Mediterranean Cauliflower Kale Salad

This bright, refreshing Mediterranean Cauliflower Salad with kale, oranges and crispy chickpeas is the perfect antidote to a dreary winter day. It's packed with color, nutrients and easy-to-make cauliflower rice!

I have to admit, one of my favorite parts about this salad is the gorgeous jewel-toned colors. Yes, it tastes great, too, but I always think the prettier my food, the more likely I am to enjoy it. Especially if it's a plate of vegetables. Agreed?

The best part is, you don't have to be a food stylist to make this look (or taste!) good. It's incredibly easy to throw together, and you can prep it ahead of time for a healthy lunch.

Cauliflower Rice Salad

We had quite a few different ideas for this Mediterranean cauliflower salad. At first, we wanted to do roasted cauliflower florets, but we ended up going with cauliflower rice instead. It's easy to make (all you need is cauliflower + a food processor!) and even easier to eat.

I love cauliflower in just about any form, but in a salad, I don't want to have to take huge bites of it. Especially in a chopped salad like this, cauliflower rice just works better. Each bite is perfectly balanced, with just the right amount of every ingredient.

These days, you can easily find pre-riced cauliflower at most grocery stores. It's often found in plastic packaging near the packaged greens, or in the frozen section.

We typically prefer to make it at home. It couldn't be any easier as long as you have the right equipment. To make cauliflower rice, simply trim the stem, break into florets, add to a food processor and pulse a few times until it looks like rice.

It's important not to over-blend the cauliflower, otherwise it will turn into mush. Just a few pulses will do the trick!

While you can eat cauliflower rice raw, we prefer to cook and season it with a few other ingredients before adding to this recipe. We sauté ours briefly in olive oil with shallots, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper. It adds so much more flavor, but if you want to skip that step, you can just leave it raw.

Ingredients

This Mediterranean Cauliflower Salad is accented with some of our favorite winter produce items, including fresh oranges and pomegranate. They both add a burst of color and freshness –– much needed to combat the dreary weather!

To pull all of the ingredients together, we made a flavorful Orange Cumin dressing. Freshly squeezed orange juice and orange zest makes all the difference in flavor. Powdered cumin adds just the right amount of spice.

To prep the orange slices for the salad, you'll need to supreme cut the orange.

To do so, use a very sharp knife and carefully cut off both ends of the orange, revealing just a bit of the flesh. Then, use the knife to completely remove the peel in long vertical strips. When the peel is removed, carefully use a paring knife to cut between each slice's membrane to remove each segment.

Confused? Watch this video!

When you're ready to prep the kale for this Mediterranean cauliflower salad, be sure to chop it very finely. Nobody wants to end up with a huge piece of tough, leafy kale. We prefer lacinato kale in this recipe - it's flatter and a bit less tough than curly kale.

To add extra crunch, we threw in some store-bought crispy chickpeas. Plain salted chickpeas are best, but any Mediterranean-spiced flavor will work, too. If you want to make them from scratch, try this recipe!

If you're prepping this ahead of time for lunch or meal prep, wait to add the chickpeas until just before serving so they don't get soggy. Otherwise, you can completely assemble this salad and store in the fridge until ready to eat!

More winter salad recipes

• Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Pomegranate and Quinoa
• Roasted Beet, Citrus and Lentil Salad
• Kale Tahini Caesar Salad
• Moroccan Carrot and Lentil Salad

If you make this Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice Kale Salad recipe, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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