Easy Sautéed Kale Recipe (Oil-Free) (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the bitterness out of sauteed kale? ›

Adding salt and squeezing lemon make a big difference by removing bitterness.

Kale works best with other robust flavours such as lemon, chilli, garlic, olive oil, cheese, tomato, fresh mint and basil, or as a contrast to sweet potato or carrot. In Italy, where it's commonly grown in backyards, cavolo nero is added to a hearty cannellini bean and vegetable soup called ribollita.

As a result, for those who prefer cooked kale, steaming it for a short duration may be the best way to preserve its nutrient levels. Kale is a nutrient-dense food that's high in several vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

How do you soften kale without oil? You can also soften kale with lemon or another acidic ingredient, such as apple cider vinegar. Use about a tablespoon per bunch of kale. Follow the same steps as you would if you were using oil.

Red (or Red Russian) Kale

— often has red-hued stems. The leaves are flatter than those of curly kale (resembling arugula leaves) and can be green or gray-green in color. Red kale is often considered the sweetest kale, which makes it perfect for eating raw.

Kale offers an abundance of nutrients that support heart health, including potassium, fiber, folate, and calcium. As part of a heart-healthy diet, kale can reduce the risk of heart disease by helping lower LDL cholesterol, or “bad cholesterol”.

Add Sweet to Kale: Sweet foods go well with kale because they counter its rather bitter taste. Serve curly kale up as a salad with simple ingredients like a blood orange, mango and slivered almonds or apple, feta and toasted walnuts or cook kale up with caramelized onion.

What you do: The night before you plan to eat your kale, remove the stems running down the center and chop up the leaves so they're bite-size. Next, lightly dress the kale with 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, lemon juice and salt (or whatever dressing you plan to use) and let it sit sealed in your fridge overnight.

Is kale better than spinach? ›

"However, if you are looking for a food that is particularly high in fiber, vitamins K and C, kale is a better choice," she said. "If you are looking for a food that is particularly high in folate and a source of iron, and vitamins A and E, then spinach is a better choice."

You can definitely eat kale stems! Sure, they're not the tastiest. Or easiest to eat. But, they're packed with nutrition and can add some valuable green to a stir fry, grain bowl, or frittata.

Leafy greens: Cabbage, collard greens, spinach, kale, and other greens are high in nitrates, which have been found to offer blood pressure benefits. It's easier to get your daily dose of greens by varying how you eat them.

Kale contains phytochemicals, sulfur-containing indolic glucosinolates, and aliphatic glucosinolates that have demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity [18].

It's great for a healthy heart, skin and eyes, as well as being a powerful anti-inflammatory. It has a very low calorie content so is incredibly nutrient-dense. So go saute some kale!

Bitter greens are leafy greens or vegetables that have an intense bitter flavor profile. They include kale, mustard greens, collards, turnip greens, broccoli rabe, radicchio, chicory, and endive. The bitterness comes from chemical compounds called glucosinolates that can be found in the Brassica family.

The Fix: Balance bitter flavors by introducing something salty, sweet, or sour. For naturally bitter foods such as kale, you can soften the flavor by add a lemony vinaigrette, Parmesan cheese, and pomegranate seeds. You can also elevate kale by tossing it olive oil and salt, then roasting it in the oven until crispy.