This Vegan Kale Crunch Salad is the perfect balance of textures to make your mouth feel like a happy ride every single time. It’s a salad you’ll love year round.
Just because you want a salad, doesn’t mean that it needs to be boring. This vegan kale crunch salad does everything that you want it to and more!
This particular salad combines a variety of textures, that will instantly make you love it. From the softness of the roasted sweet potatoes, to the crunch of the breadcrumbs and pine nuts, it will be everything that you didn’t even know that you needed.
And maybe it will just change your mind for what you think salads can be!
Never miss another post! Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get them all delivered easily! Plus, 15 easy recipes delivered immediately!
Sign Up For My Newsletter Today!
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love Vegan Kale Crunch Salad
- Lots of Textures -So many people just put some sort of greens and dressing and call it a salad. With this recipe you’ll have a variety of textures. From the softness of the sweet potatoes to the crispness of the chickpeas and the crunch of the kale and onions if you add them – you’ll get a variety that you’ll mouth will just love.
- Lots of Variations -A reason people love salads is because it’s super easy to customize. If you don’t love avocados you can omit them, but you could add tomatoes because you just love them so much. Plus, you can switch up the salad dressing that you use so if tastes like a different meal every single time.
Recipe Ingredients:
Gather your ingredients!
- Kale – This powerhouse food should be a staple in your diet. It’s full of vitamins A, C, and K, high in beta-carotene, iron, and more.
- Chickpeas – not only do chickpeas add protein, but they are delicious and crisp up nicely adding a fun and varied texture to this salad
- Sweet Potatoes – Another highly nutritious food full of fiber, beta carotene, vitamin c, potassium and more.
- Pine Nuts – These are delicious and a source of protein while adding a crunch that is easy to bite into
- Breadcrumbs – adding more crunch to our dish, we actually prefer gluten free breadcrumbs because we have found them to have a better crunch
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Kale – You can use whatever leafy green you desire. Other highly nutritious leafy greens include spinach, watercress and sprouts.
- Chickpeas – white beans would be an alternative to this recipe; however, they will not crisp up as well as chickpeas do
- Sweet Potatoes – roasted squash would be another alternative to sweet potatoes – like butternut or acorn squash.
- Pine Nuts – You could swap these with chopped cashews or macadamia nuts, or just some sunflower seeds
- Breadcrumbs – you could use a vegan dried stuffing mix or croutons if you need to switch it up; however, be mindful of the seasonings as you may not want to add more spices or even toast those two options
- Spices – use your favorite seasoning blend to switch things up
Step By Step Instructions for Vegan Kale Crunch Salad:
Step 1. Add the cut sweet potatoes and chickpeas to a large baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with the spice mix and toss to combine. Cook until chickpeas are crispy and sweet potatoes soft. Careful not to burn.
Step 2. On a separate baking sheet, add pine nuts and breadcrumbs. Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss well to combine and spread in an even layer. Bake for 5-8 minutes, careful not to burn.
Step 3. Add kale, mini cucumbers, red onions, and avocado to a bowl.
Step 4. In a container with a lid, add all the ingredients and shake or whisk together well. Place in the fridge, covered, until ready to use.
When sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and breadcrumb mixture are finished, layer on top and drizzle dressing over.
Frequently Asked Questions:
We chose french fries size for this salad because we feel like people are more receptive to this size; however, as long as they are the same size to cook evenly it doesn’t matter. Cubed is another good option or thinly sliced to make almost a chip is great as well.
No, but kale is a leafy green with a higher protein and nutrition content than other greens. You can use your favorite or add a mix of kale and other greens if you desire.
Kale does not have to be cooked contrary to some notions. Kale can be eaten raw or cooked. It is considered a superfood, one of the healthiest and most nutrient-dense foods that one can eat. In addition to eaten raw, kale can be steamed, boiled, baked, or sauteed.
Kale can be bitter. Washing it throughly prior to eating it can help remove some of that bitterness.
Baby Kale, Red Kale or Lacinato Kale is the best for salads; however, even curly kale (shown in photos) is delicious. Kale is very fibrous and should be thoroughly washed and massaged with an acidic ingredient like lemon juice to help break down the fiber prior to consuming.
Other Vegan Salads to Consider Eating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Did you make and love this recipe?
Click the 5 stars in the recipe card above or below in the comment section! This is a great way to support us so we can continue to bring great recipes!
Vegan Kale Crunch Salad
Ingredients
For Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas
- 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 sweet potatoes, cut into fries (or desired size)
- 1 15oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 3 tablespoon olive oil, divided
For the Breadcrumbs and Pinenuts
- 1 ½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup pine nuts (sub with cashews, macadamias, or sunflower seeds)
- 1-2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Remaining Salad
- 5-6 cups kale leaves, stems removed, chopped, rinsed well, and massaged*
- 1 avocado diced
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2-3 mini cucumbers, sliced
For Vegan Honey Mustard Dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon tahini
- 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Into a small bowl, combine all the spices (chili powder to black pepper) and stir together. Set aside.
- Add the cut sweet potatoes and chickpeas to a large baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with 3 tablespoon of oil, sprinkle with the spice mix and toss to combine, making sure everything is seasoned. Return to a single layer and bake for 20 mins. Remove from oven, toss together and cook another 15-20 minutes. Chickpeas should be crispy and sweet potatoes soft. Careful not to burn.
- On a separate baking sheet, add pine nuts and breadcrumbs. Drizzle olive oil over along with lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss well to combine and spread in an even layer. Bake for 5-8 minutes, careful not to burn.
- When everything is done, add kale to the bottom of a salad bowl, top with all the remaining and cooked ingredients. Top with dressing.
For the Honey Mustard Dressing
- In a container with a lid, add all the ingredients and shake or whisk together well. Place in the fridge, covered, until ready to use.
Makayla
I’ve never enjoyed a salad as much as this one, Thankyou so much for helping me find another way to enjoy kale!!
Larisha Bernard
Glad you enjoyed it so much!
Amanda
Made this tonight. Super delicisious!
Larisha Bernard
So glad that you loved it!
Tia
Killer! I’m not vegan but I eat pretty well and enjoy recipes like this that diversify my salad game. Even my bf who is kale-picky enjoyed it!
Larisha Bernard
That’s a huge win with the bf! Glad yall enjoyed!
Erica Phillips
This was so good! Do not underestimate the value of the crunch component! That breadcrumb pine nut combo was such an added feature! The is so flavorful! A new fav!
Larisha Bernard
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it all!
Marek
10/10…definitely not the last time I’ll make this!
Larisha Bernard
yay!
Maidellyn
You were right! My 16 year old son said, “Why aren’t we doing this more often”. Thank you, again, for another great recipe. (I’m going to repost this on your Youtube to help your algorithm).
Larisha Bernard
Love it!