Twelve Superfood Saladย โ ๐ฅ๐ซ๐ฅฌ๐This superfood salad is packed with 12 superfoods! This is a great clean out the fridge meal and is easily customized to suit whatever you need to use up. Best of all you just FEEL so good eating it!
My Go-To Healthy Salad Recipe
There’s so much healthiness going on in this salad that I think of it as a miracle worker. Something that makes up for the cookies and brownies and margaritas I like to enjoy.
What are superfoods? If you consult Google you’ll have plenty of information to choose from. I like to think of superfoods as nutrient-dense foods that help our bodies function optimally.
You could easily bump this up to a 15+ superfoods salad by adding broccoli, cauliflower, shiitake mushrooms, flaxseeds, beans, salmon, and more. When it comes to salads, I love the ‘kitchen sink’ approach. The more the merrier when it comes to flavor, texture, and variety.
I love the fresh blueberries and sweet juicy grapes with kale, which is more bitter. There’s chewy and tart dried cherries, crunchy sunflower seeds and walnuts, and the quinoa and edamame add protein and a satisfying heartiness. The cheese adds a savory element and balances the sweet fruit.
We loved this salad and it reminds me of something you’d find at the Whole Foods salad bar, but homemade is even better.
Superfood Salad Ingredients
I pulled some frequently mentioned superfoods from lists like this and this and worked 12 of my favorite healthy salad toppings into the recipe: kale, blueberries, grapes, dried cherries, quinoa, sunflower seeds, walnuts, edamame, oranges (orange juice), olive oil, garlic, and Greek yogurt.
Note that you can mix and match the ingredients in this recipe as you see fit.
The dressing is light, zippy, slightly creamy, and made with yogurt, olive oil, garlic powder, and orange juice.
How to Make Superfood Salad
Making this healthy salad couldn’t be easier! Here’s an overview of how the superfood salad is made:
- You’ll first need to cook the quinoa and edamame according to the package instructions.
- Then, prep the rest of the ingredients (halve the grapes, chop the dried cherries, etc).
- Add the salad dressing ingredients to a jar and shake until creamy and combined.
- Toss the superfood salad ingredients and dressing together and enjoy!ย
Can I Make This Salad in Advance?
Can I Use Different Healthy Salad Toppings?
If you don’t have all twelve ingredients on hand, use what you have and mix and match with other ingredients because this is a very flexible recipe.
Tips for Making Superfood Salad
Quinoa: If you know you’ll be short on time when prepping dinner this week, I highly recommend cooking the quinoa ahead of time when you have a few minutes to spare. I love this healthy salad with warm quinoa on it, but leftover cold quinoa does the trick too.
Dried fruit: If you truly want this to be a superfood salad, try to get your hands on dried fruit that doesn’t have extra sugar on it. Sugar is often added to dried cherries and cranberries to make them more palatable, but when the dried fruit is mixed in with this salad the added sugar really isn’t necessary.
Dressing: Lastly, I prefer making the salad dressing quite salty as it’s being tossed with a lot of unseasoned kale, fruit, and nuts. But tweak the salt and pepper amounts to suit your own tastes.
What to Serve with This Healthy Salad
As written, this healthy salad idea will serve two people as a filling main dish or it can be split among four people as a side.
If serving this salad as a side dish, here are some entrees you could pair with it:
- Sheet Pan Garlic Lemon Butter Salmon
- Prosciutto Flatbread
- Sheet Pan Italian Chicken
- Shrimp Scampi
- Salmon Florentine
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Twelve Superfoods Salad
Ingredients
- ยฝ cup dry quinoa, cooked according to package directions
- ยฝ cup frozen edamame, cooked according to package directions
- ยฝ bunch curly kale, about 4 to 5 cups, chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces with thick ribs removed
- ยฝ cup fresh blueberries
- ยฝ cup red grapes, halved
- ยฝ cup dried cherries, chopped if necessary (dried cranberries may be substituted)
- โ cup feta, goat, or parmesan cheese, crumbled or shredded
- ยผ cup sunflower seeds, I used unsalted
- ยผ cup walnuts, chopped (I used unsalted)
- ยผ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced or pressed
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ยฝ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ยผ teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- 1 heaping tablespoon Greek yogurt, I used 0% fat, sour cream may be substituted
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions, likely cooking with 1 cup water to the 1/2 cup dry quinoa. Transfer about half of the cooked quinoa to a very large bowl. I donโt use all the quinoa for the salad and save the rest for another use. I find it too difficult to cook less than 1/2 cup dry quinoa.
- Cook edamame according to package directions. Drain and add to the bowl.
- To the bowl, add the kale, blueberries, grapes, dried cherries, cheese, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and stir to combine; set aside.
- To a glass mason jar with a lid (or similar jar with a lid), add the orange juice, olive oil, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, seal with lid, and shake vigorously to combine; about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the Greek yogurt and shake until creamy and incorporated, about 1 minute. Taste and check for seasoning balance, adding more salt, pepper, etc. as necessary. I prefer this dressing to be on the saltier side because itโs going to be coating a large bowl of unseasoned kale, vegetables, and quinoa and you need it to read salty out of the jar to properly flavor the salad.
- Add desired amount of dressing to salad, toss well to combine, and serve immediately. Extra dressing will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week; shake vigorously before using.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil Quinoa Salad โ (GF) โ Trying to keep meals healthier & lighter? Make this easy, refreshing & satisfying salad!
Lemon, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Almond Quinoa Salad โ Fast, easy, and fresh! Bright flavors and loads of texture! This clean-eating salad keeps you full and satisfied! Healthy never tasted so good!
Cranberry, Apple, and Blue Cheese Salad with Cranberry-Apple Cider Dressing โ All the flavors of fall in one gorgeous, hearty, and healthy salad!! The easy, tart-and-sweet dressing is just bursting with flavor!
Honey Lemon-Glazed Salmon Salad โ Coated with a tangy-sweet glaze that doubles as a light and bright salad vinaigrette! Fast, easy, fresh and healthy! An awesome 15-minute meal!
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Originally posted June 22, 2016 and reposted July 15, 2022 with updated text.
Hi! Iโm making this recipe now and am SO excited to have it through the week for lunch – the dressing is delicious and a complete different flavor profile I normally go for. Iโm confused with the sugar ingredient; itโs listed but not found in the instructions so I didnโt add it to anything. Did I miss it somewhere? In any case, the oranges used were very sweet and followed your recommendation for the dressing to lean on the saltier side.
Thank you for this recipe, I canโt wait to try your others – Iโm a new fan!
It was an oversight in the directions but it goes with the other ingredients for the dressing that you shake up together and the omission has been fixed now. Thanks for trying the recipe and glad you’re a fan of it!
This is a delicious salad! I have to make a double batch. My husband goes back for thirds!!!! Never does that with healthy food!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Eileen, and I am glad your husband is so impressed with it that he goes back for thirds – wow, that’s great to hear!
Love this salad. Have made it twice as written. Both times made it ahead and it kept beautifully in the fridge due to the volume of the curly kale. I did not use all the dressing and have enough to make another recipe. Love all of it and it definitely is good for any improvising.
Thanks for the five star review Eileen, and for letting me know that you love this salad and that you get extra mileage out of the dressing!
Just, DELICIOUS. I’d been wanting to do this salad for days, I live in the Caribbean and Kale is normal to find in the supermarket, it’s just not widely eaten and I’m thinking that maybe because of that the production is small. Anyways, I found a beautiful bunch the day before yesterday… but I confused sesame seeds in the not-so-well-lit shelf of the pantry, for quinoa. Another run to the market. But last night. Oh my God, I didn’t even make anything to go with it. And it was SOOOO GOOD. And satiating, I usually get the munchies, they must have still been biting down on some of the kale somewhere inside me. THIS WAS SO GOOD. So good, THANK YOU! :)
Just, DELICIOUS. I’d been wanting to do this salad for days, I live in the Caribbean and Kale is normal to find in the supermarket, it’s just not widely eaten and I’m thinking that maybe because of that the production is small. Anyways, I found a beautiful bunch the day before yesterday… but I confused sesame seeds in the not-so-well-lit shelf of the pantry, for quinoa. Another run to the market. But last night. Oh my God, I didn’t even make anything to go with it. And it was SOOOO GOOD. And satiating, I usually get the munchies, they must have still been biting down on some of the kale somewhere inside me. THIS WAS SO GOOD. So good, THANK YOU! :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and that is great that you tried this and persisted despite the quinoa moment and that it was worth it and so good!
great
great
I made the 12 superfood salad – was really delicious and complimented the salmon perfectly. Huge hit with me, my husband & 2 daughters – will be making this again to show off to my sisters at our next bbq ๐ Thank you
I made the 12 superfood salad – was really delicious and complimented the salmon perfectly. Huge hit with me, my husband & 2 daughters – will be making this again to show off to my sisters at our next bbq ๐ Thank you
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this salad was a huge hit and you’ll be making it again!