This Kale and Persimmon Salad is a simple, but delicious holiday salad. It highlights one of my favorite seasonal fruits and is a fully gluten free and dairy free recipe.

healthy kale and persimmon salad
healthy kale and persimmon salad

This Kale and Persimmon Salad is a family favorite for Thanksgiving. If you’ve never had a persimmon, you need to try one! They are absolutely delicious, but you can only find them a few months out of the year. Persimmons are sweet with just a little tang.

This salad is very easy to make. You combine everything in a bowl, mix the dressing, and serve. The dressing is a simple honey-mustard type dressing with a little bit of tang from apple cider vinegar.

What kind of persimmons to use?

I recommend Fuyu persimmons in general and for this recipe. You want to use ripe persimmons, so they don’t leave your tongue feeling fuzzy.

What to add to this kale and persimmon salad

This is a simple salad, so the added cranberries and pumpkin seeds are important for making this salad less boring. If you can’t have pumpkin seeds, you could try another nut or seed, but I can’t speak to the flavor. The pumpkin seeds pair perfectly with the other flavors in this recipe. If you do try something different, leave a comment and let me know how it went!

If you don’t like cranberries, dried cherries would also be a lovely option in this kale salad.

More holiday side dishes

Sage Roasted Butternut Squash with Chickpeas

Cinnamon and Ginger Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Brussels Sprout Salad with Apples and Chickpeas

Corn Free Sweet Potato Cornbread

Kale and Persimmon Salad

This simple salad is a Thanksgiving favorite in our American household. It’s a lovely fall salad that takes advantage of the short persimmon season. The sweetness of the persimmons is complimented by the more acidic dressing.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword Easy, fall, Simple, thanksgiving
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Salad

  • 1/2 bunch of green kale
  • 1/2 bunch of red kale
  • 1/2 head of butter lettuce
  • 2-3 persimmons, thinly sliced
  • 1 small red onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries fruit juice sweetened
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Dressing

  • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp full fat coconut milk
  • 1 Tbsp honey

Instructions

  • Wash and dry your lettuce. Pull the kale off the stems and chop/tear into bite size pieces. Place your kale in your salad bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage your kale until the greens begin to darken and soften.
  • Tear/chop your butter lettuce into bite size pieces and add to the kale. Add the remaining salad ingredients to the bowl.
  • Combine all your dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
  • Taste and adjust, sometimes you need a little more mustard or honey
  • Pour dressing over salad and toss well.