Kale, Quinoa, and Avocado Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

Huge hit even with the toddler. :). Although he eats anything. Steamed the kale in the microwave: rinse kale (don't dry) drop in a microwave safe bowl and cover with Saran wrap, lifting a corner to vent. 30 seconds or so. Lovely taste and healthy too.

This is amaaazzzinnggg!!! The flavor combination in this is brilliant! Avocado and feta and the occasional cool bite of cucumber or spicy red onion; the dijon and lemon is phenomenal! SOOO mouth-watering! Even my kids (four and 1.5 yrs) devoured this. I made a double batch, we were nibbling on it still warm from the quinoa. I DID keep the kale raw, to retain nutrients. I massaged and kneaded the torn up leaves with a bit of salt; and put some of them in a large plastic bag and let my kids fling it around. This is soo soo soooo delicious!!

This was a great salad! Don't be scared of the kale. I made a half batch and sent it for lunch for my husband and myself. We both were pleasantly surprised by the great flavors in this dish. The dressing is a great complement to all of the ingredients. In the end, you barely even taste the kale, but you do reap all of the benefits of eating it!

This was an amazing and very healthy salad. Loved it! I have been asked for the recipe many times so it has been a hit with my company also. I have made it many times and have just done a couple of changes. I substitute chicken broth instead of the water to cook the quinoa in. I add cherry tomatoes cut in half to the salad and I add a little more lemon and 1 clove of garlic finely chopped to the dressing. Thank you for the recipe!

Nice to see this healthy recipe here - so good. Really dislike seeing people rate a recipe even though they don't even like the main ingredient - and chose to make it even with that ingredient the lead in the title! Really a head scratcher. . .

This was deservedly a real hit at the potluck dinner. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I put more avocado (the one I used was smallish, so I used a whole one). People wished I had more dressing, but all seemed to like it. I sure did! Specifically, I was complimented on how the avocado and the feta cheese added key flavors.

I tried this recipe and multiplied it times 5 for a group - I made a few changes and have just sent the recipe to everyone because they loved it! Instead of the red pepper, I used chopped grape tomatoes - I have a food sensitivity to peppers. Instead of serving the quinoa and veggies on top of the kale, I mixed the kale in with the quinoa and veggies (except the tomato and avocado) and 1/2 of the dressing and refrigerated overnight so all the flavors would meld. In the morning, I added the tomato and avocado and the remainder of the dressing - it was more like a cold pasta or potato salad type salad. It was amazing!!!!

This was so delicious! Thank you for sharing, Stephanie! I made it last night for the first time. I couldn't use a whole bunch of kale (it wouldn't fit in the pot), but it was more than enough for the two of us. I also steamed the kale a big longer, but before it was mushy. Also, since I don't like feta cheese, I substituted gorgonzola, which was still tasty. Next time I'll use a whole avocado and add more of the bell pepper and cucumber. Can't wait to make this recipe again!

Beautiful and tasty. Great presentation. The flavors all so good together, but if you are missing an ingredient - don't let it stop you from making it because it will still be delicious. I was able to put my steamer right over the quinoa while it was cooking - saved a step! I love it chilled as well.

Wow, this was soooo incredibly good! Meatless Mondays just got a bit more interesting in our house. I decreased the sea salt to 1/2 tsp and added a couple shakes of onion/garlic powders, dried parsley, and freeze dried shallots to the vinaigrette. Also used canola oil due to preference, as well as a wee splash of seasoned rice wine vinegar. Used de-stemmed organic baby kale and a packet of organic roasted garlic quinoa. I plated each serving separately to individualize to DH and DD's tastes. DH wasn't a fan, however, 5 year-old DD loved it and made each bite so that it contained each ingredient. For an extra boost of Omega 3, I topped each serving with a few toasted walnuts. Loved the flavors in every bite. This will definitely be a repeat and I can already foresee cravings for this outlandishly delicious and healthy dish. Bravo!

One of my favorite vegetable recipes so far. I didn't have avocado but it came out great without it. Had mango on the side and it was a nice compliment.

LOVED this salad! Made it once last week and once this week already since I found it. We haven't had any lemon juice on hand either time, but I was able to use raspberry balsamic vinegar instead--didn't change any measurements--and it was to die for!!! The first time I made it, we really liked it, but wished it had more of the additional veggies so this time I made sure to add lots of avocado, cucumber, red bell pepper, onion, and feta. My husband, who is usually ready for a second dinner around 9pm was not hungry by then at all! This will become a regular part of menu for sure!

I am not fond of kale. Replaced it with fresh baby spinach. Still 4 supper foods, very good, and something I am comfortable eating. Next time I am thinking of adding some shredded grilled chicken or pork and maybe some rice as I am fond of one dish meals.

Made this last night and it was a huge hit with my family! The dressing was very tasty and the dish was so flavorful. This will be made again and again at our house. Thanks for sharing, Stephanie!

This was probably the best salad I have ever eaten! Very healthy and filling. Ate a large bowl for dinner and was more than enough. Made a few alterations based on other reviews: doubled the avocado, added cherry tomatoes, steamed kale over chicken broth, added 1 clove pressed garlic to the dressing and increased dressing by half. Will definitely be making this again!! :)

I completely changed this recipe but it was still really good. I used whole wheat couscous instead of quinoa, left out the kale, added fresh garlic, green onion instead of red, tomatoes instead of bell pepper, parmesan instead of feta, and cut the oil in half.

Fabulous! I never rate recipies but I had to rate this one 5 stars. Next time I will use 1/2 tsp. kosher instead of 3/4. Going to have this for lunch often. Thank you Stephanie!

This was amazing. My first time at kale and I loved it. It also looked so gorgeous on the plate I cannot wait to serve it to others. The only change I made was a regular yellow onion in place of the red, because I had no red. It was still awesome! And so easy to make. Served it with salmon grilled on cedar plank also on allrecipes, and also awesome.

This was surprisingly good! I had my doubts but had some kale to use so I gave it a try and could not believe even my kids liked it! Great blend of flavors, did not change anything!

We loved, loved, loved this recipe! Serving it for Mother's Day for Nonna... my 4 yr old loves to rip the kale.

Made this for dinner tonight. It is fabulous and I got rave reviews from hubby and vegetarian son. Didn't have lemon so used orange juice and orange zest and a bit of honey in the dressing. Added pine nuts to top it off. This salad is complex, flavorful and super healthy. I will be making it often! Thanks!

the vegetable and quinoa mix was an excellent mix of flavors!! the dressing as written was a bit too salty for my taste but that's easy enough to alter in the future. i will definately make this again. thanks so much for the recipe!!

I forgot to add the avocado (!) but it was still excellent! It reminded me of tabooli a bit, since I also added a 1/2 cup of fresh parsley. Thanks for a great fresh salad!

I didn't have kale on-hand, so I substituted fresh spinach and served this with grilled chicken, and my family (husband + 8 yr old) LOVED it! No leftovers is always a tell-tale sign of a good recipe. :-)

I've made a similar recipe. Very good flavor. You could really add cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and maybe a little garlic in the dressing for added flavor combos!

I followed the recipe exactly... Loved it. I couldn't stop eating it! Excited to make it again and try it out on the husband

One of our favorites! Very healthy and very good! For the first time this summer, we made it almost as a tossed salad, adding all of the ingredients into a bowl and tossing together (after the kale had cooled) instead of layering the kale then the quinoa. We served it to a larger crowd and everyone liked it-young and old.

This was delicious! The steamed kale was easier to eat than raw. The tart dressing was a perfect topping, though I did add 1 tsp honey.

I made this thing five times now and it's still awesome! I like adding. chickpeas to mine for even more protein.

Delicious!! I used baby kale, which I find to be a little less bitter. I also cut the salt to 1/2 tsp instead of 3/4. Will definitely make this again!

We love this recipe. Easy & healthy!

I've made this several times and love it! The only thing is I don't add the kale, since I'm trying to eat a raw diet and this is kind of transitional with the cooked quinoa (perhaps I'll try a sprouted version), I can't see cooking kale, but it's probably still good that way.

This is the most awesome salad!!!!! My entire family loves it!!! I make this at least once a week!!! The only changes I made is I do not put bell pepper in it and I add cherry tomatoes!!!! Yum!!!! This is so awesome!!! My favorite dish EVER!!!

Delicious! However, I liked it better with a lemon/shallot dressing instead of the mustard based dressing. A balsamic vinaigrette would probably be delicious also.

This was so delicious, I was eating it out of the pot! Steaming the kale was a really good idea, as the bitterness was gone but still retained the nutrients. My avocados weren't ripe so I had to substitute a few things in. I used cremini mushrooms, tomatoes, and Julienned carrots - all finely chopped. I also added lime juice as well. The flavours were very aromatic and the citrus juice definitely enhanced it! I will definitely be making this again and again!

I personally add more feta but my family really enjoys this recipe.

Love this salad! It's fresh tasting and healthy. I've made it multiple times. The avocado and feta add a lot of flavor. Definitely a keeper!

This tastes fantastic and is fresh and healthy. A real hit!

This was a crowd pleaser, even for my picky family. I made extra yet there were no leftovers. Everyone went back for seconds or thirds.

A delicious summer meal. I pretty much followed the recipe, but added cherry tomato and mango to the mix. I also just mix everything all together, since kale is a bit stronger it keeps for a couple of days even with the dressing on it. This one is a keeper!

I am new to eating both quinoa and kale. This recipe is absolutely delicious. I have made it several times in only the last couple of weeks. You can add whatever veggies you have handy; it doesn't really matter. A new staple in our house.

This is a keeper! Add grilled chicken.

This is the first time I actually came back to give a review. This recipe was amazing. Thanks to KW for the tip about steaming the kale in the microwave. I didn't want another pot to clean! I am glad I tried this at the beginning of the summer season because I will be making this side many times this season.

This is great! Red onions are a little strong, so the salad probably needs some time in the fridge to meld and mellow out the bite. I left out the bell peppers and added a little more cucumber and avocado.

Love this healthy recipe—thanks for sharing. My only “tweaks”: I substituted green onion for the red onion because it’s hard to get good red onions where I live...and I finely chopped the kale and all the veggies and mixed everything together. The Dijon, feta and lemon juice in this recipe give the salad just the right amount of flavorful zestiness.

made this for Thanksgiving now that my daughter only eats fish and her boyfriend has been vegetarian all his life. It was a hit and I am making more quinoa dishes

I made a few changes one time I used Baby Kale so I didn't have to steam it added more cucumber and red pepper also I add lemon zest to the dressing me and my friends love it other time used fresh parsley while still great in it's own way I prefer the baby kale

Excellent! I didn't have quinoa, but did have a brown rice, rye, quinoa mix. Served the kale, rice, avocado/red peppers with the dressing over baked salmon. If we added a fruit, ok , some say avocado is a fruit, it would almost be complete! I disagree with the portions. I think it makes at least 4 servings. UMMY!

Yummy! I microwaved chopped kale for 2 min in in tiny bit of water. drain. let cool. top with remaining ingredients. Used good seasons italian in place of dressing.. nice texture. Made again with the dressing here(doubled) and I loved it!

This is AWESOME!!! The only thing I did differently was used chicken broth to boil the quinoa (Trade Joe's organic quinoa) and added a sprinkle of sea salt to the kale (to taste). Steamed the kale a little longer. Just enough so it's still firm and not soggy. The dressing just kicks it up to A++ status. I hate avocados but they tasted so good in this. Don't leave any ingredient out the first time you make it. You will be surprised that you love all the veggies in this recipe!

My first time using kale in a salad recipe and it turned out very tasty. I sweetened up the dressing with a bit of agave.

I made it without the kale only because I don't usually have this on hand. This recipe is AMAZING!! Hubby loved it too. I've made it 3 times in 2 weeks. I also bought the tri color quinoa from trader joes, same nutritional value but i love the way it looks :)

I used baby kale, and it has a milder, slightly saltier flavor than the mature leaves. I also forgot to add the feta, so if you don't have any, you can still enjoy this salad. These were my only departures from the recipe. I'm not fully on the quinoa bandwagon yet, so I was not particularly impressed. I was looking for a bit more zing in the dressing, so I will "tweak on"!

I did add more vegetables since there were hardly any in there. I added some carrot, more red pepper and onion (which I didn't really need to do), and sliced grape tomatoes. I also used 1 cup of quinoa instead of 2/3 cup. I think next time I will wilt the kale a little longer then 45 seconds as mine was still a little bitter. My husband put some olives in his and also some dried cherries since he said it needed something. Boy was the dressing tart! I tasted it once it was done and after reading some of the reviews I put in about 2 Tbl. of honey, can't remember exactly. It was much better so for these changes I give it 4 stars but without changing the dressing I would have given it 3.

I loved this salad. The only thing I changed was the kale. I bought baby kale and didn’t have to do any to it. Will definitely make it again. Very refreshing for the summer months.

I followed the recipe with exception of adding a bit of chicken bouillon to the quinoa cooking water. I also followed another's recommendation to steam the kale in the microwave. This was a perfect lunch and fits within a low fat diet. For those of you afraid of kale, it is a must in this recipe. The texture of the kale compliments the soft texture of the quinoa. I prepared the night before and kept the ingredients separate. Perfect for next day lunch at work without hassle!

Loved this!!! Everything about it was delicious. Made it in stages over a busy day: Cooked quinoa first and left to cool. Made dressing and prepared kale so all I needed to do was steam it. Putting it together was a snap and so tasty. We are taking left overs for lunch tomorrow. 6/15/19 - I made this again recently and loved it the second time around. This most recent time preparing this salad forgot to steam the kale.... After dinner, I poured the remainder of the dressing over the salad. The next day I found that the kale had softened perfectly from the acid in the dressing. I'm going to try this same technique intentionally and save myself the steaming stage.

I don't have a steamer so I stirfried the kale in a bit of chicken broth, with a lid on, and followed the rest of the recipe exactly. It was simply delicious!!!! Definitely would make this one again... Two years later, I have yet to meet anyone who did not love this salad once they got past their aversion to trying quinoa. I arrange the ingredients in layers on a roast platter, then evenly distribute the dressing... Never have leftovers! (-:

Tried this recipe last night and have already emailed it to my daughter. Fabulous just as it is, although adding more avocado sounds great.

Our daughter is allergic to sulfites so instead of the Dijon mustard I used 2 Tlb mustard powder. This is an amazing salad. Love, love, love it! Made a triple batch yesterday and it was ALL GONE with supper. Have a huge amount of kale in the garden so this was timed perfectly.

Simply delicious!! Please don't you ever steem Kale or any nutricious food in the microwave since they will loose all its wonderful benefits :( and remember KALE is a Super food , enjoy it !

Didn't have Dijon mustard so substituted plain mustard (little less than 1 T). Also used less salt. But still felt the dressing was too salty. Might have liked with a different dressing.

Fixed this for dinner tonight.. Avocados at market were hard as a rock, so I decided to substitute with strawberries. Very nice. I microwaved the kale for 1 minute to soften it up just a little bit; perfect! The only other thing I did was add sunflower seeds to add a little crunch. Definitely a keeper!

best salad ever!!

This was was very tasty, though next time I would do a little less dijon, which seemed to overwhelm the salad for my tastes. Also, I just put the kale on top of the quinoa when it was almost done cooking, to steam in the same pot. Very easy and quick to make.

Thrilled with this recipe! To my delight, the guys who are generally not the biggest veggie lovers ate it up and went back for more. I will double this recipe in the future so I have more leftovers!

Super! I added other veg as well because, why not! Cherry tomatoes and carrots.

Great! ! My daughter loved it. Great salad, easy to make, I used baby kale as that's what I had on hand. I didn't bother steaming it, it softened when I blended the warm quinoa into it. Im hoping it is as delicious the next day.

It's a really good recipe, but I dropped a star for the dressing. It's just too tangy and sour for me. Next time, I'll add a little sugar to it. I did the quinoa in the rice cooker while I chopped the veggies and made the dressing. Steamed the kale in there too. Makes for a nice easy lunch with little mess.

This was absolutely delicious!! Even my 9 year old gobbled it up and I had leftovers for lunch the next day!!

This was awesome! Super great combination of flavors. Fresh-tasting and not bitter at all. A hit with all types of folks!

This recipe was so healthy and yummy! The only reason I didn't give it five stars was the amount of olive oil. I have a little bit of heartburn after eating it. Next time I would cut the oil in half and see how that goes.

I made this last night for my sweetheart and I and we absolutely loved it. We especially loved the Lemon Dijon vinaigrette dressing.

This was great. I cooked the quinoa, cut up the veggies, and mixed the dressing several hours ahead of time. At dinner all I did was steam the kale (for several minutes) and then it was easy to just put it all together. I posted my picture, too.

Yum! I use some homemade fermented or pickled red onions in place of fresh cut and throw in diced chicken, ham or egg for some added protein.

Made several changes to suit my family's tastes, so not 5-stars. We don't eat raw peppers, so those were out. We're going more vegan, so omitted the feta. Finally, we're watching sodium, so reduced salt to just a few shakes. The result was delicious for us. Thank you for sharing.

Absolutely delicious! This one is going in my recipe book! I am so glad I came across this.

Instead of steaming the kale you can massage the dressing into the leaves to tenderize them. I also used about a 1/3 cup of the cooked quinoa and left out the feta cheese. AMAZING recipe! A spectrum of colors and nutritional elements. The flavors and texture are so complete and the salad holds up for easy leftovers the next day.

I doubled the dressing like one person suggested and it was a bit too much. The flavor was fantastic! My husband and I have just started a gluten-free diet, this was a great introduction to this amazing grain. Definitely a keeper.

I was skeptical when I read the recipe but decided to try it based on the reviews. It was delicious! I highly recommend giving it a go.

I was going to a party and I decided to make this recipe. I tripled the recipe and made it the night before. It was such a hit at the party and everyone wanted the recipe. I made it tonight for my husband and his friend and they haven't stopped raving about it. I recommend it 100%

Amazing! Here are my adaptations: 1/2 c. red quinoa and 1/2 c. white quinoa and substituted chicken broth for water. I added 3-4 cloves chopped garlic, 1/2 c. chopped kalamata olives, 1/2 c. sun dried tomatoes, 1/2 c. red onion, 1/2 c. green and red bell peppers. I sauteed the garlic in the pot with a tablespoon of olive oil, then added the broth and quinoa. I followed the instructions on the dressing and mixed all together. Fantastic! Don't skip the kale, it is much better than spinach and I tried it both ways. I steamed the kale for 45 seconds in the microwave, much faster, less mess.

So so good! All of the flavors go so well together. Lots of textures too. The first time I made this, I made it exactly as written. The second time, I used sun dried tomato oil (from a jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil) in the vinaigrette and WOW, took it to a whole new level for me. I literally use that dressing on a salad with romaine, grape tomatoes and kalamata olives on an almost daily basis, I can’t get enough.

This salad is friggin amazing. I'm eating it right now actually...You don't have to make ANY changes and its wonderful, but I added some cherry tomatoes cause I had them and some slivered almonds, just because I like those in a salad, but dang! SO GOOD! The dressing is perfect, even the KALE tastes good, which is saying something, hahaha. great job on this recipe!

I could eat this salad every day of the week, it's that good. A powerhouse of food items that taste this incredible, WOW! Everyone in my house loves it!!

Very good. I don't usually like kale, but this was good.

Great side and great leftover!

This was delicious!!! I think it is a very forgiving salad--you could add what you liked and it would still be amazing! I used green onions because I didn't have purple, left out the feta because I didn't have that either, and added chopped tomatoes because I had some I needed to use. I also added a bit of vegetable bouillon to the quinoa water because I like to cook it that way.

This was pretty good. The kale I used was on its way out so I think thats why Im not in love with the recipe. I will make it again though with fresh kale :)

Fantastic made with favorites...love Kale.

Absolutely love this recipe and make it for company whenever I have people over to eat. It makes a great salad-lunch too. I use baby kale and just barely steam it. It doesn't keep in the refrigerator for long but it's rare I have leftovers.

This was delicious! I made it last night for the first time for a dinner party and everyone loved it. Not only did it look great (this website won't let me upload my photo) but it tasted great - and tasted even better today. I didn't have Dijon so make it without that and it still was good.

I put creole mustard instead of Dijon and it came out great! Less calories, not sweet.

4 stars because I made a mistake. I did not cook the Kale. I massaged and marinated it for 4 hours in the vinegrette and then added the rest of the ingredients. Very tasty.

Excellent! Easy to prepare. I mixed the dressing with the veggies, and layered kale, quinoa, then the veggies on top.

So, I'm trying to eat kale and not make faces with a yuck expression. To that end, this was tasty and I will make it a staple weekly -- If I was more kale friendly, I'd probably give this a 5. I didn't realize that steaming kale ahead of time would make such a difference for the better. I added sweet grape tomatos from the garden as I didn't have red pepper. This recipe is also something you can make ahead and eat over two days because the kale won't wilt. Loving it and looking forward to taking to work :).

Although this recipe was good on its own, I added a Tbsp of honey to the dressing and cooked the quinoa in chicken broth instead of water. I think it added even more flavor.

Delicious!! I substituted some of the veggies (I added cranberries and tomatoes since I didn't have pepper) and I don't eat cheese so I left that out. For the dressing, I used less than 1 tbsp of olive oil and half the amount for the rest (lemon juice, etc.) otherwise that would make way too much dressing!! This fed my boyfriend and I for dinner and we have leftovers! Will be part of our lunch tomorrow too! Very delicious, I'd definitely recommend it!!

Yummy! I didn't have feta (which would have made it BETTER) so I used some mozzarella. I also can't eat peppers so I doubled the cucumber and added some dried cranberry for color. Delish!