivered straight to your e-mail box.
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest for more FoodieCrush inspiration.
As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. There are affiliate links in this post of which I receive a small commission. All opinions are always my own.
Jenn
I am going to be making this. can I substitute the blueberries for maybe blackberries. I can not eat blueberries
Hayley
Hi Jenn! Yes, you could definitely swap out the blueberries for blackberries. Grapefruit or orange segments would also be yummy options for this. We hope you enjoy!
Maria
Happy New Year to you and family !!! Thankyou so much for the good recipes !!! Much love !!!