Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad

The Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad is my newest favorite salad. I don’t do a whole lot of copycat recipes, but this one, I can’t even tell you how much this one needed to be made.

This is a copycat recipe for Costco’s Sweet Kale Salad and I’m telling you now that you’re going to love it.

Sweet Kale Salad

The crunchy greens, sweet-tart cranberries, and crunchy-salty pumpkin seeds are tossed in a creamy poppyseed dressing to make this salad.

All of the flavors work together to make this salad worthy of our Thanksgiving table, and likely at least a dozen more tables as well before the end of the year.

I would have never guessed that this combination of flavors would work so well, but it does! My kids don’t typically love the “green stuff” in this salad, they watched me make it and were skeptical. However, one taste and they were sold; my middle son even asked for seconds.

Costco Kale Salad

A couple of weeks ago, while I was grocery shopping, there were two women standing in the icy cold produce room at Costco chatting about how amazing this salad is.

I don’t even remember the last time I bought a pre-made salad, (I have a thing for making salads, and rarely am I impressed with the store-bought varieties.) However, these ladies were so enthusiastic, I picked up a bag to try for myself.

Holy smokes. I loved it. Absolutely, positively, loved the Costco salad.

But I knew right away that we could improve on it. I’ve been making this poppyseed dressing for a few years now and every single person that tries it raves about it.

I knew that the homemade poppyseed dressing would take this salad combination right over the top and I wasn’t wrong. Plus, making the salad at home lets me add more of my favorite ingredients.

I went back to the grocery store the next day and picked up the ingredients to make this salad for myself. I made it that night and ate it for dinner, I ate it again the next day for lunch, for a snack, and with dinner again.

Even after tossing the salad with the dressing, it kept nicely for as long as it lasted in my house, about 36 hours.

All of my ramblings are simply to say that you really want to try this salad. If you’re not a big fan of kale, if Brussels aren’t your thing, if broccoli doesn’t thrill you, you just might like this salad anyways.

Sweet Kale Salad Recipe

1. Combine all the kale, broccoli sticks, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, and pepitas in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl or jar, whisk together the mayonnaise, milk, vinegar, sugar, poppy seeds, and salt.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to thoroughly coat.
4. Let the salad rest for at least 5-10 minutes before serving.

How To Make Broccoli Matchsticks

You might be tempted to skip the broccoli matchsticks in this recipe, but please try them. They offer the soft crunch that plays a big part in making this salad so unique. It is easy as can be and well worth the extra minute or two.

• Slice the long thick stalk off of the head of broccoli.
• Peel the outside of the stalk enough to remove the brown areas.
• Slice the stalk into thin rounds.
• Stack a few of the rounds and slice them into matchsticks.

It goes without saying I am a big fan of salads. It doesn’t matter if it is the main dish or a side. Here are a few more of my favorites you should try Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad, Blueberry Apple Walnut Salad and this Summer Berry Pecan Salad uses the same Poppyseed Dressing recipe.

{originally published 11/17/14 – recipe notes and photos updated 5/25/22}