This kale apple slaw is made with crisp kale, green cabbage, and fresh apples dressed in a creamy homemade apple cider dressing. It’s the perfect healthy side dish to serve this fall with chicken, turkey burgers, or baby back ribs!
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📋 About the Recipe
- Made with greek yogurt, instead of mayonnaise. Traditional coleslaw is typically dressed with a mayonnaise based coleslaw dressing. While this creates an incredibly creamy and delicious coleslaw, greek yogurt is lower in calories, cholesterol, and saturated fat. Try my Lemon Dill Yogurt Sauce and Tzatziki Sauce for more healthy yogurt based sauces.
- Can be served as a side dish or topping for burgers. This kale apple slaw pairs well with practically any protein. I especially love serving it on my healthy turkey burgers.
- Ready in about 30 minutes. This includes making a homemade slaw dressing and cutting your slaw ingredients yourself. If you buy pre-sliced cabbage and kale, the coleslaw can be ready even sooner.
🛒 Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- kale - There are many different varieties of kale you can buy at the grocery store. I used curly kale, but you can also use lacinato kale (sometimes called dino kale), or red kale. I would avoid using baby kale. It is too soft in texture and isn’t suitable for a kale slaw salad.
- cabbage - Cabbage is of course a classic in coleslaw. By mixing green cabbage with kale, you still get that nice crunch and familiar flavor.
- apple - Crisp, sweet, and tart apples like honey crisp, granny smith, or gala are my favorites to use in this slaw. If you’d like, you can add a combination of a few different apples for an even more flavorful slaw.
- apple cider - To make the homemade apple cider dressing, you need both apple cider and apple cider vinegar. Apple cider is similar to apple juice, but it is sweeter and unfiltered. For best results, use an apple cider that is made with just apples - no added sweeteners or spices.
- plain greek yogurt - My absolute favorite healthy substitute for mayonnaise in making a healthy homemade slaw. It contains significantly less fat, but still makes for a delicious, creamy side veggie dish and adds a nice tanginess.
📓 Instructions
- Prepare the kale. Remove the tough stems, then thinly slice the kale and transfer it to a large mixing bowl or salad bowl. If this is your first time working with kale, watch this super easy tutorial to help you learn how to slice kale.
- Prepare the cabbage. Using a vegetable peeler or the same large knife, slice the cabbage into thin strips. Place in the same bowl with the kale.
- Slice the apples, green onion and jicama, if using. Cut the apples and jicama into thin matchsticks and thinly slice the green onion. Add the apples and green onion to the large bowl and mix the kale, cabbage, apples, and green onion to combine.
- Make the homemade apple cider dressing. Whisk together the apple cider vinegar, apple cider, plain greek yogurt, maple syrup, dijon, celery seed, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing overtop the kale apple slaw and stir to coat the slaw evenly.
- Allow the kale apple slaw to marinate. For a few minutes, either at room temperature or in the refrigerator, allow the kale apple slaw to sit and absorb the dressing.
- Serve. Slaw is delicious served as a side dish or topped on Apple Turkey Burgers.
⁉️ Substitutions and Alterations
- Apple cider substitutions: If necessary, unsweetened apple juice can be substituted for the apple cider. Again, double check the ingredients list. The only ingredients should be apples. Please remember that apple cider vinegar is NOT a substitute for apple cider. Doing so would make your kale slaw extremely sour and vinegary.
- Kale substitutions: Thinly sliced red cabbage or even shaved brussel sprouts would work well in place of the kale.
❄️ How to Store
How far in advance can I make coleslaw? If you are prepping this slaw for meal prep or to bring to a potluck, it can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.
Kale apple slaw will store best if the vegetables are stored separately from the apple cider coleslaw dressing. If possible, cut the apple right before serving or else it will oxidize and turn brown. Dress the coleslaw right before serving.
If the slaw has already been dressed, it will still store okay for 1 to 2 days, but it will simply become less crunchy.
To freeze: Freezing this slaw is not recommended.
🔍 FAQs
Yes, if you are cutting a large head of cabbage, I recommend peeling off a couple of the outer leaves, then thoroughly rinsing the outside of the cabbage before chopping. It is not necessary to rinse the cabbage again once thinly sliced. Doing so would likely make your coleslaw too watery.
If you are prepping your coleslaw ingredients ahead of time and want to ensure your shredded cabbage stays extra crisp, place a couple of paper towels on top of the cabbage before storing to absorb any excess moisture. This tip also works well for sliced kale.
If you prefer to use mayonnaise instead of greek yogurt, use 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise in place of the 3 tablespoons of Greek yogurt. However, this may slightly alter the taste of the dressing.
💭 One More Tip
Celery seed is not the same as celery salt. Celery seed does not contain any sodium and tastes similar to celery. If you use celery salt, your dressing may become too salty.
🍴 Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Kale Apple Slaw
Equipment
Ingredients
For Kale Apple Slaw
- 1 medium bunch of kale, stems removed
- ½ a small head of green cabbageh
- 1 apple (honeycrisp, granny smith, or gala)
- 1 green onion (about 3 tablespoons sliced)
- jicama, thinly sliced optional for added crunch
For Apple Cider Dressing
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup apple cider (can also use apple juice)
- 3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
- 1 ½ tabelspoons pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Thinly slice the kale leaves and place them in a large bowl.
- Using a vegetable peeler or a sharp knife, slice the cabbage into thin strips. Add to the bowl with the kale.
- Cut apple into short, thin strips, similar in size to the kale and cabbage pieces. Slice the green onion. Add apple and onion to the bowl. Mix to combine.
- To make the dressing: Whisk together dressing ingredients in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Pour dressing over the slaw mixture and stir to coat.
- Allow slaw to sit in the refrigerator or at room temperature for a few minutes to absorb the dressing. Stir occasionally so all parts can soak up the dressing.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature as a side dish or on top of apple turkey burgers!
Notes
- Using apple juice in place of apple cider will slightly change the flavor of the dressing.
- If prepping the slaw ahead of time, keep the dressing separate until just a few minutes before serving.
Nutrition
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