My Copycat Kale Cranberry Pepita Salad Recipe (2024)

June 19, 2012Dockfam Travel

You can see from a previous post my love for Central Market’s Kale Cranberry Pepita salad. I don’t live close to a Central Market so I’m not able to get my hands on it that often, not to mention it’s $5.99/lb! Going by the ingredient label on the salad container I decided to try and make my own. It came out excatly like the real thing! Here’s the recipe, let me know what you think!

Ingredients;

1 large bunch of raw, rinsed, stemmed and chopped kale (yields about 6 cups)

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup orange juice

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 tsp minced onions (in lieu of shallots)

1 tsp ground ginger

1 handful craisins or dried cranberries

1 handful roasted pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

1 handful chopped or slivered almonds (roasted or raw)

pinch of salt & pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Optional: slivers of candied ginger to taste (I don’t like it, but it’s in the original salad)

Directions;

Mix all of the ingredients except for the cranberries and seeds together in bowl with a whisk until well combined. Pour on top of kale and mix well until all leaves coated. Sprinkle on the cranberries, almonds and pepitas. Let salad sit for at least 1 hour in the fridge so that kale softens up a bit. Best if eaten the next day!

You can see mine looks just like the store bought kind and tastes the same too!

  1. Looking so good. I’l make it tomorrow! Thanks!

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    June 30, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    • I’m having some right now for lunch. so yummy! Thx for your comment!

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      July 2, 2012 at 12:18 pm

      • I had it yesterday:-). Thanks again!

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        July 2, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    • It’s up to $9.00 lb., that’s rediculous. I really need to learn how to make it.

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      June 23, 2016 at 2:39 pm

      • Oh man, that’s crazy! I just make it now, I never buy it anymore

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        July 7, 2016 at 11:04 am

  2. I’ll be making this tomorrow. Thanks:)

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    June 30, 2012 at 7:29 pm

  3. I’m not familiar with Central Market, but I love the look of this salad! Thanks for sharing.

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    July 2, 2012 at 2:49 pm

  4. Looks pretty good and seems to be very simple to put together! Thank you for signing up to follow my blog!

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    July 3, 2012 at 8:29 am

    • No problem! I really enjoy reading it!

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      July 3, 2012 at 2:23 pm

  5. Just has Central Markets, and it was so good! I hoped I would find a recipe like the ingredients listed on the package…and low and behold, there you were with yours! Thanks bunches for figuring it out!

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    July 7, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    • I hope you try it out! I’m so addicted to that salad, I need to join a support group lol

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      July 8, 2012 at 11:02 am

  6. OK, now this has got to be one of the healthiest salads I’ve ever read about. The nutrients in Kale are amazing. It’s on my grocery list now so I can try your new recipe next week. Thanks lots, hope to read more, and thanks for your connection to my blog too.

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    July 12, 2012 at 12:45 pm

    • It’s crazy how addictive it is. I’ll finish one head of kale and then I can’t wait to get to the store and buy more. Enjoy!

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      July 12, 2012 at 3:19 pm

  7. Looks delicious! Candied ginger is a great digestif. You might enjoy it more with a tall glass of iced lemonade! 🙂

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    July 15, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    • Thx I might try it, that actually sounds good.

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      July 16, 2012 at 7:22 pm

  8. I salute your initiative – ya don’t have to be beholden to food companies, markets, etc. to create good eats. They serve as inspiration for your own creativity. What you need is what you have!! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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    September 12, 2012 at 8:42 am

  9. Looks great! I must try it.

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    December 4, 2012 at 4:00 pm

  10. a million trillion thank yous! we have been eating this at CM for YEARS and its a favorite. I have made it twice now and each time I can’t believe it! How good it is and how easy it is to make. I use clean hands to mix all the ingrediants into the kale while tearing the leaves up even more. Also, I toast raw, shelled pumpkin seeds on the stove and while they are hot, mix them in to heat the mixture a bit and warm things up. What a treasure for my recipe collection!

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    December 18, 2012 at 7:01 pm

  11. We ate this from Central Market last night and it was so good. However, I distinctly tasted SUNFLOWER oil in it. So I will be using that instead of Canola oil. Also, I will be adding more Candied ginger pieces. I loved each bite that had those pieces and there were not enough in the salad. Thank you for figuring out this recipe. Your ingredients sound correct based on all the flavors going on when I ate it.

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    December 23, 2012 at 3:05 pm

  12. This recipe is awesome! I used two mid-sized bunches of kale and followed the rest exactly. Frankly, I liked it better than the Central Market kind. GREAT work!

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    January 23, 2013 at 11:51 pm

    • Thank you! I tend to eat ALOT of this salad…I almost make myself sick of it!

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      March 5, 2013 at 10:47 pm

  13. Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been buying it by the pound from HEB. Now I can just buy ingredients and make my own – it’s bound to be cheaper.

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    January 27, 2013 at 12:29 pm

  14. I’m addicted to this salad from Central Market and so happy to read your recipe. Yesterday, I looked at the nutrition information on the Central Market label and 1 cup has 36 grams of fat! I was shocked and disheartened as I assumed I was eating a very healthy kale salad. Does the majority of the fat come from the oil-based dressing? Is it considered good fat? I don’t want to stop eating this salad, but my Weight Watchers tracker almost exploded when I entered this salad yesterday.

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    March 19, 2013 at 9:46 am

    • I might be from the almonds and pumpkin seeds…but those are good fats. I’m not sure that the oil adds some too. I don’t know if the CM kind uses canola or olive oil but I use olive oil too to lower the bad fat and up the good fat. Lots of salads that we think are healthy are shockingly high in calories and fat. Just a plain kale salad with a little lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and parm cheese is good and low in both!

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      March 19, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    • Just a thought–are you certain that the serving size was 1 cup and not 8 oz? 8 oz. by weight (vs. by volume) would be quite a lot of salad, and that would explain the fat content at 36 grams.

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      April 26, 2013 at 9:36 am

  15. Ande this serves how many?

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    March 31, 2013 at 4:35 pm

    • Well I usually make 1 whole bunch of kale and it will serve me a lunch portion for a week straight. I’m the only one who eats kale in my family so I’m not really sure how many it would cover at once….maybe 6-8?

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      April 5, 2013 at 11:07 pm

  16. Um, that would be “And”, not “ande”.

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    March 31, 2013 at 4:35 pm

  17. This receipe looks healthy but it is high in fat and sugar. You can adjust it without loosing the taste by reducing the oil from a 1/2c to 1 tablespoon. You only need to coat the leaves lightly. I would also reduce the amount of soy sauce to 1 tablespoon. The seeds and almonds should not exceed a 1/4 cup each as well as the craisins / cranberries.

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    June 25, 2013 at 12:18 pm

  18. Made this earlier today. Tried is after a few hours of settling / softening. It is SO GOOD!!

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    July 7, 2013 at 10:26 pm

  19. Unfortunately, if you reduce the oil from 1/2 c to 1 tablespoon, it would be a little too dry. One of the reasons it’s so good is because the kale is nicely softened by all the oil, etc.

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    July 17, 2013 at 3:11 pm

  20. Pingback: HEB Kale and Cranberry Salad | Nood Mood

  21. I tried the HEB salad a few weeks ago. I do not really care for raw kale and definitely not cooked kale. The dressing covers up the bitterness for me. I found it to be pretty good. I know kale is supposed to be so good on nutrition. This recipe a little heavy on the soy for me. I omitted the extra salt, as the soy and peptia seeds have plenty. I used coconut oil, cause that is what I had. I would make again and adjust a few ingredients. I emulsified the dressing in my Ninja and it coated the kale really well. Any way we can get an extra veggie in our diet is wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.

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    September 6, 2013 at 7:40 pm

  22. Awesome dressing. I added some diced candied orange rinds and that really kicked up the flavor.

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    June 30, 2014 at 2:33 pm

    • That sounds really good! I’ve been slacking lately, I haven’t made this in a while but I think I need to!

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      July 10, 2014 at 12:34 pm

  23. A customer gave me some of this salad from Central Market to try and I fell in love with it! I was so glad that you had the recipe for it…big thanks! I’ve been making it 2-3 times a week for the last few weeks now and have gotten a few coworkers and my family hooked on it too. I substituted apple cider vinegar instead and added about 1 tsp. of sesame oil to mine, which tastes great too. Thanks again! 🙂

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    August 4, 2015 at 4:41 pm

  24. Pingback: Kale and Cranberry Copy Cat Salad | Nood Mood

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My Copycat Kale Cranberry Pepita Salad Recipe (2024)
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