Skip to main content

Colorful Kale and Spinach Salad and Homemade Dressing

"I made this because of my husband. He wanted kale in a salad. The rest of the veggies I just happen to have on hand. It became an instant favorite to my husband. Hope you enjoy it as he does!!! You could also use distilled vinegar instead of balsamic. Tweak it to your liking and have fun with it."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Colorful Kale and Spinach Salad and Homemade Dressing

Why it works: Lettuce and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Colorful Kale and Spinach Salad and Homemade Dressing

6 servings
Prep20 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

228Calories
5 gProtein
14 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Romaine Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Spinach + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together427 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Kale + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together23 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Kale + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together24 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Kale + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kale, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, pepper, vinegar, olive):

  1. Endivefits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against kale, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, pepper, vinegar, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.