Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan

Whenever I want a green salad for a special meal, I’d love this absolutely delicious Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan! And if you like kale and Caesar dressing, I bet this kale and romaine Caesar salad is a recipe you’ll make over and over!

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I might be thinking outside the box a bit in recommending this amazing Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan as a green salad recipe to serve for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I absolutely love this recipe!  And through the years I’ve made this so many times times, adapting the recipe to use baby kale, shaving the Parmesan (and using more Parmesan!) and also replacing the anchovy paste in the original dressing recipe with a little bit of fish sauce. (Or use Vegan Fish Sauce if you want to keep it strictly meatless.)

I love the idea of a Caesar dressing recipe with no raw eggs, and the dressing in this recipe is really, really good, but even if you use bottled Caesar dressing this will still be an amazingly delicious salad. And no judgement from me for using a bottled salad dressing either, especially if you make it during the holidays! But even if this doesn’t make it on your holiday table, if you like Caesar salad I really hope you will give it a try! 

And this amazing Kale Caesar Salad is low-carb, Keto, Gluten-Free, and meatless, so it can be enjoyed by almost everyone. (I do know that Parmesan is not strictly vegetarian, so you’ll have to omit it if you care about that.)

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• baby kale
• romaine lettuce
• shaved Parmesan (preferably from a block of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese)
• fresh-squeezed lemon juice, I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice
• fish sauce, preferably Red Boat Fish Sauce (affiliate link)
• garlic puree
• Dijon Mustard (affiliate link)
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Why do I add kale to a Caesar Salad?

I know not everyone is a fan of the slightly bitter flavor of kale. But for people who enjoy it (like me!) this Caesar Salad with kale is more nutritious and flavorful and I think it just bumps up the flavor and makes a more interesting salad! Of course you can skip the kale or use another type of greens if you prefer.

Want more recipes with Kale?

If you’re also a fan of kale, you might like Kale, Mozzarella, and Egg Bake, Pasta with Sausage and Kale (with low-carb pasta), and Artichoke, Kale, and Ricotta Pie.

How to Make Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. We used ice cold water in the salad spinner to crisp the baby kale, which is a step you can certainly skip if you’d like. Make sure the kale leaves are as dry as you can get them, then put the kale into the salad bowl.
2. Chop Romaine, wash in the salad spinner and spin extra dry and add to salad bowl.
3. Buzz together the fresh lemon juice, Red Boat Fish Sauce (affiliate link) or anchovy paste or Vegan fish sauce, garlic, Dijon, olive oil, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
4. Use a vegetable peeler to shave large strips of Parmesan from a block of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and then coarsely chop it with a knife (or you can use coarsely grated Parmesan from a jar if you don’t have a block.)
5. Toss the baby kale and washed Romaine together in a bowl with the desired amount of dressing.
6. Then add a generous amount of shaved Parmesan (saving some for the top) and toss again! That’s all!
7. Add fresh-ground black pepper at the table if desired.
8. Devour the salad and start thinking about how quickly you can make it again. (And you can give yourself a tiny pat on the back if you eat this as a main dish salad or part of a healthy meal.)
9. If you’re making more than you’d eat at one time, refrigerate the greens and dressing separately and combine when you’re going to eat it.

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

I’d love this as a low-carb side dish for a holiday meal. But for other options for a tasty low-carb meal serve the Kale Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken with Lemon and Capers, Pecan Crusted Salmon, Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken, Air Fryer Salmon with Mustard-Herb Sauce, or Grilled Boneless Pork Chops.

More Tasty Salads with Kale:

• Kale Greek Salad
• Kale Taco Salad
• Lemon Parmesan Kale Salad
• Kale and Arugula Salad
• Kale and Red Cabbage Slaw

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe for Caesar Salad with kale has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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Yield: 4 servings

Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

I could make an entire meal of this Low-Carb Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan!

Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 5 oz. package of baby kale, crisped in cold water if needed and dried well (See notes.)
• 5 oz. romaine lettuce, chopped, washed and dried very well
• 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan from a block of Parmigiano-Reggiano (more or less to taste, see notes)

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice (See notes.)
• 1 tsp. fish sauce (See notes.)
• 1 tsp. garlic puree (I used garlic puree from a jar)
• 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 6 T olive oil
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. If the kale seems even the tiny bit wilted I’d put it into a salad spinner with very cold water and let it crisp for a few minutes.
2. Then spin the kale dry, dry more with paper towels if needed, and put kale into large salad bowl.
3. Chop the romaine lettuce (discarding root ends and any damaged outer leaves).
4. Then wash the lettuce in the salad spinner with very cold water, spin dry, and dry more with paper towels if needed. Put the lettuce into the salad bowl.
5. In a blender, food processor, or the mini-processor bowl of an immersion blender combine the lemon juice, fish sauce (or anchovy paste or soy sauce), garlic puree, and Dijon and pulse together a few times. (Links are affiliate links)
6. Then add the olive oil 2 tablespoons at a time, pulsing for a few seconds after each addition of oil is.
7. Season the dressing with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
8. Put dressing in the fridge and chill until ready to use,.
9. Add desired amount of dressing to the greens and toss, until all the salad greens are very lightly coated with dressing. (You may not need all the dressing, but save it in the fridge for another time.)
10. Add the shaved chopped Parmesan to the salad and toss again.
11. Serve right away, adding fresh-ground black pepper at the table if desired.
12. If making this dressing is just not going to happen at your house, I’d still make the salad and simply dress it with Cardini’s Caesar, which is my all-time favorite bottled Caesar dressing, or use your favorite vegan Caesar dressing.

Notes

I used a salad spinner (affiliate link) to dry the greens and then dried more with paper towels. I use my frozen fresh lemon juice for the dressing. I like Red Boat Fish Sauce (affiliate link) for this. This salad is also great with my favorite bottled Caesar Dressing if making dressing just isn’t happening at your house. You can use coarsely grated Parmesan from a jar, but I don’t recommend finely grated Parmesan for this salad.

We had a little bit of the salad left and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted the next day even after being in the fridge overnight.  I think this would be a great salad to take to work already made for lunch, as long as you have a fridge to keep it in during the morning. But if you’re making this on the weekend for food prep and you know it’s more than you’ll eat at one time I would store the extra greens, grated Parmesan, and dressing separately and combine it right before you eat it.

Recipe adapted from Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw at Bon Appetit Magazine.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 258Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 18gCholesterol 12mgSodium 542mgCarbohydrates 6gFiber 2gSugar 1gProtein 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan is perfect for low-carb or Keto Diets and a long as you use a moderate amount of dressing, this salad is a great choice for any phase of the original South Beach Diet.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
The Kale Caesar Salad was first posted in 2011, and I’ve made it many times since then. It was last updated with more information in 2024.

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