This Kale Farro Salad with Almonds and Pomegranate is one of my all-time favorite vegan salads. Think of this like a wintery Kale Tabbouleh Salad. It’s loaded up with chopped kale, parsley and farro. Pomegranate seeds replace out-of-season tomatoes here and toasted almonds give this a nice crunch! The best part? It can be made ahead! Great for mid-week lunches.
Leap into the boundless and make it your home. ~Yang Zho
This Kale and Farro Salad (aka Kale Tabbouleh Salad) is bright, cheery and festive, perfect for make-ahead lunches. It’s vegan, healthy and full of delicious flavor. It’s made with chopped kale, parsley, farro, pomegranate seeds and toasted almonds all tossed in a light lemony dressing.
The color of the salad alone will bring a smile to your face.
Watch How to cut a Pomegranate | 2 min video!
What I love about this Kale and Farro Salad is how easy it is to throw together, especially if you cook the farro ahead of time!
It starts with chopping the Lacinato Kale. Lacinato is an heirloom variety of kale, dark in color and a little less bitter than curly kale. It is sometimes called Tuscan kale, black kale or cavolo nero.
Then you’ll massage it until it is tender.
Add the remaining ingredients and just toss.
These days, kale is available year-round but its true season is in mid-winter through the beginning of spring when it’s at its peak and tastes best. This is because a light frost is key in sweetening its flavor.
For faster assembly, feel free to buy pre-seeded pomegranate seeds, but if unavailable you can always purchase a whole pomegranate. And just a heads up, a reader recently shared that you can also purchase frozen pomegrante seeds! Also a good option.
The EASIEST WAY to cut a pomegranate: (see video above)
- Score it around the middle, 1/2 inch deep
- Pry the pomegranate apart into two halves
- Gently stretch the sides open.
- Place the open side of the pomegranate in the palm of your hand, over a tall sided bowl.
- Began whacking it firmly with the back end of a wooden spoon, so the seeds fall into your palm and into the bowl.
- Squeeze the pomegranate gently like you would an orange. Whack again.
- Repeat with the other side.
Stir in the dressing ingredients and you are good to go.
This salad will last a good 3-4 days in the fridge!
And there you have it- Kale and Farro Salad (aka Kale Tabouli!) with Pomegranates and Almonds in a simple lemony dressing.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Kale and Farro Salad with Almonds & Pomegranate
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6-8
- Category: salad, vegan salad
- Method: tossed
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Description
This Kale and Farro Salad is one of my all-time favorite vegan salads. Think of it like a Winter Tabouli Salad. It’s loaded up with chopped kale and parsley and instead of bulgar, hearty farro is added to the mix. Pomegranate seeds replace out-of-season tomatoes here and toasted almonds give this a nice crunch! The best part? It can be made ahead!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked farro (or sub wheat berries, bulgar wheat, quinoa, or other grain)
- 1 bunch lacinato kale ( 8-10 ounces) finely chopped, about 4–5 cups.
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped ( tender stems, OK) about 1-2 cups
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds (or purchase frozen)
- 1/2 cup – 1 cup toasted almonds, chopped, slivered, or sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Optional Garnish: Avocado slices for extra richness
Instructions
- Start farro to cook on the stove ( 1/2 cup dry). Place in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, simmer gently until tender, 30-40 minutes. Drain.
- Chop kale finely and place in a large bowl. Add oil, salt, garlic and lemon zest. Massage the kale with clean hands until kale becomes tenderized, 4-5 minutes.
- Add parsley, onion, pomegranate, almonds and farro. Toss to combine and add lemon juice and allspice and cinnamon.
- Mix and taste, adding more salt, allspice and lemon to your taste. If making ahead, make sure to re-taste right before serving- the farro will soak up much of the salt and lemon, so usually I’ll add more.
- For extra richness, right before serving, add slices of avocado if you like.
Notes
Updated recipe on 12/ 2019. The original recipe used 2 cups of cooked farro.
This will keep 2-3 days in the fridge.
Sometimes I’ll add other herbs to this as well – cilantro and/or mint. Tasty!
Keywords: farro kale salad, kale Farro Salad, kale tabouleh, winter tabbouleh, kale tabbouleh, kale salad with pomegranate, farro kale salad, holiday salad,
Made this. Forgot the parsley, but still LOVED it!! Perfect lunch and saves so well in fridge. Will be making again
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this Caroline! Thanks!
I really loved this recipe. I eat Kale everyday and this was a new way to dress it up for me. I told my husband it would be “good for his colon” which is our code for “healthy and contains lots of fiber”. We added just a touch of feta. Next time to soften the texture we might make it with quinoa or his suggestion was Israeli cous cous…not as healthy of a grain but sounds like an interesting edit. Thanks again Sylvia for a great dish!
★★★★★
Thanks Kara- glad you liked this. Quinoa would be great here!
I love this recipe and massaged kale is a new favorite. Because fresh pomegranates are not in season, I first made this with Trader Joe’s pomegranate seeds but they had fermented too much and almost tasted moldy. Then I found frozen pomegranate seeds at my local grocer and those worked much better.
★★★★★
Hi Jane! Thanks for sharing- I love that you found frozen pomegranate seeds- I will note the recipe. I had no idea they existed so great to know!
This salad is fantastic! We are detoxing and my husband said if this is what it tastes like to detox we will stay like that forever! He gave it 5 stars too
★★★★★
Yay!! Glad you enjoyed it!