Keep kale salad fresh and exciting with this Creamy Poppy Seed Kale Slaw with Red Pear, Toasted Pepitas, and Golden Raisins!
Say hello to your new favorite fall salad.
With pear, kale, and toasted pumpkin seeds, not to mention the gorgeous golden shade of sultanas that mimic the color of changing leaves, I’m hard-pressed to find a salad that says fall more than this one. Unless of course if you go and add something like butternut or pumpkin or maybe apple to it (because they really are the epitome of fall, aren’t they?).
(But if you’re looking for a salad with butternut, take a peek at my Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas, Kale, and Pearl Couscous and if you wanted something with apple, my Harvest Kale Salad with Acorn Squash, Toasted Hazelnuts, and Apple-Cinnamon Vinaigrette is sure to hit the spot. Really though, if “go big or go home” is how you roll, you’ll want to go for my Roasted Delicata Squash, Pardina Lentil, and Kale Salad with Maple-Pear Balsamic Vinaigrette, which just happens to be vegan and detox-friendly, and quite possibly the best salad I ever put in my mouth.)
Back to this beauty though. Here I paired sweetness from pear and golden raisins with nutty crunch from toasted pepitas and earthiness from kale. A creamy sour cream-based poppy seed dressing pulls everything together for a bit of decadence (because sometimes salad just needs a little decadence, lol). Truthfully, I went with a dairy-based dressing because I’ve been into pairing a source of calcium (sour cream) with a source of oxalate (kale) since my kidney stone incident; you can read about the whole ordeal and the “why” behind that pairing in this post if you’re interested. You could probably substitute Greek yogurt instead of sour cream if you prefer (or maybe do a mix of half sour cream/half Greek yogurt).
This salad makes a great side for dinner or lunch on its own!
Looking for more kale salad ideas? Check out How to Make a Kale Salad on Cooking Light!
- 6 tablespoons sour cream (I used full-fat)
- 2 tablespoons organic raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pure honey
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped (about 6 cups chopped)
- 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 medium-sized red pear, quartered, pitted, and julienned (cut into thin strips)
- 3 tablespoons golden raisins
- 3 tablespoons pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), toasted
- Whisk together all ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl.
- Stir the kale and onion into the dressing until well-coated. Refrigerate 10 minutes or up to 2 days.
- Right before serving, toss in the pear, golden raisins, and toasted pepitas.
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
This looks so refreshing! I like the combination of ingredients you incorporated in the salad. It’s bound to make everything come together in a fantastically delicious way.
I love this slaw for an early fall picnic, what great flavors!
You are the salad QUEEN!! This looks absolutely amazing! I love all the colors and textures and flavors here!
This is a salad I could dig into with all my favorite characters. Glad to see you “massage” that kale with the dressing for a bit first before eating. It makes for quite the enjoyable salad instead of the feeling one is grazing on the open range with tough greens. :)
This sounds very nice – minus the raw onion and poppy seeds. I find raw onion in any significant quantity to have overwhelming flavor that stays in my mouth for hours (not pleasant) and I have never been able to appreciate poppy seeds.
A delicious combination!
Cheers,
Rosa