This quinoa kale salad with cranberries and pecans is a light, healthy salad that comes together quickly and is easy to make. A great choice for lunch or a healthy side with dinner.

I’ve been eating this quinoa and kale salad on repeat lately. It’s a healthy lunch salad that’s filling and tasty. You can make a big batch and store in the fridge to have a healthy side salad ready to add to whatever you are serving for dinner.

The secret ingredient in this recipe is baby kale. I find regular kale to be tough and chewy. Then I found baby kale at the supermarket and it completely changed my mind about kale. It’s more tender than regular kale and easier to eat. Baby kale is ready to eat with minimal prep – just add it to the salad bowl.

Key ingredients for making this salad

Baby Kale – Baby kale is the star here. You can find it in the bagged salad area of the supermarket.
Quinoa – I used white quinoa because I like the taste better than red quinoa but any quinoa is fine.
Pecans – I used pecans but you can use any nut that you like – both walnuts or sliced almonds would be good substitutions.
Feta Cheese – salty feta is my favorite but blue cheese or goat cheese would be good substitutions.
Dried Cranberries – if you don’t have dried cranberries you can sub in diced apple as a good alternative.
A Simple Homemade Dressing – whisk together olive oil, white wine vinegar, a little Dijon mustard , finely minced garlic and some freshly ground black pepper to make a tasty simple dressing.

Kale is a nutritional powerhouse – it’s a cruciferous vegetable (member of the Brassica family) – and it’s packed with fiber and vitamins A, C and K. I look forward to adding baby kale to different salads in the future.

Baby kale versus regular kale. Baby kale is the winner in this salad. It’s tender and ready to eat. It doesn’t need to be finely chopped or massaged with dressing to soften. If you’re using a bunch of regular kale – either curly kale, tuscan kale or dinosaur kale – you will need to thinly cut up the kale leaves and massage in part of dressing and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.

How to make this recipe

Cook quinoa as per the package instructions.
While the quinoa is cooking, whisk together the salad dressing and toss half of it over the kale in a large bowl. Stir to combine so all the kale is coated with the dressing. No need to massage the kale if you are using baby kale.
Prep the rest of your ingredients – mince the red onion, dice the feta cheese and measure out the pecans and have them ready to go.
When the quinoa is ready, turn it out onto a baking sheet to let it cool slightly before adding to the kale.
When quinoa has cooled slightly, add the quinoa, onion, dried cranberries, feta and nuts to the kale in a large bowl.
Pour the remaining dressing over the salad ingredients and toss before serving.

I love how simple and fresh this quinoa and kale salad is. It’s perfect as a light main dish for lunch or dinner and it works really well as a side dish with some soup or a sandwich.

Recipe questions, notes and tips

Which type of kale is best for this salad? This salad is all about baby kale. It’s tender and ready to eat without a lot of prep. No need to soften the kale using the massage technique that regular kale needs.

What can I add to this salad? If you want to make this salad a little more substantial then apples or pears would make a great addition.

What to add some protein – try adding in some chickpeas or firm diced tofu.

Don’t like feta – then blue cheese or goat cheese would be a good substitution.

If you don’t have pecans, then walnuts would be a good choice for this quinoa and kale salad.

How long will this salad last in the refrigerator? This kale salad will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days – so it a great choice for a work lunch that you can make ahead.

Make sure to rinse your quinoa before cooking – dry quinoa needs to be rinsed before adding it to the pot to cook.

What kind of nuts can I use? I used plain pecans. I didn’t toast them but you can if you want. You could also use candied pecans if you have a sweet tooth.

Should I use warm or cold cooked quinoa? Either works well. I usually cook the quinoa and then spread the quinoa on to a baking sheet to cool slightly – this will keep it from being mushy.

Can I make the vegan? Omit the feta if you want a vegan version of this salad.

Looking for more quinoa recipes then try one of these:

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Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear what you think. Please come back and leave a comment and rating below in the comment section.