Kale Salad Recipe with Bacon, Walnuts, and Avocado

I just love this kale salad recipe with bacon, walnuts and avocado. Well, I love kale salad in general.

Especially if the kale is massaged. When you use a little olive oil to get off the white, bitter, filmy stuff, it makes the kale so much more pleasant to eat. It makes the kale taste like strong lettuce with a little bite.

Then you can add some different things to give it some flavor. Then…BAM! You got yourself an amazing salad.

Now, when I try to think of things that are good for flavor for a kale salad, I like to meet a few certain criteria. When I meet these criteria, it almost always works perfectly.

Would you like to know my criteria? Of course you would. Well, here they are.

Criteria for an amazing kale salad –

1. Something a tad salty and substantial.
2. Something with a crunch.
3. Something a tad sweet.
4. Something smooth.

And here is how I met the criteria in this kale salad.

1. Bacon. Cheese usually works well, but in this instance, it is the bacon. And I chose bacon because…it’s BACON. (Plus, it makes the salad dairy free.)
2. Walnuts. I usually like a nut or a seed for the crunch. So, walnuts it is.
3. Pomegranate seeds. I just love, love, love pomegranates. I have since I was little. Those seeds are so cute and red. When you eat them they squirt a little sweet goodness in your mouth. I don’t know if I am happy or sad that I have passed my love of pomegranates on to my two boys. I never get any anymore. Seriously?!
4. Avocados. If I am using cheese for #1, then it also satisfies this criteria. But if not, I need to fill the void. In this case, avocado worked great. It also goes so nicely with bacon. And it keeps in the dairy free zone. Yay!

And, of course, there is all of the health benefits you get from eating kale. Fiber, vitamins, etc.

I don’t know about your area, because we are pretty lucky here, but kale is coming back to our farmers’ market. It’s just so big and fluffy looking. Can’t resist it.

And this kale salad recipe with bacon, walnuts and avocado is a perfect way to eat it. Yum!

Other Kale Salad Recipes

• Kale Salad with Figs, Prosciutto and Walnuts
• Kale Salad with Strawberries, Pecans and Goat Cheese

Other Kale Recipes

• Summer Green Smoothie
• Tropical Green Smoothie
• Green Smoothie for Health

Linking this to Gluten Free Fridays over at Vegetarian Mama.

Linking this to Gluten-Free Wednesdays (GFW), the weekly blog carnival that Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker, Cassidy of Cassidy’s Craveable Creations and Lynn of Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures host.

Linking this post to Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays at Poor and Gluten Free.

Kale Salad Recipe with Bacon, Walnuts, and Avocado (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

• Author: Tia
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 20 mins
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

• 1 bunch Kale (curly)
• ¼ cup Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• 1 cup Bacon (cooked and chopped)
• 1 cup Walnuts (broken into pieces)
• 1 Avocado (chopped)
• 1 Pomegranate (deseeded)

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Instructions

1. Wash and dry the kale.
2. Tear kale into bite size pieces, removing the stems completely. Place in large bowl.
3. Sprinkle olive oil over the top.
4. Juice the lemon and sprinkle over the top.
5. Massage the oil and juice into the kale. (The goal is to not have any of the white cloudy film left on the kale. You want every piece nice and shiny. Just like the picture above.)
6. Grind a bit of salt and pepper on top. Mix up the kale.
7. Sprinkle the bacon, walnuts, avocado and pomegranate seeds on top.
8. Add your salad tongs and serve.

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