Kale Brussels Sprout Salad with Pears
on Dec 02, 2021, Updated Dec 17, 2023
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With pears, nuts and crumbled blue cheese, this kale brussels sprout salad is perfect for fall and winter meals. The greens are crunchy and intense in a good way, so I like pairing them with the taste of sweet fruit and strong cheese. It’s dressed in sherry vinaigrette.
For a similar recipe, try this shaved brussels sprout salad.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Salad
- How To Cut Brussels Sprouts
- Ingredients & Substitutions
- How To Make This Kale Brussels Sprout Salad
- Serving The Salad
- Make-Ahead Tips
- Storage & Leftovers
- Recipe Tips
- Recipe FAQs
- More Brussels Sprout Salad Recipes
- More Kale Salad Recipes
- Kale and Brussels Sprout Salad with Pears Recipe
Why You’ll Love This Salad
It’s for the year round salad enthusiast. Just because we are in the colder months, it doesn’t mean we should avoid salads. In fact we should embrace them. All it takes is a shift in greens and feature ingredients to make a salad seem winter weather worthy.
These are hearty greens that can stand up to anything. That includes chunks of fruit, chopped nuts and good vinaigrette. The risk of soggy greens is far lower than with delicate arugula, spring greens or baby spinach.
Even though it’s technically not a chopped salad, it will satisfy that craving. This salad is all about texture. There are plenty of crunchy and crisp moments with raw sprouts and kale mixture.
How To Cut Brussels Sprouts
To prep your sprouts for a salad, you will need to trim off the stem end and discard any wilted outer leaves. Beyond that you do not need any special tools.
Then thinly slice the sprouts lengthwise. I find it’s best to use a paring knife for this. They don’t turn out as thin as they would when you shred brussels sprouts with a grating disc in a food processor. This is what I do for my brussels sprout Caesar salad, but I actually like the bite of hand-sliced raw brussels sprouts.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This is what you need for the salad:
- Brussels sprouts: Look for brussels sprouts with tightly packed leaves. They should be green and not have any yellow spots.
- Kale: Also known as dino kale, lacinato kale leaves are a dark, almost bluish green. First pull out the thick rib down the center. Then chop the leaves. You can also use curly kale.
- Pears: Bartlett pears are fragrant, juicy and sweet. Their texture is soft and buttery. I love the red color with all the greens in the salad. If you prefer apples, they would be a great swap. You can also add 1/4 cup dried cranberries or pomegranate seeds if you like something else sweet.
- Scallions: For something light and oniony, I include a couple sliced green onions. Thinly sliced red onions are an option for a substitute.
- Almonds: Chopped almonds give the salad nutty flavors. You can substitute with walnuts, pecans or even sunflower seeds. You are entitled to bonus points for toasting the nuts, which you can do in a 350-degree F oven on a baking sheet for 5 minutes.
- Blue cheese: When you have pears in a salad it’s pretty much impossible not to throw in crumbled blue cheese because fruit and those pungent, salty flavors are perfect together. But I know not everyone is a fan, so you can use goat cheese or feta instead or even grated Parmesan cheese.
- Parsley: Fresh herbs are one of my favorite final touches to salads. That includes chopped parsley.
- Sherry vinaigrette: The dressing for the salad is a combination of minced garlic, sherry vinegar, whole grain mustard, salt, black pepper, and of course, olive oil. You can substitute with balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar depending how much impact you want the dressing to have.
How To Make This Kale Brussels Sprout Salad
1. Make the vinaigrette. Whisk together the garlic, mustard, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and oil in a small bowl.
2. Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl. That includes the kale, brussels sprouts, scallions, pears, almonds, blue cheese and parsley. Toss the salad with the vinaigrette.
Serving The Salad
This is one of those big salads that definitely could be considered a lunch or dinner salad. It eats like a meal on its own.
But because it has brussels sprouts as a base, you can think of it as a side dish and a salad in one. These kinds of two-for-one dishes really come in handy for holiday meals such as Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Make-Ahead Tips
The salad is best made right before you are planning to serve it. So that means you should wait to slice the brussels sprouts, chop the kale and dice the pears.
But what you can do ahead of time is make the vinaigrette. Store it in the refrigerator up to 3 days in advance. You may find that the oil turns solid at the colder temperature in the fridge. Just run the jar with the dressing under warm water and shake it around for the oil to turn to liquid again.
Storage & Leftovers
Store leftover salad in an airtight container up to 3 days. If you know you are going to save some of the salad, do not stir that portion with the vinaigrette. Also, the salad will lose some of its crispness the longer it is stored.
Recipe Tips
Wait to slice the brussels sprouts until you are about to eat them. If you shred them in advance, they won’t be as crunchy. Also, they can develop a sulfur-like smell.
Don’t dice the pears in advance, or they will brown.
You can make the vinaigrette 3 days in advance. If the olive oil becomes solid from the cold temperature of the fridge, let container sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then stir it.
Recipe FAQs
No, I just pour the dressing into the salad bowl and toss all the ingredients around, so they are all dressed evenly.
Yes. Diced crisp apples such as Honeycrisp or Pink Lady would be great in the salad.
More Brussels Sprout Salad Recipes
Brussels Sprout Apple Salad
Roasted Potato Brussels Sprout Salad
Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad
More Kale Salad Recipes
Kale Apple Salad
Kale Quinoa Salad
Sweet Potato Kale Salad
Roasted Fingerling Potato Kale Salad
Kale Mandarin Orange Salad
Roasted Cauliflower Salad
Beet Orange Kale Salad
Find more salad ideas in my seasonal salad roundup featuring leafy green salads, bean salads and pasta salads.
Did you make this kale and brussels sprout salad? Please leave a rating and comment below. Thanks!
Kale and Brussels Sprout Salad with Pears
Ingredients
For vinaigrette
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
- 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
For salad
- 1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 2 cups chopped lacinato kale, rubs removed
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 2 red pears, cored and diced
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped almonds
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, mustard, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl, combine the brussels sprouts, kale, scallions, pears, almonds, blue cheese and parsley.
- Drizzle the vinaigrette into the salad, tossing to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally published December 2, 2021. Updated: December 19, 2022.
This looks great! Will be trying this soon. Need new recipes just to help with diet and diabetes.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!
This looks delicious.
Thank you!
That looks delicious!