Vegan Kale Salad With Tahini Dressing Recipe
This post is all about the best vegan kale salad recipe with chickpeas, cranberries, and mixed nuts.
Every time I eat a salad I’m always left feeling sort of hungry, but that doesn’t apply with this one!
It only takes a few minutes to throw together and uses pantry staples like chickpeas, nuts and seeds, dried cranberries, and tahini, making it the perfect last-minute lunch meal prep option for busy work weeks.
Because hearty kale holds up so well in the fridge (and tastes better as the dressing marinates!), you’ll have a few lunches you don’t have to worry about if you prep them on Sunday for the week ahead.
It’s budget-friendly, doesn’t involve cooking, and is easily customizable if you end up wanting to include any of your other favorite salad toppings. Basically, it’s the perfect simple base salad recipe to enjoy as is or to expand on when you want to mix up the repetition of meal prepping!
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Vegan Kale Salad
Ingredients
- 1 Bunch Kale
- 1 Can Chickpeas 15oz
- 3 Tbsp Tahini
- 3/4 Cup Mixed nuts, cranberries & pumpkin seed blend
- 1 Lemon Juiced
- 1 Tbsp Water To thin dressing
- Salt and pepper To taste
Instructions
- Wash and chop the kale into small pieces.
- In a small bowl, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, water, and desired amount of salt and pepper until smooth.
- In a large bowl, add the kale and massage the dressing into the kale.
- Stir in the chickpeas and top with the nut mixture. Enjoy!
Vegan kale salad price breakdown
Buying salads at take-out spots can get pricey quick, but this recipe makes 3 solid salads for the week for only around $3 each!
Prices will vary depending on location and whether you shop sales, buy organic, or buy in bulk, but here’s a rough estimate:
| Ingredient | Estimated Cost Used |
|---|---|
| Kale | $2.50 |
| Chickpeas | $1.25 |
| Tahini | $0.75 |
| Lemon | $0.75 |
| Nut/cranberry/pumpkin seed blend | $2.00 |
| Total Recipe Cost | About $7.25 |
Cost per serving: About $2.40
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How to pack your vegan kale salad
Unlike other salads, this vegan kale salad can withstand a few days prepped in the fridge! This makes it incredibly easy to prep ahead and forget about it.
The only thing I would personally separate are the nuts and seeds so that they don’t get mushy. I love these little reusable pocket-sized stasher bags for that. You can store the perfect amount of salad toppings and only have to buy them once since they’re reusable!
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Vegan kale salad ingredient substitutions
Kale: This is the star of the show, but you can easily swap it out with salad greens. The texture will be softer, and it may not last as long in the fridge, but it will still be yummy!
Garbanzo beans: Cannellini beans make a great substitute if you don’t have any garbanzo beans on hand. They’re similar in the sense that they don’t have a strong flavor, so they offer some protein but don’t overpower the recipe.
Cranberries: I love the tangy sweetness that cranberries bring to savory, hearty dishes! Raisins don’t have as bold of a flavor, but they’re a good option too and are easier to find! If you want to maintain the pop of sweet flavor, dried cherries can work as well!
Mixed nuts: I found these mixed bags of nuts, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries, and I’m so glad I did. It cuts down on prep time for this recipe to have all of these ingredients combined. You can easily throw them in a bag and top your salad day of. Really, any nut and seed combo will do, so choose the one with the ingredients you like best!
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Tahini: I genuinely cannot think of a substitution for tahini! Most of the time, I would say just use peanut butter or even sunbutter, but I think they would throw the flavor off too much.
Sunbutter is made out of sunflower seeds and does have a less nutty flavor, so it could work! This might be fun to experiment with using a small batch of the salad.
Lemon: Really, any citrus will do! Lime is always my go-to when substituting lemon since they’re so similar.
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What other ingredients do you like to add to your vegan kale salads?
Let us know in the comments below! It’s always nice to find new toppings to add to my kale salads.
Stay well,
Maggie
This post was all about the best vegan kale salad recipe.
Other plant-based posts you may like:
Quick Vegan Tortilla Pinwheels with Hummus Recipe
Vegan Sweet Potato Taco Recipe Using Tofu Taco Meat For Meatless Meal Prep
20-Minute Gallo Pinto–Inspired Rice and Beans Recipe (Budget-Friendly & Meal Prep)
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