A delicious plant-based salad with crunchy kale, sweet pomegranate arils, nutty-chewy wild rice, and toasted pecans. All topped with an easy cashew-based (for creaminess) pomegranate dressing. This delicious kale salad with pomegranate, wild rice, and toasted pecans makes for a mellow lunch or dinner-side the whole family will love.
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Kale, Pomegranate, and Wild Rice Salad with Creamy Vegan Dressing
I am all about a meal salad with a few carbs going on. This delicious salad is no exception, with a little wild rice in the mix. My favorite bites of this kale salad included the toasted pecans…so good. The dressing is pretty mellow but a little tangy made with creamy with cashews and vegan yogurt; the sweetness courtesy of pomegranate juice and maple syrup, and of course a little apple cider vinegar is thrown in.
We ate this salad as a really filling lunch. Adding that wild rice is so good and ultimately takes this salad way up there to meal status. I posted a recipe yesterday for the Easiest Instant Pot Wild Rice. If you have an Instant Pot, this is the way to go for getting the wild rice ready. Hands off, eyes off, wild rice in about 30 minutes start to finish (3 active minutes). Definitely do that.
Don’t be intimidated by fresh pomegranates either. They are super easy to work with. Simply score horizontally and gently (the skin isn’t thick like an orange) break it open and then scrape out the seeds with a spoon…or your hands if your a cooking savage.
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR THIS PLANT-BASED KALE SALAD
- Fresh Kale: I grabbed a kale/baby spinach blend that was pre-washed to make things even easier. Make sure you remove any thick stems.
- Prepared Wild Rice: Use my Easiest Instant Pot Wild Rice recipe.
- Pomegranate Seeds: From 1/2 of a fresh pomegranate.
- Pecans: Unless you hate pecans, don’t skip these, they are so good in this salad. Maybe my favorite part of the salad.
- Vegan Yogurt: Responsible for creaminess and tang of the dressing. Kite Hill is my favorite brand.
- Pomegranate Juice + Maple Syrup: For the dressing. You might get enough juice from the fresh pomegranate. If not, it is widely available to purchase at the store.
- Cashews: Thickens the dressing and adds nutty goodness.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Tang tang, tang it up now.
- Salt: Flavor booster.
HOW TO MAKE THIS VEGAN-FRIENDLY KALE SALAD
- Cook the rice: To make wild rice easier, use my recipe for Instant Pot Wild Rice.
- Soak: Soak the cashews for 30 minutes while the wild rice is cooking.
- Toast Pecans: Preheat the oven to 350°F, spread out pecans in a single layer, and bake for 5 minutes.
- Combine: Combine kale, wild rice, pomegranate seeds, and pecans.
- Blend: Blend together (I like using a Magic Bullet) Cashews, pomegranate juice, vinegar, salt, maple syrup, and vegan yogurt.
KALE, POMEGRANATE, AND WILD RICE SALAD GOES GREAT WITH:
- Instant Pot Panera 10 Vegetable Soup
- Instant Pot Panera Creamy Tomato Soup (vegans sub coconut milk or oat milk)
- Tomato-Based Vegetable Soup with Garbanzo Beans
- Authentic Italian Focaccia Bread
Hey- you’ve made it this far, and now we’re BFFs. If you make this plant-based kale salad recipe, I would love for you to give it a star rating below (scroll down to the comments). P.S. What makes me happiest is hearing from you! Make sure you follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook too!
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Kale Pomegranate And Wild Rice Salad
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3 salads
Description
A delicious plant-based salad with crunchy kale, sweet pomegranate arils, nutty-chewy wild rice, and toasted pecans. All topped with an easy cashew-based (for creaminess) pomegranate dressing. This delicious kale, pomegranate, and wild rice salad makes for a mellow lunch or dinner-side the whole family will love.
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD:
6 cups of fresh kale, stems removed
3 cups of wild rice, prepared (see Instant Pot Wild Rice)
Seeds of 1/2 pomegranate
1 cup whole pecans
FOR THE DRESSING:
1/3 cup Vegan Yogurt (I like Kite Hill)
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp pomegranate juice
1/2 raw cashews
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
3/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cook the rice: To make wild rice easier, use my recipe for Instant Pot Wild Rice.
- Soak: Soak the cashews in boiling hot water for 30 minutes while the wild rice is cooking.
- Toast Pecans: Preheat the oven to 350°F, spread out pecans in a single layer, and bake for 5 minutes.
- Combine: Combine kale, wild rice, pomegranate seeds, and pecans.
- Blend: Blend together (I like using a Magic Bullet) Cashews, pomegranate juice, vinegar, salt, maple syrup, and vegan yogurt.
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: North American
Keywords: wild rice salad recipe, kale salad, wild rice salad, pomegranate salad, pomegranate salad dressing, pomegranate recipe, plant based recipes, vegan, vegan recipes
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