If you enjoy the superfood salad from Chick-Fil-A, You’ll love this copycat version you can make at home. I’ve made a couple tweaks, like using broccoli florets instead of broccolini (simply because the florets are easier to source) and replacing the walnuts with sunflower seeds (just personal taste), but the spirit of the salad remains the same. A sweet and tangy Maple-Cider Vinaigrette gives this salad it’s signature flavor that will keep you coming back for more!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Salad
- Fresh broccoli florets – You can also use broccolini if you can find it.
- Kale – One of the keys I discovered to not hating kale was to massage it. Just put the clean kale in a big bowl and grab it with your hands and scrunch it up until it’s softens a little. This helps break down the toughness and helps it hold onto the dressing a little better.
- Dried tart cherries – If you can’t find dried cherries, Craisins will work as well.
- Salted, shelled sunflower seeds – The original salad uses walnuts, which you are welcome to add if desired. I personally prefer sunflower seeds. Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) are also delicious.
Dressing
- Apple cider vinegar
- Green onion
- Creole or mild course-grain mustard
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Real maple syrup
- Extra virgin olive oil
How to Make a Copycat Chick-Fil-A Superfood Salad
- Make the dressing: In the jar of your blender, combine apple cider vinegar, onion, mustard, salt, pepper, and maple syrup. Blend until smooth. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Set aside.
- Assemble the salad: Massage your clean kale in a large serving bowl to soften it a bit. Make sure your broccoli is broken into very small bite-sized pieces and toss those in. Then add some dried cherries or cranberries and some sunflower seeds.
- Drizzle about 3/4 of the dressing onto the salad. You can always add more dressing if desired, but this is a good place to start. Toss everything together and Refrigerate for up to 24 hours before serving.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This salad is best if chilled for at least a few hours and up to 24 hours. You can certainly still enjoy it after that 24 hour mark, but the greens will begin to soften eventually.
- If you have leftover dressing, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 4-5 days for best results.
- If you’d like to add a little extra flavor or protein, try crumbling a little feta or mild goat cheese over the salad right before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
You may be surprised by how delicious kale can be when marinated in a good dressing! I would recommend giving it a try. I have not tried replacing the kale in this recipe, but you could always try thick shredded cabbage if desired, as it holds up well to dressing in a similar way. You could always try another leafy green, such as spinach, arugula, collard greens, Swiss chard, or mustard greens. Just be aware that some of these will wilt quickly and should be eaten right away after dressing the salad.
Broccolini is a hybrid vegetable created by crossing Chinese kale and broccoli. This results in a more tender, milder floret. It can sometimes be hard to find and more expensive than regular broccoli, which is why I usually use broccoli in this recipe.
Copycat Chick Fil A Superfood Salad
Ingredients
Maple-Cider Vinaigrette
- ⅓ cup cider vinegar if you can, use something murky like Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 green onion trimmed about 1″ on top and the “hairy” root end on the bottom
- 1 teaspoon Creole or mild coarse grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- A few cracks of fresh black pepper
- ⅔ cup real maple syrup
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil I use our garlic olive oil
SALAD
- 4 cups broccoli broken into small pieces
- 8-10 cups about 8 ounces kale, massaged
- 6 ounces tart dry cherries or Craisins
- ⅓ cup salted shelled sunflower seeds
Instructions
Dressing
- In the jar of your blender, combine the vinegar, onion, mustard, salt, pepper, and maple syrup. Blend until smooth. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Set aside.
Salad
- In a very large bowl, combine the broccoli, kale, cherries, and sunflower seeds. Drizzle about 3/4 of the dressing onto the salad and toss to coat evenly. Add more dressing if desired. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
Notes
- Nutrition information was calculated using 3/4 of the dressing.
- Store finished salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This salad is best if chilled for at least a few hours and up to 24 hours. You can certainly still enjoy it after that 24 hour mark, but the greens will begin to soften eventually.
- If you have leftover dressing, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 4-5 days for best results.
- If you’d like to add a little extra flavor or protein, try crumbling a little feta or mild goat cheese over the salad right before serving.
Questions & Reviews
I put my kale into my ninja mixer until it is broken up into small pieces- not mush; just broken down. I find it “tenderizes” the kale quite a bit and makes the pieces more like Chick-fil-A size. Love the dressing!
This is spot in delicious. I love diced almond so I use that instead of sunflower seeds. I make this for dinners and only use the dressing each time we serve the salad so we don’t have to refrigerate the whole salad and deal with sogginess. Such a great salad.
I think this is even better than the salad at Chick Fil A. I cut down the maple syrup to 1/2 cup and it was perfect. I think the one at CFA is too sweet. Thank you for sharing this!
This is an amazing salad! I’d had it at Chick-fil-A and wanted to make it myself. My family LOVES it. My teenage sons devour it! Loved your tip to “massage” the kale. It’s absolutely necessary and many people don’t know about it. Thanks for a great recipe that I make over and over again!
I haven’t had the salad from CFA, but we had this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I subbed pepitas (little pumpkin seeds) for the sunflower seeds. Yum!
I adore CFA ksle salad, but it is $$$! I can’t wait to try this at home! Thanjs so much for sharing!
Massaging Kale w a little salt will help breakdown the toughness of the Kale. Also the longer it marinates the better it gets. If you haven’t tried it you will be surprised of how good it is. Even makes me feel the goodness after i eat it.
Holy crap this is TASTY!!! I subbed in brown sugar for the maple syrup. I was snarffing down greedy bites as I prepared the rest of dinner. I was not expecting this from a kale salad!!
Yes!! This makes me so happy!!
This is the closest I’ve tasted to the CFA Superfood dressing! (I didn’t use the mustard, omitted the salt and subbed soy sauce.) Definitely a keeper. Thank you! Well done!
Yes!!! I love to hear this! ??
I’m addicted to this salad. I buy two large and add an 8 count grilled nugget to it to make a meal. After spending way too much monty for these at the restaurant, I decided to search copycat recipes. We tried one that was basically a dressing mix of ACV/EVOO/maple syrup/salt/pepper and it wasn’t that great. The next one we tried was your version. HELLO, YUM!! You nailed it!! Now I can make a huge bowl to feed the family and not break the bank. THANK YOU!!
YES! I’m so happy to hear this! 🙂
Great post. The only problem is that you use broccoli and not broccolini which is just a little bit different than broccoli. It has smaller florets and longer thin stalks. It is a little bit sweeter and more tender raw. It has a great flavor. Kroger usually has it available in their raw vegetable section.
I am so excited to make this for myself at home! I could eat that salad every day.
I made this 2 hours before a potluck. I tasted it before I went and it tasted amazing. I went ahead and put all of the dressing on it, b/c we had 1/3 more kale than the recipe calls for. By the time we got to the potluck, the kale had totally wilted and looked really unappetizing! I was so sad, only my husband and I ate it; It still tasted good, but in the future, I will put the dressing on right before I serve. I can’t imagine how it would look after 24 hours, as it looked almost like warmed up spinach, it was so wilted.
I think it must depend on the kale–I think very…robust kale holds up better (but is harder to eat), but baby kale can’t handle the dressing the same way. Such a bummer about the potluck!
I quite like the chic-filet salad. After trying it a month ago, as I ate it, I sat and tried to figure out if the kale and broccolinni had been blanched/parboiled and quick cooled. I have decided that it had to have been. I am going to try your salad with first blanching and quick cooling the greens. Hopefully that will lend to a slight bit of tenderness.
Did you try this? I may agree because of the color of the kale and it’s softeness.
This was totally delicious! I served it when we had four missionaries over for dinner and they had second helpings. My kids weren’t super crazy about it, but vinaigrettes can be a little overpowering for young tastebuds. I had it for lunch today and it was still tasty. Definitely right on that 3/4 of the dressing, though. I poured all of it b/c it only sat in the fridge for an hour before it was served, but the next day the dressing was pretty strong. Thanks for a tasty recipe that made me feel like I was eating healthy!
I made a similar salad recipe. Apple slices rather than broccoli. I used baby kale with mixed greens and chopped it. Used blue cheese crumbles. Neither of us like kale, but baby kale with a few mixed greens from Trader Joe’s is a different story. My husband grilled the steaks to perfection. When we finished eating, he said for the first time in his life, he thought the Salad was better than the steak! I nearly fainted from shock!
You are very funny today. I do ok with baby kale, but the big stuff is a little . . . something. Tough? Chewy? Curly? Creepy? I don’t know, but I just stick with the baby stuff and then we’re all happy. I saw this salad at Chick Fil A, but I haven’t tried it yet. I’ll have to get some baby kale and then try it out. Thanks for a hearty laugh and a recipe that sounds delicious.
This salad looks yummyI’m on a mission to get more people to eat kale because I actually love it, so, another salad to try (I do this as single-serve): about 2 cups kale, 1/4 – 1/2 of an avocado, squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper – massage the kale together with the other stuff(yes, it’s messy due to the avo, but good), then add toppings as desired. My favorites are fresh blueberries, garbonzo beans, toasted coconut and pepitas. Black beans work well too. Leftovers don’t, which is the only drawback. = )
I’m so excited to try this! I LOVE chik fil A’s kale salad, but I’m not loving the price or the fact that you get like 3 bites per portion.
EXACTLY, hah!!
So….I really don’t like dried fruit like craisins, etc. What are your thoughts about maybe strawberries in this? Or mandarin oranges or something? What fruit would be yummy?!
Strawberries or raspberries would be awesome!
Hi there! I am a long time follower, but I don’t think I have ever commented before..until now. This salad is UNBELIEVABLE!!! I am eating it as we speak and I think I could eat the entire bowl! I have never had the original, and don’t think it could be any better than this! Delicious!!! Thank you soo much!!
Yaaaaay!!! I’m so impressed that you had everything to make it and so glad that you love it!!
I have the same thoughts on Kale… I have tried it cooked completely, cooked crisp, raw, with garlic, with other spices, in smoothies, etc. and I just cannot bring myself to like it… I almost always replace it with spinach. I really want to try the salad, but I cannot get past the kale!!!
I would try replacing it with spinach. 🙂
Do you mean you can refrigerate if you don’t eat it all, or you should refrigerate before eating it the first time?
Yes, just refrigerate any leftovers. 🙂
Yum! I’ve been wanting to try this salad! I’ll have to make it at home soon!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
The kale massage… you guys are my favorite. Thank you for the food and the morning giggles.
The way you feel about kale is how I feel about quinoa. I KNOW it’s some amazing food that is SO good for me…but I just hate it! I hate the texture. I’ve tried to like it but I just can’t.
Yay! I have been waiting for this. I love their salad but I think it’s a little pricey. The large isn’t very big.
that salad is so darn good…. I am getting some today! thank you for posting your version!!!!!
Thank you! I am really liking the Chick Fil A Super Salad too…and no I don’t like kale either…haha. Thank you for this recipe…I will be making this often and soon.
I hadn’t been a fan of kale either until I tried the chick-fil-a salad myself. Looking forward to massaging some kale for myself at home-thanks! 😉
Thank you!