OOOH BABY, this salad is so good! Crunchy kale and cabbage, fresh herbs and fresno peppers, chopped peanuts, and a perfect roasted peanut vinaigrette that tucks into all the salad nooks and crannies.
Roasted Peanut Kale Crunch Salad
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I had to leave a review because this recipe is just so delicious! Perfect for a hot day when you don’t want to cook. I added other veg like chopped zucchini, cucumbers and avocado, and some marinated white beans and canned tuna for protein. The roasted peanut oil is genius. Thank you!
Michelle
This Roasted Peanut Kale Crunch Salad is SO yummy! I am very picky about kale in a salad, and this one is so pleasant to eat because of the finely chopped texture on the kale! Plus it’s juiced up and slicked down in the best way possible with a light roasted peanut vinaigrette that is slightly sweet and just really delightful.
In This Post: Everything You Need For Roasted Peanut Kale Crunch Salad
- Take Me To The Salad Recipe
- Watch How to Make This Recipe
- Lindsay’s Notes
- A Walk-Through On How To Make This
- FAQs
- Reviews
Watch How To Make This Kale Crunch Salad
Lindsay’s Notes
Holy moly, I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve eaten this salad in the last few weeks!
First of all, let it be known that roasted peanut vinaigrette is the only way I want to live from here on out. It gives all the flavor of a peanut dressing but none of the heaviness; it’s much lighter and saucier, getting into every nook and cranny of this salad the way a regular peanut dressing wouldn’t be able to. It’s fantastic. Plus, the texture on the cabbage and the kale makes this salad TRULY ENJOYABLE to eat, and tossing it all up with some peanuts and thinly sliced fresno peppers makes this crunchy, spicy, filling, and perfect.
The typical order of events for this salad is:
- I make it for lunch.
- We have the rest of it for dinner.
It actually lasts shockingly well, even with dressing on it, because the kale and cabbage are so hearty! I often enjoy our dinner leftovers as much as I did the original lunch salad because the kale softens even more as it sits in the dressing.
But we don’t always do this all in one day – it works great for meal prep as well. I’ve been known to tuck a container of the shredded up kale, cabbage, and herbs in the fridge, plus a container of the dressing, and basically just toss together individual salads all week long for amazingly fast little lunch salads that I always, always look forward to.
You can eat this salad on its own, and I often do, especially as a lunch salad! Or you can do what we did last night for dinner and throw some herby shrimp on the side with a hunk of buttered bread. Or what we did the night before – serving it alongside leftover grilled chicken and rice.
This roasted peanut kale crunch salad is my new BFF.
How To Make This Roasted Peanut Kale Crunch Salad
Step 1: Make a Quick Roasted Peanut Vinaigrette
Whisk or blitz a quick little roasted peanut vinaigrette! The magic ingredient here is the roasted peanut oil (affiliate link) – it gives this dressing the taste of a peanut dressing but maintains a light, silky vinaigrette texture. This might require a trip to a separate store depending on where you shop, but when you find it, I’d recommend buying multiple bottles – I’ve very quickly gone through 2 bottles with several batches of this salad!
If you can’t find roasted peanut oil or just honestly don’t want to bother with finding it (I get it), you could use this peanut dressing, or use avocado oil in its place for a different flavor but similar texture.
Step 2: Chop Your Veggies
I do these ones by hand: cilantro, green onion, fresno peppers, and peanuts.
Step 3: Finely Chop Your Greens
Finely chop your kale and cabbage in a food processor for the ultimate in teeny-tiny chopped texture. I would recommend cutting the vegetables into chunks first so they process more evenly and doing this in several batches. If they start to release too much water, just give them a gentle pat or squeeze with a paper towel.
You can store the kale and cabbage together in one bowl or container!
Step 4: Combine It All
Toss your dressing, peppers, herbs, peanuts, and greens all together! ENJOY YOUR LIFE!
Roasted Peanut Kale Crunch Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
OOOH BABY, this salad is so good! Crunchy kale and cabbage, fresh herbs and fresno peppers, chopped peanuts, and a perfect roasted peanut vinaigrette that tucks into all the salad nooks and crannies.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Kale Crunch Salad:
- 4 large stalks kale, stems removed
- half a head of green cabbage
- 2 small fresno peppers, sliced
- 1 cup peanuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
Roasted Peanut Vinaigrette:
- 1/2 cup roasted peanut oil
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (more to taste)
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make the Roasted Peanut Vinaigrette: Blend all ingredients in a small blender or food processor until smooth. (This is mostly to incorporate the garlic, so if you’d rather, you can grate the garlic into the jar with the other ingredients and shake thoroughly to combine.)
- Prep the Salad: Chop your herbs, peanuts, and fresno peppers.
- Chop the Kale and Cabbage: Using a food processor, pulse the kale and cabbage in batches until it is very finely chopped, stopping before the greens get too mushy. If they release too much water, just give them a gentle squeeze with a paper towel. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Mix and Serve: Toss your kale and cabbage with some of the dressing; massage it together with your hands for a minute to make sure the kale is tender! Add peanuts, peppers, and the rest of the dressing. YUM!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Chop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: peanut salad, kale peanut salad, kale crunch salad
Frequently Asked Questions For Roasted Peanut Kale Crunch Salad
What can I use instead of roasted peanut oil?
You can make this salad dressing with avocado oil in place of the peanut oil – the flavor will change quite significantly (less peanut flavor, obviously), but the texture will be similar! Or, if you want to keep the peanut flavor, you could use this amazing peanut dressing / sauce.
How long does this salad last?
Once you toss it all together, it lasts pretty well in the fridge for 4-6 hours.
How do you prep and store this for meal prep?
Toss the kale, cabbage, and herbs together; store all together in one container in the fridge. Slice the peppers; store in the fridge. Blitz the dressing; store in the fridge. Chop the peanuts; store at room temperature. When you’re ready to eat, assemble your salad elements!
What other protein would work well here?
I have made this with grilled chicken, shrimp, and edamame!
How do you make this gluten-free and/or dairy-free?
This is gluten-free and dairy-free as written!
Can you chop the kale and cabbage without a food processor?
Yes – I would recommend using a mandoline instead of chopping by hand to get a very fine shredded texture! But if all you have is a knife, that will work, too! 🙂 Just chop everything very finely.
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Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Dinner Fall Gluten-Free Healthy Kale Lunch Main Dishes Quick and Easy Recipes Salads Spring Summer Vegan Vegetarian
August 23, 2023
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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I have to admit I never thought of mixing peanuts and Kale. That’s quite a unique combination. 🙂
Same!!
Finding the roasted peanut oil was a bit of a challenge, and I’m wondering if it isn’t because of this recipe 😉
I had to order it online. Finally arrived today, and I was so excited to make this for dinner. It did not disappoint, even with the lengthy anticipation! I added edamame for a smidge more protein, and I could definitely eat this several times a week. It’s so good.
(Oh, almost forgot, the mister likes some extra heat, so he added chili crunch and raved.)
They’re hard to find. I drove to several stores but then I found them at whole foods with their 365 brand for $4
same!
Thanks amezing
This looks delicious!! Is roasted peanut oil different than regular peanut oil? I’ve never seen roasted. Thank you!
100%!
Yes! pressed peanut oil is entirely different from traditional peanut oil. Not only is there an actual peanut taste, it’s significantly pricier and unlike peanut oil used for frying, it is not peanut allergy safe.
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If you personally ask me, I’ll gladly eat Lindsay’s food from these delicious food blogs if I lived nearby vs going out to a restaurant. L 🙂 L !
One tip to keep kale and cabbage from getting mushy in the food processor is to use the circular attachment blade instead of the s-blade and feed all the destemmed greens through the tube on top. Works great! Looking forward to making this salad for dinner tonight.
thanks!
You’re welcome, Victoria.
Made this last night and used yiur “very best peanut sauce” recipe instead for the dressing and LOVED LOVED it!!!!!! Definitely will be making again.
The combination of crunchy kale and cabbage, along with fresh herbs, fresno peppers, chopped peanuts, and a roasted peanut vinaigrette sounds absolutely mouthwatering.
Made this to go with dinner with friends and everyone loved it. Had never heard of roasted peanut oil before, but it was definitely worth the effort of hunting it down (and it ended up being in stock at my local Safeway) Changes – used a mystery pepper from the garden and reduced the sugar to 2 teaspoons. Definitely will be making this one again and again!
I had to leave a review because this recipe is just so delicious! Perfect for a hot day when you don’t want to cook. I added other veg like chopped zucchini, cucumbers and avocado, and some marinated white beans and canned tuna for protein. The roasted peanut oil is genius. Thank you!
This was so good. The first time I made it I couldn’t find roasted peanut oil so I subbed sesame with a tablespoon of peanut butter and it was delicious. Second time I used the roasted peanut oil and ended up adding another tablespoon of peanut butter for extra peanut flavor. This one’s a keeper!
Ooh I subbed toasted sesame oil (couldn’t wait to try u til I found the roasted peanut oil!) but didn’t think to add peanut butter; adding some to the dressing I still have!
Other than that, absolutely delicious, wonderful crunch! Best salad I exeved made!
Wow what a recipe. I would like to try it one day for sure. Will keep looking for such recipes everyday.https://beautycare.co.in/
Sounds good! What kind of peanuts do you recommend? Roasted or non? Salted or non?
I couldn’t find any roasted peanut oil locally, but I did find some roasted walnut oil that I may try.
I was wondering the same!
I used roasted unsalted peanuts, and I’d definitely recommend using those. It doesn’t need any extra salt
Yum
This was AMAZING. I’m not a kale girl but I can definitely tolerate it in a chopped salad like this. Couldn’t find peanut oil in my store so I did the peanut sauce recipe instead and it was perfecto. My husband and I ate it over the bowl we made it in, over the counter because we couldn’t stop to plate it lol
I can’t seem to find Fresno peppers anywhere. Is there another name for them? Or a substitute ingredient you’d recommend?
Oops… really didn’t intend for my last name to show up there! Any chance you could delete that for me? Thx!
Done! 😊
I couldn’t find the Fresnos either, so I used the mini sweet peppers and we added a little chili garlic oil (chili crunch). It was so good!!
Whole Foods currently has Fresno peppers and roasted peanut oil. Making this now. I’m sure I will love it!
I forgot to grab roasted peanut oil before making this so I did 50/50 extra virgin olive oil and sesame oil and it was really good!
Oops! Didn’t realize my comment would be nested under this completely unrelated one!
Awesome, thanks for sharing Ali!
Loved the flavor of this and the chopped element! My market didnt have a couple things so I had to sub the roasted peanut oil with sesame oil, and the fresno peppers with Jalapeños. SO good!
Delicious!!
This was amazing! Although the Fresno peppers I used had incredibly spicy seeds and I’m literally soaking my hand in milk right now because it’s on fire hours later after trying six other methods to stop the burning. A reminder for safe pepper handling!!
Mix 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon water, and 1 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide (the magic ingredient) and apply to affected skin. Can also be used as a mouthwash… swish for 30 seconds and DO NOT swallow.
I have never seen roasted peanut oil. Would using roasted sesame oil be similar? Or like a half/half with olive oile and sesame oil?
Hi, Sarah! We’d really recommend roasted peanut oil (something like this – affiliate link) if you can find it – other oils won’t have the same nutty taste.
You can eat this salad by itself, and I do that often, especially for lunch.
I served this last night with a dinner with friends and it was a hit with everyone! I love the heat from the fresno peppers and the mild peanut dressing. It was also so easy to chop kale and cabbage in the food processor – I’ve never done that before and will not go back!
What size food processor do you use? Also, what brand? I love the idea of chopping it this way.
Hi, Lynn! We use a 7-cup food processor and you can find the link here.
Oh my gosh I’m eating this now with my husband and we keep making the annoying “mmmm” sounds, it’s sooooo good!!! i’m lazy so i got pre chopped kale and cabbage and just cut it up further with scissors. thank you for this one!!! it’s perfect!
LOVED this recipe. It worked super well for meal prep, as everything but the peanuts hang out nicely in the fridge for DAYS without getting slimy (hello, spinach/lettuce mixes). I added tofu or chicken strips for protein sometimes, and enjoyed without anything other than extra peanuts other days. I wasn’t able to find the roasted peanut oil, so used the peanut sauce/dressing from another one of your posts. Will absolutely make again, probably later this week with the 2nd half of cabbage in my fridge. Not even close to sick of it after a full week. So good.
This was deeeelicious! We added chicken and (since our whole foods had no fresno peppers or peanuts) we made our own spicy cashews and used those. Amazing salad for a dinner meal and perfect for a light afternoon lunch.
Made this last night and the dressing itself is def going into my regular rotation. I didn’t have roasted peanut oil, just regular old peanut oil, so I added 2 heaping tablespoons of PB2 powder I had in the pantry. I’m going to make this again next week and add some cold noodles to add some heft and I already can’t wait!