Stumped by Kohlrabi? Turn It into This Crunchy, Colorful Salad

Every so often, we scour the site for cool recipes from our community that we then test, photograph, and feature—this one comes from community member Kali, a plant-based chef cooking up local, organic recipes from her home in London.

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If you’ve received a CSA haul lately or are just an avid farmers market peruser, you have most likely stumbled across an odd-looking green or purple vegetable: kohlrabi. With its bulbous body and climbing outer stems culminating in a flurry of leaves, it almost resembles an alien life-form more than a member of the cabbage family.

Once you get past its appearance, however, kohlrabi has a lot to love. Raw, it has a crisp, peppery bite, and once cooked it mellows out to something resembling a broccoli stalk. Perhaps best of all, it’s extremely versatile. Keep it raw for a sweet-tart-spicy-crisp slaw, boil and marinate it à la artichoke hearts, or turn to our community for a wealth of ideas on how to prepare it—but before you do any of that, check out this hearty, colorful salad from London-based community member Kali.

“It’s a simple but interesting (and delicious) salad that uses a range of fresh, local vegetables,” she writes. The dish embraces kohlrabi’s natural crunch and calls for it to be sliced thinly before adding it to a bowl along with sweet apple, massaged kale, roasted cauliflower, and black lentils. Here’s the best part: Kali tops the salad with a quick green sauce packed with herbs, garlic, lemon, and olive oil, which keeps each bite lively and fresh.

While it does require a fair few ingredients, none are too difficult to track down. Kali even encourages recipe followers to substitute in whatever is on hand. No lentils in the cupboard? Try quinoa or farro. Out of mint? Tarragon or chives would do nicely. (You get the idea.)

This crunchy salad would be an impressive side dish for a dinner spread, but could also work as a stand-alone meal. If you’re going for the latter, Kali recommends doubling the lentils to add more bulk, and we think that a soft-boiled egg would not be out of place. So the next time you spy the endearingly bizarre-looking kohlrabi at a market, put it in your basket—you know how to use it.

How do you use kohlrabi? Or do you usually skip over it in the produce section? Share your kohlrabi inspirations (and hang-ups) below!