Apple Walnut Salad with Kale and Feta

What better way to celebrate apple season than with this delicious Apple and Walnut Salad with Kale. This easy salad recipe is perfect for special occasions or a great addition to your Thanksgiving dinner. With crisp apples and crunchy walnuts, sweet pomegranate and smooth feta all tossed in a perfectly tangy salad dressing.

This lovely Fall salad is so easy to make and with just a few simple steps it can be ready in just 30 minutes.

This apple salad recipe is one of our favourite Autumn salads, it has everything you want in a great salad! Crunchy red apples, walnuts and seeds add great texture to this salad. The sweet pomegranate and dressing work perfectly against the kale, and the feta cheese adds a smooth soft texture.

You can serve this as a side dish, but it's also really great as a main salad dish too. In fact, we love this on its own for lunch. If you are planning your Thanksgiving menu this salad is great as a side to my Beetroot Tart or as an entreé to my Nut Roast en Croûte.

🛒 What You'll Need

• Apples - Crisp, crunchy red apples are perfect in this salad, look for Gala or Red Delicious apples. You could also use green apples just make sure they are crisp and a little tart such as granny smith.
• Kale - Look for fresh, dark green curly kale. If you can buy organic kale then even better.
• Feta - Creamy full-fat feta works so well with apples and kale. Look for authentic Greek feta in the grocery store. You could swap it for goat's or blue cheese if you prefer.
• Pomegranate - this adds a lovely sweetness, Look for a ripe pomegranate, it should be dark red and heavy when you pick it up. Here's a handy guide on how to remove pomegranate seeds.
• Homemade Dressing - For the dressing you will need good quality extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, one shallot, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and runny honey.
• Nuts and Seeds - I add walnuts to this salad but you could also use almonds or candied walnuts if you prefer. I also add pumpkin seeds to this salad, sunflower seeds would work well too.

⭐️ Why This Recipe Works

• Keeping it Simple. This salad is easy to make with just a few simple steps and it's ready in 30 minutes.
• Apples and Kale. The simple ingredients in this salad make it a great healthy side dish.
• Showcase Salad. Such a great salad for Thanksgiving, it looks great but also tastes great!

🔪 How to Make Apple Walnut Feta Salad

Please see the recipe card below for full instructions and an ingredient list.

• Start by massaging the kale. Add the kale to a large bowl then add in the lemon juice and the sea salt. Rub the lemon juice and salt into the kale and keep massaging the kale for about 5 minutes. The kale should be softer but still firm. You don't want really wilted kale. Leave the kale to sit in a colander over a bowl for a little bit, 5 minutes should do. (photo 1)
• Next, make the dressing. Whisk together the mustard, honey and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Then whisk that into the extra virgin olive oil, then add the salt and pepper. Set aside until you are ready to use it. (photo 2)
• Now all you need to do is build your salad. Drain the kale, then add it to a large salad bowl, crumble in the walnuts, add the pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate seeds and toss well. Arrange the apple slices around the salad then crumble over the feta and pour in the dressing. (photo 3)

👩‍🍳 Top Tips

• Slice the apples thinly then rub the apple with lemon juice to ensure they don't go brown.
• Massage the kale! This is really important. Before you baulk at the thought, please know that this isn’t some hipster notion. The reason you need to massage the kale is this; raw kale is hard to digest! When you rub the kale with lemon juice and salt, it helps to break down the cellulose in the kale making it easier to digest. So please do yourself a favour and massage the kale.
• When you're prepping the kale make sure and remove any woody stems! 
• If you are making this then serving it later, leave the pomegranate out until you are ready to serve it. The pomegranate will bleed onto everything, so keep it separate until later.
• Again if you are prepping this early then don't add the dressing until you are ready to serve. Everything will go soggy if it is sitting in the dressing for too long.
• Serve the dressing on the side. I like to serve the dressing on the side for people to add as much or as little as they want. This is handy when you are feeding a crowd, especially if you have guests on special diets.

🔄 Variations

• Don't like kale? - Use baby spinach or salad greens, a mix of green and red leaf lettuce would work very well. This will also save you some time!
• Swap the cheese - If you're not a fan of feta then other cheeses will work well, try a creamy goat cheese or gorgonzola cheese.
• Add more veggies - You could easily add in some slices of red onion here, avocado would also work very well in this salad.
• Make it vegan - To make this salad vegan just omit the cheese and swap the honey for maple syrup. You could add some roasted butternut squash instead of the cheese.

💭 FAQs

🍽 More Great Salad Recipes

• This Vegetarian Caesar Salad is a great veggie take on the classic Caesar salad, it's great for lunch or as a side dish.
• This Roasted Squash Salad is always among the top reader favorites. It's great any time of the year but especially great during the Autumn.
• One of my personal favorites this Halloumi Salad with Butternut Squash is so tasty and perfect for a family dinner.
• Earthy and delicious this Roasted Beet Salad is perfect for a special occasion lunch or dinner.
• A Thanksgiving favourite this Brussel Sprout and Sweet Potato Salad is a great healthy option for your Thanksgiving table.

More Tasty Vegetarian Recipes

Update Notes: This recipe was first published in November 2018, and updated in September 2023 with more information.