30 Hearty, Verdant Kale Recipes to Make This Winter (2024)

FAQs

What to do with an abundance of kale? ›

Kale is a nutrient-dense leafy green. It's a cruciferous vegetable related to cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Taste-wise, kale can have bitter notes, so combining it with spicy, sweet or acidic elements, such as vinegar, lemon or red wine, can counteract and balance the mild bitterness.

You can freeze kale without blanching, but plan to use it within four to six weeks. Unblanched kale may develop a bitter flavor because you haven't stopped the action of the naturally-occurring ripening enzymes in the leaves.

Kale leaves can also be massaged with a little olive oil. Adding salt and squeezing lemon make a big difference by removing bitterness.

The benefits of kale may include:

Rich in vitamins C and E, plus selenium and beta-carotene to help support immunity. A good source of plant-based calcium to help support bone health. Contains several nutrients which may protect against heart disease. Contains a number of cancer-protective substances.

Blanching kale softens its tough texture and its infamous bitterness. It also sets the green color, allowing you to cook it further without losing as much green as happens otherwise. All it takes is a quick dunk in boiling salted water and a rinse in ice-cold water after draining.

Like all produce, kale's shelf-life depends on how you store it. Raw kale will last up to a week in the refrigerator and about six months in the freezer. Cooked kale, meanwhile, will only keep for three to five days in the fridge.

Raw and processed kale leaves can be a good source of minerals and vitamins. The lowest losses of components were observed in frozen kale. The highest losses of components were noted in canned kale. Frozen products from blanched leaves had the highest level of minerals and vitamins.

Does freezing kale change the taste? ›

Kale can be frozen without blanching but should be used within 4 weeks. Blanching greens before freezing stops the naturally-occurring ripening enzymes in the leaves. This will ensure that the leaves taste fresh and will not develop a bitter taste. Blanched kale will last up to 1 year in the freezer.

Kale contains roughly 112.8 grams of vitamin K, which can be dangerous to people who take blood thinners, such as warfarin or aspirin. Vitamin K is used by the body to help blood clot, so when it's taken with a blood thinner, it decreases the medication's effectiveness and makes the blood more likely to clot.

Aphids, flea beetles, and cabbage worms (from those white butterflies you see flying around the garden) are a few annoying pests that can put a serious dent in your kale harvest.

While slugs and snails have been known to eat from kale, your culprit is most likely going to be caterpillars, specifically cabbage worms and cabbage loopers. Caterpillars are the first thing I expect to find whenever I start seeing holes in the leaves of my Brassica plants, kale included.

Try adding kale to your omelet or frittata. Simply sauté the kale down in some oil with onions and garlic until tender and then add your eggs to finish making your dish. We love this recipe for a kale frittata. Take your favorite wrap or sandwich and swap out the bread for kale.

Store Whole Bunches In the Fridge

To avoid excess moisture, wrap the whole bunch of kale in a layer of paper towels, and store in a supermarket plastic bag or a zip-top plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper drawer.

Consensus is: kale chips are the go-to method for most people when they're confronted with more kale than they can eat raw or cooked in a week. If you're like me, you get even more kale than you can chip-ify from your local farm/garden, and you'll need additional methods of preserving.