This Tahini Honey Crisp Salad is loaded with hearty kale, crunchy maple pumpkin seed, sweet apple slices and a creamy tahini dressing. Quick, flavorful and easily made vegan for a delicious side salad or satisfying main meal.
What’s in This Tahini Honey Crisp Apple Salad?
This salad is is the perfect combination of textures and flavors, with lots of seasonal fall fruits and veggies. The ingredient list is simple and pretty healthy too!
- Honey Crisp Apples (or another type of apple)
- Homemade maple pumpkin seed clusters
- Pomegranate seeds
- Kale (curly, dinosaur or tuscan)
- Three ingredient tahini dressing
- Feta (I used tofu feta!)
How to Make Honey Crisp Apple Salad
Start by making the pumpkin seed clusters. These are my favorite part of the salad, they’re sweet salty and wonderfully crunchy. If you have any extra, they make for the perfect snack or even a healthier dessert.
Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry skillet until they turn a golden brown color and begin to pop. This takes about 5ish minutes, but keep an eye on them and give them a shake once in a while. Remove the pumpkin seeds and add a few tablespoons of sugar and maple syrup to the skillet. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture turns a deep amber color. At this point, stir in the toasted pumpkin seeds and use a spatula to spread the mixture onto a sheet of parchment. The sugar will take a about 10 minutes or so to harden and then you can break the sheet into clumps.
Adding a pinch of Malden salt also adds so much to these maple pumpkin seed clusters. Regular sea salt is also good too.
While the seeds harden, make the tahini dressing. Again, super simple. Just whisk together some tahini, a little maple syrup and lemon juice, plus a pinch of salt. The dressing will be very thick, so add about a tbsp of water at a time until it’s smooth and pourable.
Last step: assemble the salad! Right before serving, thinly slice a few apples and chop the kale. I like to massage the kale with about half of the dressing and reserve the rest for serving. Top each portion with sliced apple, lots of pumpkin seed clusters, pomegranate seeds, feta (or tofu feta) and another generous drizzle of tahini dressing. Enjoy!
If you’re looking to eat this tahini honey crisp apple salad as a main meal, some roasted chickpeas would be a delicious addition and a great source of protein. This salad can also be served on the side of roasted meat or mixed with a hearty grain like quinoa or farro for something more substantial.
More Salad Recipes to Try:
- Fig and farro grain bowls
- Cornmeal crusted chicken salad
- Spiced lentil salad lettuce wraps
- Blackberry basil grilled chicken salad
Made this recipe? Tag @wandering_chickpea on Instagram and follow along on Pinterest for more delicious recipes!
Tahini Honey Crisp Apple Salad
This Tahini Honey Crisp Apple Salad is loaded with hearty kale, sweet apple slices, crunchy maple pumpkin seed clusters and a creamy tahini dresing.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Water to thin
- 1 large bunch curly kale, chopped
- Sliced Honey Crisp apples, pomegranate seeds and feta for serving
For the pumpkin seed clusters
- 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, hulled
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- Flaky sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- To make the pumpkin seed clusters, heat a dry skillet over medium low heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and toast, tossing occasionally, until lightly golden brown and popping.
- Remove the pumpkin seeds from the skillet and add the sugar and maple syrup. Cook until the sugar bubbles and turns an amber color. Remove from the heat and Stir in the pumpkin seeds.
- Use a spatula to spread the seeds onto a sheet of parchment. Season with salt and let cool completely before breaking into clumps.
- To make the tahini dressing, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup and salt. Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, until smooth and pourable.
- Massage the kale with the dressing and serve with sliced apples, pumpkin seed clusters, pomegranate seeds and feta.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 351Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 525mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 8gSugar: 28gProtein: 9g
All nutritional info is an estimation
