A great fall salad using apple, and pairing it with delicious, fiber-rich, antioxidant powerhouse, and nutrient-dense kale.
Kale is a great hearty and nutrient dense dark leafy green to incorporate into your diet. It’s the best choice for greens to use in this Fuji Apple Kale Salad with Maple Spiced Hazelnuts with the beautiful balance of sweetness and zest.
Try to challenge yourself to increase the amounts of raw plant-based foods you have in your diet — like good ole’ salad! This kale salad recipe is a perfect way to do this because it tastes delicious and embraces the seasonal foods of fall. Fuji Apple Kale Salad with Maple Spiced Hazelnuts is great for making a large batch on your batch cooking days as it keeps well throughout the week.
It’s perfect for a quick lunch by simply taking several handfuls and putting in your Tupperware (BPA free) to-go, it’s also great for a quick dinner side dish or turn this into an entree by adding your favorite vegetarian proteins to it such as chickpeas, tempeh, organic tofu, lentils, nuts, seed, or animal proteins if that’s yo thing (just make sure they meet the Nutrition Stripped philosophy!). This salad can also be served chilled, room temperature, or even slightly warm which I’ll share below.
Fuji apples are my all time favorite type of apple, although I do enjoy other varieties, Fuji apples taste like fall in my opinion! They’re the epitome of a seasonally fresh apple with it’s deep, crisp, bold, and sweet flavor.
Of course, if you don’t have access to Fuji apples a couple others, use your favorite apple — I would suggest Honeycrisp or Cortland. Walnuts are another delicious and nutrient-packed component to this recipe. Hazelnuts are a beautiful crunchy addition to this sweet salad. Since hazelnuts have an earthy, mild, nutty, and slightly sweet taste, they pair beautifully when toasted to perfect with added spices.