Recipes › Kale › Kale Caesar Salad with Soft-Boiled Eggs and Parmesan Croutons
Kale Caesar Salad with Soft-Boiled Eggs and Parmesan Croutons
Kale is a far better Caesar salad green than soft lettuce — it stands up to the bold dressing without wilting and the massaging technique transforms it from tough and chewy into something genuinely silky. Proper jammy soft-boiled eggs, shatteringly crisp Parmesan croutons, and a deeply anchovy-forward dressing make this a main-course salad worth making on a proper occasion.
Kale is in season now. More kale recipes, or see what to sow this month where you are.
Ingredients
- 350 g curly kale, thick stems removed, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
- 4 large eggs
- 200 sourdough bread, torn into rough 2cm chunksany sturdy white bread works
- 60 g Parmesan, 30g finely grated for croutons, 30g shaved for servingGrana Padano works equally well
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cloves garlic clove, peeled and halved
- 30 g anchovy fillets in oil, drained
- 1 cloves garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 60 g mayonnaise
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 1 pinch black pepper, freshly ground
Contains: cereals gluten, eggs, fish, milk, mustard.
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200°C fan. Spread the torn sourdough on a large baking tray. Drizzle with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss well. Rub the halved garlic clove over the pieces of bread, then scatter over 30g of the grated Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, toss again, and spread in a single layer. Roast for 12–15 minutes until deep golden and crisp. Leave to cool on the tray.About 17 min
- Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Lower the eggs in carefully and cook for 7 minutes exactly. Transfer immediately to a bowl of cold water and leave for 5 minutes, then peel and halve.About 12 min
- Make the dressing: use the flat of a knife to mash the anchovy fillets and crushed garlic together into a rough paste on your chopping board. Scrape into a bowl and whisk in the Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and mayonnaise. Gradually whisk in the extra virgin olive oil until you have a thick, glossy dressing. Season to taste — it should be bold and savoury.About 5 min
- Put the torn kale into a large bowl. Drizzle over 3 tablespoons of the dressing and, using both hands, massage the kale firmly for 2–3 minutes until every leaf is coated, darkened in colour, and has softened noticeably in texture. Taste and add more dressing as you like.About 3 min
- Add the croutons to the kale and toss together. Divide between four plates or spread on a large serving platter. Arrange the halved soft-boiled eggs on top, scatter over the shaved Parmesan, and finish with a crack of black pepper. Serve immediately.
Tips
- Massaging the kale is not optional — it genuinely changes the texture by breaking down the tough cell structure. Two to three minutes of firm pressure is the difference between a salad that is hard work to eat and one that is a pleasure.
- Make the dressing in advance and refrigerate it — it keeps for up to 5 days and improves overnight as the garlic and anchovy mellow into each other.
- The croutons need to be completely cool before you add them to the salad or they will go soft immediately.
Ring the changes
- Add 200g of cooked chicken or leftover roast chicken pulled into strips to make this a more substantial main.
- For a vegetarian version, omit the anchovy fillets from the dressing and add an extra teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a few capers, finely chopped, to maintain the savoury depth.
Keeping it
Undressed kale can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days. Once dressed and assembled, eat immediately — croutons will soften quickly. Store leftover dressing in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 5 days.
In the app this recipe finds you
Log what you've picked and GrowMore CookMore matches it to 1,918 more recipes like this one, tells you what's ready before the frost gets it, and keeps the freezer honest. Free to start.
More from the same crop
This is a proper southern Italian storecupboard supper — punchy, savoury, and on the table in under 30 minutes. Kale wilts into the pasta cooking water to form a silky, garlicky sauce bolstered by melted anchovies and finished with golden, garlicky breadcrumbs for crunch. It is the kind of dish that tastes like you planned it all along.
28 min · easy · KaleCaldo verde is Portugal's most beloved soup and kale is completely non-negotiable in it — not a garnish, but the soul of the dish. Silky potato broth is loaded with fine ribbons of kale and slices of smoky chouriço, the whole thing finished with a glug of olive oil. Simple, deeply comforting, and the kind of soup that gets better the next day.
50 min · easy · KaleSaag paneer is usually made with spinach, but kale — especially the younger leaves you get in autumn — gives the sauce a slightly more robust, mineral flavour that stands up brilliantly to the warm spices. The paneer is fried until golden before being folded into the silky kale sauce, and a final tempering of cumin, garlic, and dried chilli poured over the top finishes it properly.
55 min · medium · Kale
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 4 April 2026.