Kale Beet Salad with Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

This Kale Beet Salad is a hearty, fun salad, especially with the creamy Avocado Green Goddess Dressing!

This recipe is full of tips to make it as easy as possible. And it’s naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo and Whole30 friendly.

This recipe was originally published in April, 2019, as “Kale Salad with Granola and Avocado Green Goddess Dressing.” The post, photos and recipe were updated in April, 2025.

(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I’ll automatically receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

Why this recipe works

I love a good beet and kale salad: sweet, earthy beets, hearty kale, juicy oranges, some crunchy nuts and chewy dried fruit. Coat it all in a creamy, herb-y dressing and what’s not to like?

But raw kale leaves can be a bit tough and fibrous. That’s why a lot of recipes recommend “massaging” the kale, meaning rub the leaves between your fingers over and over for 5-10 minutes. This will help break down their structure, making them more tender, easier to eat and maybe even easier to digest (while I find this to be true for myself, I can’t find any studies proving this).

But you also have to add salt and sometimes other ingredients like oil to help the process. So you stand there, for 5 minutes at least, just rubbing leaves. Your fingers get coated in leaves and oil and salt so if you have to stop to do anything else you first have to wash your hands fairly thoroughly to scrub off the oily residue.

Now, if you like these sort of meditative activities in the kitchen where you can just get lost in the repetition, that’s great! Go for it.

I am not one of those people.

So read below for my secret trick for tender massaged kale without the boring hands-on prep.

But that’s not the only tip for this beet kale salad. Keep reading for more.

Tip #1: Hands-free “massaged” kale

We are all about shortcuts here at PGFG™ HQ. So I wondered: what else could “massage” the raw kale leaves so I don’t have to?

And then I pictured it: the leaves in my stand mixer bowl, getting bashed about by the paddle attachment. So I tried it and, reader, it worked. It worked so well! Just a few minutes of hands-off paddle-bashing and the leaves had softened, darkened in color and reduced in size.

And even though it didn’t take that long, that was time I could spend prepping my other ingredients. So it’s less messy, faster and more efficient.

OK, you have one more thing to wash – the paddle – but that’s the work of mere moments. It is so worth it.

Tip #2: Use pantry ingredients

I know I should encourage everyone to use the freshest ingredients possible, but let’s face it: that’s not always possible. So while I could tell you to buy raw beets and roast them yourself (instructions to do so below the recipe), I don’t think you need to bother.

If you can use cooked, packaged beets like these, the salad is still great.

And while I do call for an orange, if you want to use a can of mandarin oranges packed in juice, go for it! I have done that many times and they’re great. Just be sure to drain them.

Finally, if you don’t want to make your own dressing (although I will say, this Avocado Green Goddess Dressing is so good you’ll want to use it as a dip or dressing for everything), you can always use store-bought.

Tip #3: Double the dressing

The recipe for the dressing makes just enough to coat the salad ingredients. But the dressing is so good – so zingy, so fresh, so herbal – that you’ll want extra to use as a dip for veggies or even to serve with chicken, pork or seafood.

What you need

Ingredients for the salad:

• 1 bunch curly leaf kale
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ pound (approx. 6-8 oz.) cooked beets, packed in water or no/low vinegar – See notes below the recipe for how to roast your own beets if you prefer.
• 1 large orange – It should be heavy for its size with fairly unblemished skin
• ½ cup toasted chopped walnuts – These add a nice crunch.
• ½ cup dried cranberries (fruit-sweetened for Paleo/Whole30) – These chewy little morsels add a sweet/tart flavor to the salad.

Ingredients for the dressing:

• ½ cup avocado oil mayonnaise
• ¼ of a large avocado or ½ of a small one
• ½ cup flat-leaf parsley, rinsed, dried and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced chives
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice or red wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon anchovy paste (or 1 anchovy rinsed, patted dry and minced)
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more if necessary
• freshly ground black pepper
• water, if necessary

Equipment:

• a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer with the paddle attachment)
• measuring spoons
• measuring cups
• a cutting board
• a chef’s knife
• a blender, food processor or stick blender
• a serving bowl
• salad tongs

How to make Kale Beet Salad

For the salad:

Step 1: Rinse and pat dry the kale leaves. Fold each leaf in half lengthwise and trim right down next to the stem to remove the leaves from the stem. Coarsely chop the leaves and add them to the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle over the salt.

Step 2: With the paddle attachment, start on the lowest speed. After the leaves have settled a bit more into the bowl, increase speed to medium. If bits of leaves start popping out of the bowl, you know you’ve raised the speed too high. Continue bashing the leaves until they’ve softened, darkened in color and reduced in size by about half, another 1-3 minutes. Add the kale to a large bowl. You might have to do this in 2 batches. 

Step 3: Meanwhile, drain the beets. Depending on the size of your beets, halve them, quarter them or, if they’re really big, cut those quarters in half crosswise.

Step 4: Supreme the orange: Slice the top and bottom off the orange. Stand it on one of the cut sides and use a paring knife to slice off all the peel and pith from the top to the bottom. Slice off any remaining bits of peel or pith. Now slice right next to the membranes (the little strings running up and down, dividing the orange into sections) toward the core to release the wedges. Discard the membrane-y remnants of the orange when you’re done.

Step 5: Add the beets, orange slices and granola to the bowl with the kale. 

For the dressing:

Step 1: Using a blender, food processor or stick blender, blend all the dressing ingredients, including a good grinding of black pepper, until mostly smooth (it’s okay if there’s still little bits of herbs). If you don’t have any of those appliances, that’s fine! Mince the herbs as finely as you can, add them to the rest of the ingredients and blend, mashing up the avocado as you go.

Step 2: Taste the dressing: it should be pretty zippy. If not, add a bit more salt. If you think it’s maybe a bit too much salt, I encourage you to use it anyway. Once it’s thinned out over all the ingredients, it’s not quite as punchy. However, if it’s too thick you can blend in a teaspoon or two of water to think it out. If you do this, taste it again to see if the water diluted the flavor and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

To assemble:

Step 1: Toss the salad with most of the dressing until everything is coated evenly. Taste a leaf: can you taste all the ingredients? If it’s a little bland, sprinkle salt over the whole salad, toss and taste again. Does it need more acid? Drizzle a little more lemon juice or vinegar over the whole salad, toss and taste again.

Step 2: Add more dressing if necessary or serve with the remaining dressing on the side.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Other recipes you might like:

1. Rainbow Crunch Salad with Almond Butter Dressing
2. Citrus Avocado Salad
3. Strawberry, Cucumber and Arugula Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
4. Peach, Avocado and Bacon Salad

For more recipes, inspiration and just good stuff, join me on:

Instagram,

Facebook,

TikTok

and Pinterest!