Garlicky Kale Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

My partner made this last night at my request and we loved the roasted chickpeas but both felt the salad dressing was cloying. The tahini overpowered all the other flavours, even after he tried adjusting the flavor with lemon juice and maple syrup. I feel like it has great potential if we can find a more balanced dressing.

Love!

Loved this recipe!!! I made this for lunch with sliced chicken breast on top (I marinated it in olive oil, lemon, and zaatar). It was wonderful. I had to keep my chickpeas in the oven for a bit longer to get them super crispy. Can’t wait to make again!

This recipe is soooo delicious!!
Thanks for including alternative spices if we didn’t have the exact one (which I didn’t).

I actually added about a cup of nutritional yeast to the sauce mixture along with more water to thin it, and man it was so good! Added a buttery flavor.

This is one of my new favorites for sure!!

Made this tonight to go with a steak for a change. Added a bit of red onion, tomato and feta but absolutely loved it. Definitely the best kale recipe I’ve tried yet :)

Ok. My husband ate it and said he liked it, I’m so so on it. I followed the dressing recipe to a T and it seemed like waaaay too much tahini was involved in this and for my taste, the sweetness just stuck out in a really odd way. I doubled the lemon, kept adding water, added all the oil from the garlic, and it was still a big oversweet glob that would not incorporate well. I’m not sure if I overcooked the chickpeas, but I did not enjoy the texture after roasting, kind of dry and stringy. Wondering if I should try slow cooking in my cast iron frying pan. Also just greens would make this extremely one note, I added red onion and cucumber and still felt it was out of balance, seemed like it needed sliced apple or chopped tomato or something ( beets?). Could have been the huge amount of tahini. I appreciate the ideas behind it, and may try tweaking it to suit my tastes better. Something smoky tasting would have been good, but I wasn’t getting that from the chickpeas like someone else mentioned.

Winner in my household! Made almost exactly as suggested. Just added sea salt and a little more lemon juice to the kale. Also added a few more tablespoons of maple syrup to the dressing. Chickpeas were perfect. Had to stop myself from eating the roasted garlic as I pressed it out of the skins! Great recipe. Thanks! Definitely adding to the food rotation!

Terrible recipe, from the tahini dressing to the chickpeas

We make this regularly over the years. Only change is i use less garlic as I’m sensitive to it.
Even my 8 year old eats it (mind you a picky eater would starve in our household).
Live this & many recipes on this blog and we arent vegan or vegetarians but eat that way half of the time.

this was so dang yummy! thanks :-)

This recipe made a superb dinner tonight! I made the DIY masala blend and it complemented the chickpeas well, I used 3 TBSP and it was probably a little too much. I added some tomatoes and Persian cucumbers to the kale to give it some additional textures. Will definitely be adding this to my list of favorite MB recipes!

This is probably my favorite recipe. Like ever. Seriously. I have this once a week. Lol I’ll even have the leftovers for breakfast, but usually there aren’t leftovers. I love garlic so sometimes I add extra. I prefer the dressing without honey or maple syrup, but my boyfriend likes it with.

I just made this and it is delicious! The dressing is so good. I used 1 tablespoon maple syrup rather than honey. It’s my new favorite tahini dressing. I try not to use the oven during the summer, but this recipe was well worth it. Perfect salad with lots of great flavor!

I just made the dressing, and sautéed the kale instead of rubbed because I like kale a little softer. Super delicious dressing, 10/10 would make again 😊

Best. Kale. Salad. Ever. I’ve been making this for at least 2 years now and it’s still my favorite salad. I can have the whole bowl to myself and be a happy camper. But I usually share and my fiance, who hates salad typically, things it’s also really good. Sometimes I make the salad per the recipe, sometimes I’ll leave out the garlic and the chickpeas if it’s summer time and I can’t be bothered to turn the oven on, and other times I’ll half it and make a quick salad for myself. It never disappoints! Thank you!

I’ve made this salad twice now. Second time around I kept the garlic whole and sliced the top off and cooked it that way, much easier to work with. I found that baby kale was also a great swap. ☺️

I made this dish last night but it was extremely bitter. I massaged the kale for some good 5 min beforehand with lemon juice and oil. The bitterness overpowered even the Tahini dressing which is usually giving some nice flavour to it. Unfortunately, this will not be a keeper recipe (many others from your website are though :-)).

I ended up having to cook my chickpeas longer than the recommended time, and they weren’t as crispy as I kind of wanted. My room mate has an air fryer, and the second time I made them I used it, and that did make them super crispy. That being said, I like that this recipe uses an oven since not everyone has an air fryer. Its super yummy either way, the texture is just a little more crunchy from an air fryer.

This was finger licking good. I didn’t have tahini so used natural peanut butter instead, and skipped the olive oil in the dressing.

One of my favorite “go-to’s” when it comes to a hearty and SO delicious kale dressing! I like to add roasted sweet potatoes on the side and use the extra dip for the veggies and some crusty bread ? thank you for sharing this!

THIS WAS SO GOOD! I love the dressing – I didn’t add any water and it was perfect. The roasted garlic is delightful.

I’ve also been making this salad for years- I love it so much. I often go to the Chickpea Shawarma Sandwich recipe and use that blend for the chickpeas, or sometimes I use the Thai Baked Sweet Potato chickpea recipe. Anyway, we’re huge fans of your recipes Dana- you are so talented. Thank you for everything!
PS, I made the Muesli Bread recipe today and we’re having that with the salad tonight. Turned out great! Thanks!!
https://minimalistbaker.com/7-ingredient-muesli-bread/

I just want to say that I have been making this salad for years, YEARS! I love it. It is such the perfect after-holidays-feel-so-gross–antidote salad. Today I made two really delightful additions I thought you might like as well: I halved and roasted brussel sprouts seasoned with the leftover tandoori spice and olive oil that was in the bowl, and then added a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds before devouring. So good! Thanks for this recipe!

Made this for my husband and me for lunch today and it was excellent! My husband practically licked his plate. I followed the recipe to a T including making the spice mix except I only used a half a head of roasted garlic in the dressing. I was worried it would be too garlicky. MISTAKE! I barely tasted the garlic with half a head. Next time (and there will definitely be a next time), I will use the whole head. I also added a grilled chicken breast for more substance.

I literally make this salad ALL THE TIME. I eat it for lunch, dinner, for Thanksgiving and Christmas and even my DH eats it, too! I do use real Parmesan and always roast two cans of chickpeas, while I’m at it, so we have leftovers to snack on…I use 1 TBSP of the maple syrup and 6 to 8 cloves raw garlic in the dressing. I make the dressing in the minichop. I used to use Ken’s Steakhouse lite creamy Caesar dressing on my kale and I don’t think I could ever go back!!! Thx for this Recipe!!!

Oh my, this is delicious! My husband I and I devoured it.

I love a diversity of textures in salads and felt this one needed something a little extra – so I roasted some sweet potato cubes and added them in with some green beans. It was heavenly and SO filling. If you’re looking to make this receipe a bit more hearty I recommend trying this out! This lunch salad gets me all the way to dinner with no cravings.

Very delicious. I definitely had to make more dressing for the amount of kale I used, and I used two cans of chickpeas.

Nice balance of flavors – not too sweet or tart or astringent from garlic. A great dinner salad, especially the Monday before Thanksgiving!!

Wow, this was SOOO good and so SUPER easy! Thank you for another dinner winner! I found I was short on ingredients (only had 1/3 head of garlic in the cupboard) so I left the garlic raw. I also only had one lemon so I didn’t know how it would turn out, but I kept on truckin’… I didn’t measure anything (too lazy today) and I just threw the ingredients in the mini chop and turned it on for a few minutes, which is how I always make dressing…. For the chick peas, I eyeballed the seasonings and sprinkled them directly on my nonstick sheet pan. I was super thrilled with the results on all!!! I will definitely make this again and try it on the family next time.

‘‘This was really good. Will make again. Thanks!

Amazing salad!

I just made this for lunch — it was delicious! I did not have a can of chickpeas like I thought I did so I cooked some lentils (soak+boiled) and toasted them with the oil and spices in a skillet after cooking off the excess water. I did the garlic cloves in my toaster oven wrapped in foil for 25 min at 350, then uncovered for another 7 minutes to lightly brown (since I didn’t need the full sized oven due to the lentils being all done on stove-top); the cloves slow roasted nicely, very soft and with some golden brown bits on the cloves themselves. For the dressing, I was shy a lemon but decided to try for it anyways, and it was still delicious; I went a little heavy on the salt (to help oomph up the flavors, since they were a little lacking due to being shy 1 lemon), and added a couple shakes of granulated garlic to add more of that garlicky-spicy edge to the dressing. I think next time, if I’m shy a lemon (or out!), I will try subbing some rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar — I bet it would be quite passable. Overall a great dish, I’m confident that the recipe as written would be lovely (if only I had had some chickpeas and one more lemon!), and it turned out great even with my adjustments! I will be keeping this recipe close at hand throughout the winter this year! Thanks for posting it!

This is an amazing recipe. It’s everything it promises to be, especially flavourful and satisfying. I think this will become my potluck go-to, since potlucks are often not very plant-based/anti-inflammatory friendly. So it can be stressful figuring out what to bring that is inexpensive for sharing with people who don’t necessarily value healthy (and often more expensive) ingredients, and also provides me with a complete meal in case my contribution is the only thing I can eat. I made it for the first time last week for a potluck and it made that potluck so enjoyable for me. Plus other people seemed to like it, which is obviously important! I’m about to make it again to take to a Thanksgiving dinner that won’t have a lot of low-inflammatory options on the menu. Thank you for creating and sharing such a delicious recipe that has made potlucks fun again for me!

I love this salad! I never knew about massaging the kale to soften it, it makes all the difference. You can even eat the baked garbanzo beans as a snack, too. So filling and delicious! Thanks for the amazing recipes!

I ask this salad everyday .so good and easy! Thank-you!

Delicious like everything from Minimalist Baker. Perfect easy, light yet filling dinner after work that doubles as lunch tomorrow as well!

I’m new to vegan cooking and was searching for easy meal prep recipes. While I didn’t make the chickpeas (I don’t love Indian spices) I made the dressing and I can’t get enough of it! The final product made me feel like a fancy, rockstar chef! Even my kale-hating kids gobbled up the salad with this delicious dressing. It was even better when I packaged my salad for work the night before. After sitting on the kale all day it gave it more flavor, and the leaves weren’t soggy (+1 for kale!) I’ll be making this again for sure — and exploring your other recipes! Thank you!

I followed this recipe. I eye balled the amount of honey and used half of one extra large lemon, and it was just fine. I will definitely use this dressing and these chickpeas with other recipes. Thank you!

Another easy and delicious recipe. A bit on the sweet side. Next time I’ll only use a Tb of maple syrup.

So easy and delish! Love the garlic packed dressing.

Dana,
I never leave comments, but I must tell you that I ADORE your recipes. And I’ve tried a lot of them!

I have tried the BBQ beans, the chipotle tortilla soup (chipotle has become my new favorite ingredient), the whole roast cauliflower, the NY / garlic powder potato wedges, this amazing salad that I ate way to much of because I couldn’t stop eating it (maple syrup and Tahini.who would have thought!), The Thai peanut sauce with spring rolls (divine)… Everything was excellent and each recipe has become a regular, since they’re so easy and so,so good. thank-you so much Dana! You’ve made us eat so well!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Marinda

I love this recipe. Also, my husband who passionately hates kale loves this recipe. So it’s wonderful! All the same, I have changed a few things and find these mods very useful so I wanted to share.
The first time I made this, my garlic burned quite a bit and my chickpeas weren’t really crunchy. I now wrap my garlic in tinfoil and leave everything together in the oven for 30 mins (an extra 10 mins pretty much). Great success!
Love love love this and will keep making it!

I’ve made multiple recipes from this blog, and this is the first Minimalist Baker recipe that I did not enjoy.

I followed the recipe notes for the DIY Tandoori Masala blend for the chickpeas, and the roasted chickpeas were not very tasty (I do want to point out that I enjoy Indian dishes and flavors, but something was off with the spice blend). I also ended up tossing the dressing. All I could taste in it was the lemon juice and the sweetness from the maple syrup. The garlic flavor was not coming through at all.

I followed the recipe exactly, so I’m really not sure what went wrong. I hate to leave this review, but this was my experience with the dish.

This recipe came together really easily and is adaptable if you don’t have all the ingredients- thanks for posting! I’m going to make it again tonight and plan to add in some chopped brussel sprouts with the kale for more crunch. :)

Loved this recipe! I made my own spice blend following the instructions since I had all of those spices on hand individually and it worked great. Also, just used 1 really fat large clove of garlic instead of 2. This salad is delicious! I’m not the biggest fan of kale or chickpeas- I like them okay, but after this I’m sold. The dressing is the real star. It almost tastes like a Caesar dressing, which was such a pleasant surprise. Overall, super fresh, delicious, and filling! Highly recommend.

oh super :) i really love the dressing. this is my first time I ate raw kale and its delicious! : )) next comes kale chips hehe. thank you :)

We just made this dressing the other night. We subbed out tahini for cashew butter. It was simply amazing. We are hooked. Thank you for all the great recipes – so much flavour and so simple!!!

My all time favorite kale salad recipe!!!

Dana this was SO GOOD!!! Wow so much flavor! I roasted cauliflower and carrots along with the chickpeas. Delicious!

I LOVE this salad and make it every week. It’s so delicious. I ordered Tandoori Masala spice from Walmart, as I couldn’t find it in local stores. I also follow the instructions from your crispy baked chickpea recipe to make the chickpeas for the salad. This recipe is so customizable and the dressing is fantastic!

I adore this salad and make it every week with one additional step: I squeeze the juice of three (not two) lemons, and after the kale is clean, dried, and shredded or chopped, I pour a bit of lemon juice onto the kale and mix it well, letting it rest while I make the dressing. The lemon juice tenderizes the kale. Makes a difference.
Thank you for the recipe.

Interesting flavors! But watch out for the garlic. I got a little carried away and now I’ve got a little gas problem! ? guess I’m sleeping on the couch tonight!

This was so good! I used Trader Joes frozen minced garlic and just googled how to roast that! This was delicious!

Hello again, Dana! I must say this was a WOW! I’m with you on wanting to eat Kale because it is so good for you, but I haven’t been a great fan of it in salads. This dressing has changed my mind! I’m a BIG garlic fan so you had me at garlic. After trying it on the kale I was in more enamored with it. My husband loved it too! btw, i like the crispy chickpeas standalone better than the one here. the crunchier the better! Thank you for sharing all of these wonderful foods!

Passing this on to my co-workers and Dr. Love it!

Another Minimalist Baker recipe for the win!! This salad was bursting with flavor. I cut a few corners- used jar garlic instead of roasted (I know, I know, but I didn’t have any fresh garlic on hand!), bought a red tandoori spice mix at wegmans because I couldn’t find tandoori masala, and used a baby kale salad blend I bought at the store. It was so simple and quick to make, and is definitely becoming a staple! My fiancé won’t eat anything without meat, so I’ll bake some shrimp to put on his. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!

If you have an air fryer you can roast the garlic and chickpeas as well. Wrap the garlic in foil and air fry for 10 to 20 minutes 400 degrees. For the peas, coat with spices and toss into the basket. Shake the basket every 7 minutes til crispy.

So good! I’ve made this 4 times now and it’s my new favorite. The only change I make is in roasting the chickpeas. I roast for 35-40 min. 375 degrees with no oil (“dry roast”). Then I add a little oil and the spice at the end. Super crisp!

This was so so good! I seriously could just drink the dressing! I made it exactly as written, using the note on subbing the spices. Yum!

This was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G , and I am a KALE HATER! Thank you for this quick and delicious recipe! You converted this Kale hater !

This was a big hit last night at a dinner (also made / brought your lemon bars!) but I had to double the time roasting the chickpeas – even though they seemed “throughly dried”. but yeah. excellent!

I made this, it turned out GREAT!!!! Followed the recipe to the T, only did one T maple syrup, extra salt & pepper, it is delicious

I have been making this salad at least once a week for YEARS at this point and it is my absolute favorite recipe. It is hearty and flavorful and incredibly satisfying and I find myself craving it more often than not. The tang from the lemons, creaminess of the tahini, and flavor from the garlic make this the best salad dressing you could ask for. My only suggestion is using dried chickpeas as opposed to canned- makes all the difference despite the extra work. THANK YOU DANA!

I was crazing something healthy that could be made come from what I had on hand. Came across this receipe while searching kale and wow wow wow. !!!!!

This is an amazingly recipe and so easy to make! I tossed in some avocado too.
Thanks so much for your web site. Love your recipes!!!

I tried this recipe tonight, So yummy! I didn’t have any tahini so I used peanut butter instead and repleaced one tablespoon of olive oil with sesame oil. Turned out well! Thanks for another amazing recipe, Dana!

Phenomenally delicious! Made this tonight and can’t wait to have the leftovers in my lunch tomorrow. My house smells so good from the roasting garlic and chickpeas! I will definitely be making this again!

I’ve made this recipe a few times now and it’s one of my favorites! Last night we had it topped with your vegan Parmesan and with buffalo cauliflower, and it was reminiscent of a Caesar salad and buffalo tenders. Thanks for all your creative and delicious recipes!

I don’t usually love salads, but this was great! My chickpeas turned out perfectly spiced and crispy. I had a lot left over from the dressing and it has a pretty intense lemony flavour so I didn’t use too much of it, but it makes the kale really delicious! And it’s so healthy!

Dana! Another winner for sure! As a vegan, looking to focus on whole foods, I was determined to eat salads for lunch, but was so afraid of how boring that would be. Your recipes are absolutely delicious!!!! And not even close to boring! I had a whole party in my mouth with these robust flavors. Thanks for sharing!!!! ???

I made this as a salad for a BBQ this weekend. It was SUCH a hit. Highly recommen!

This looks amazing! I’m making it tonight for the fam. I’ll repost ya too! thelewiscorner.com

I made this recipe last night and am still drooling over it. The garlicky dressing mixed with kale is amazing and takes away that bitterness, which usually means I leave kale out of the salad and opt for something else, but last night, it was the star of the dish for sure. You also have my boyfriend addicted to crunchy and crispy chickpeas and we will be making those regularly!

Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes! <3 :)

This is my favorite kale recipe yet. It’s become a weekly meal for me! Think it would be good as a wilted salad?

I’m making this and your smoky quinoa beet veggie burgers tonight, gazpacho as an appetizer. My boyfriend’s brother and his girlfriend are coming over for dinner and they are vegan. Your recipes are so creative and delicious and never make me miss meat (or even dairy for that matter). I can’t wait for this beautiful, delicious smelling dinner tonight :)

I have made this several times now, with the addition of cherry tomatoes, cucumber and avocado…
It’s a crowd pleaser, the bowl is always left empty by the time we are through with dinner.

Hey, I love your food blog, it is such a treat to the eyes!! I have tried the kale salad in the past and it is a delight to eat! Sometimes I feel the ingredients are a little tough to find though:(

I was reading through the comments and someone had said that when they opened their over after roasting the garlic, it looked like it had exploded all over the inside of the oven. I got obsessed with how good this recipe was, I have made it 5 times in the past two weeks! Well once, one of the garlic cloves did appear to have exploded in the oven. So I tried roasting the garlic with foil covering it, but then it didn’t roast in time, and I ended up first roasting covered for 25min, then uncovered for another 5min and it turned out fine (to minimize any explosions). Interestingly, when I took out the chickpeas from the over this same cooking session, one of the chickpeas popped!

I just made this salad. I have made a few variations of the tahani dressing and a few variations of the chickpeas but these are the best. Amazing combination with the kale. Thank you!

I made this last night and completely enjoyed it. I had a bit leftover and ended up combining with tofu to make a tofu scramble this morning. Oh my word – what tremendous deliciousness. Thank for the recipe. It’s a keeper (and a multi-tasker).

I just made this recipe today and it was easy and really flavorful! I didn’t really think that massaging the kale with lemon juice and olive oil would improve the flavor, but it did make a difference! Great, hearty recipe.

Still one of my go-to’s : THANK-YOU :)

Heather

Very yummy and very easy–we ate it all and were sad when it was gone

Not gonna lie, its late at night, and I’m in a rush to get dinner cooked and myself to bed. I don’t have the seasoning blend that your recipe called for, so I decided to make it myself. I did not realize that you hadn’t put the exact measurements of each spice needed, so I literally put 3 Tbsp cumin, 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 2 Tbsp paprika, 3 tsp ginger, 2 tsp coriander, 2 tsp cardamom into my chickpeas. Realizing what I had done, I added another can of chickpeas. and a can of diced tomatoes to try to help even things out. There is still way too much seasoning, and it doesn’t taste good. It tastes like a spice jar, and there are all these wasted ingredients. I know its my fault, but it would’ve been fail proof and really really helpful if you had put the exact amount of spices needed, not just the ratios. Otherwise, the recipe looks good, and next time, I will just make the extra trip to Whole Foods.

Holy moly! This salad is so good. I made it this afternoon and promptly had 3 bowls in a row. The chickpeas didn’t get *quite* as crispy as I would have liked, but I think that’s my wonky stove and not the directions. Dana, your blog is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

I am new to your website. I made this for dinner tonight. Oh my!! I loved it and was sad when it was gone. This is a brilliant recipe. The flavors all blend so nicely it is a yummy treat for your mouth. I had a chard, kale, spinach blend from Costco on hand so used that. So good!! Thank you so much! I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes.

Just made this and it was so perfect!

This is my first time commenting on a blog but just had to say that this salad is amazing and so addictive! I crave it when I haven’t had it for awhile. I am a newly converted kale lover thanks to you!! Seriously though keep up the great work all of your recipes are bomb :)