Confession: I am not a fan of potato salad with mayonnaise based dressings. This inspired me to play around with different ingredients and dressings, and the result was a Kale Caesar Potato Salad with Parmesan and crispy crumbled bacon. The dressing is creamy and cheesy, and the potatoes soak it in nicely, and the kale and bacon add lots of taste and texture. It is a fun twist on a classic.
Raw kale can be a bit tough and overpowering, so I quickly blanched the kale. This simple step mellows out the kale and softens the texture. It still gives the salad a hint of fresh crunch, but it looses it's toughness. The texture becomes more like lettuce. If you like raw kale, go ahead and skip the step of blanching it.
When I first made this potato salad, I ate it warm and I loved it warm. Of course you can also refrigerate the salad and serve it chilled, it is totally up to you. I used a classic caesar dressing from Tessemae's that is a bit thinner than some other caesar dressings, so the potatoes soaked it up very well. I would definitely recommend choosing a caesar dressing that isn't too thick if you want your potatoes to absorb that flavor.
Ingredients
- 5-6 New Potatoes
- 3 slices of Bacon
- 3-4 Large Kale Leaves
- ½ cup Caesar Dressing
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. While the water heats up, rinse and dice the potatoes. Once the water reaches a boil, add the potatoes and cook until soft, this will take about 12-14 minutes.
- While the potatoes are cooking, bake the bacon at 425 degrees. Bake bacon for 8-12 minutes until it reaches the desired crispness.
- Chop the kale. I start by cutting the leaves off the thick stem in the middle (I discard the stems). Then chop the kale into bit sized pieces. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and add the kale cooking it for 1 minute. Immediately drain and rinse in cool water.
- Once the potatoes are ready, drain and rinse in cool water.
- While the potatoes are still warm, pour half of the dressing over. The warm potatoes soak in the dressing giving them more flavor.
- You can serve this salad warm or chilled, if you are going to serve it warm, go ahead and stir in the remaining dressing, kale, and parmesan and sprinkle the bacon over. If you are going to serve the salad chilled, let all of the ingredients cool before combining so that the parmesan doesn't melt.
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