Weeknight Cooking

Crispy Coconut Kale With Roasted Salmon & Coconut Rice

by:
March 18, 2021
5
33 Ratings
Crispy Coconut Kale With Roasted Salmon & Coconut Rice
Photo by Rocky Luten
  • Prep time 30 minutes
  • Cook time 30 minutes
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

Roasting kale is one of my favorite ways to enjoy this hearty winter green. The edges become nice and crispy, which is the perfect contrast to the melt in your mouth sweet potatoes. This dish is a great balance of sweet and spicy and has quickly become one of my favorite meals to serve when I have guests over. If you're not into salmon, try topping the greens with a fried egg! It's simple and delicious and makes for some great leftovers (if there is any)!

This recipe was inspired by Heidi Swanson's Kale Salad from one of my favorite cookbooks: Super Natural Every Day. —Ashley Couse | Bloom & Nourish

Test Kitchen Notes

This recipe is featured in the story, The Crispy, Coconutty Salmon Dish That Turned Me Into a Salmon Person, sponsored by FreshDirect.

It's easy to fall into the same old routines with kale -- we often find ourselves sautéing it with olive oil and garlic night after night, maybe with a pinch of pepper flakes when we need some excitement. So this coconutty kale -- which uses both oil and flakes -- feels like a relief, and a welcome new alternative. The salmon here was perfectly cooked, and the soft, creamy coconut rice served as the perfect backdrop to bring everything together. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons coconut aminos (or tamari)
  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha
  • 3 sweet potatoes, cubed
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
  • 1 bunch lacinato kale, ribs removed and sliced into strips
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 to 1 1/2 pounds salmon, sliced into 4 fillets
Directions
  1. Rinse rice in cold water and drain. Place in a saucepan with coconut milk, water, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir. Reduce to the lowest heat, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes, or until ready to serve (it will stay warm for up to an hour).
  2. While the rice is cooking, heat oven to 400° F. In a lidded jar, combine the melted coconut oil, sesame oil, coconut aminos, and Sriracha. Seal the jar and shake vigorously until emulsified.
  3. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a tablespoon of melted coconut oil and sprinkle with paprika. Toss to coat. Bake for 30 minutes or until tender.
  4. Place kale and coconut flakes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with about 2/3 of the dressing. Toss until well coated.
  5. Drizzle salmon with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the remaining dressing. Bake the salmon and coconut kale mixture during the last 15 minutes of the sweet potato's baking time, or until cooked through, being careful not to let the kale burn.
  6. Remove sweet potatoes, salmon, and kale from oven. Serve over fluffed rice with an extra drizzle of dressing. Devour!
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115 Reviews

Misti
Misti May 12, 2023
I have been making this recipe for a while now and I had to sign up to let you know how much my family loves it! It’s probably my daughters favorite thing in my rotation. Thanks for keeping it healthy! I always make it exactly as written.
 
Emily
Emily January 25, 2023
I’ve probably made this recipe over a dozen times. Delicious, healthy, do-able weeknight dinner.
 
Deb J.
Deb J. September 5, 2022
Delicious! Made it several times. Family and guests raved!
 
Canadiancat45
Canadiancat45 January 25, 2022
This recipe is great! Too bad it’s lifted from the Whitewater Cooks cookbook! At least give credit if you’re going to steal recipes!
 
Ashley C.
Ashley C. January 25, 2022
Hello! I’m the author of this recipe, which was actually inspired by a salad from Heidi Swanson (which I give credit to above). I’ve never heard of the Whitewater Cookbook, but looked it up and the one you are referencing was published in 2018 and this recipe was published in 2014 (the date has been updated since Food 52 has updated the photos, but if you scroll you will see the comments date back to 2014). So it actually looks like maybe they should be crediting me? Now I’m curious! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! :)
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. January 20, 2022
This recipe is incredible. I make it a lot. My husband doesn't like kale, sweet potatoes, or coconut, but he always devours the whole thing. The only part that isn't great the next day is the kale, so we usually try to eat all of that the first night. The last time I made it, I only had coconut cream in the pantry, and the rice was even better than usual. Sometimes I have trouble finding the big coconut flakes, so I use the smaller unsweetened shreds, which work out fine. Be careful not to burn the kale, or it gets bitter.
 
NXL
NXL December 4, 2020
This is a very good recipe. I used brown Jasmine rice, adjusting the cooking time. As delicious as it is, to make the dish a little healthier with lower calorie count, I'd probably just have the sweet potatoes and kale next time.
 
Lydia R.
Lydia R. July 16, 2020
This has been one of my go-to recipes for the last few years! I love the flavors and the fact that it's an easy sheet pan dinner. One quick tip--be sure to read the instructions all the way through! It's easy to not notice that the salmon/kale needs to go in the oven halfway through the sweet potato cook time in order for everything to be done at the same time.
 
hookmountaingrowers
hookmountaingrowers June 11, 2020
Delicious. Amazing. I used shredded coconut instead of flaked and more sweet potatoes and the three of us devoured this until nothing was left.
 
Barbara A.
Barbara A. February 4, 2020
super duper! lovely sweet/spicy combo

i skipped the coconut rice but added chickpeas to roast with the kale-coconut mixture and it was awesome! thinking about even just skipping the salmon to make a meal for my vegan friends. looking forward to making this again.
 
Katherine S.
Katherine S. July 30, 2019
We LOVE this! I resist the urge to make it weekly, but my family would not mind if I did!
 
Becky
Becky March 16, 2019
I absolutely adore this recipe. I probably make it once a month. It's great for when you want to do something a little fancy but don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen with a mound of dirty dishes. I usually don't do the sweet potatoes since it adds so much time, and it's a pretty full recipe to begin with.
 
Lindsay S.
Lindsay S. September 4, 2018
I made this last mother’s day since it was my choice and wow I loved it so much, just devoured it.
 
kschurms
kschurms March 1, 2018
I’ve made this more times than I can count!! It’s fantastic as written, but sometimes I like to change things up by using sesame oil instead of coconut oil, and broccoli instead of kale
 
cloudasmoke
cloudasmoke March 1, 2018
I've made this a ton too, and last week I tried it with broccolini! It was great!
 
Rupa
Rupa February 16, 2018
I saved this recipe ages ago - finally made it for our Valentine's Day Dinner. It was my first time cooking salmon and it couldn't have been easier or more satisfying. As others mentioned, the sweet potatoes aren't essential, but they make for a nice side.
 
Richard C.
Richard C. December 7, 2017
Amazing recipe! Cooking Jasmine rice with coconut milk is a game changer! I had to substitute Tamrino with soy sauce which is much saltier so looking forward to cooking this again with the right ingredients. Thank you!!!
 
Samantha P.
Samantha P. June 27, 2017
I made this last night for a few friends and it was a total hit! I ended up sea salting the sweet potato and roasting them for about 45 min until soft. I also added 2 tablespoons of honey to the "dressing" so make it a little sweet and spicy!
 
hookmountaingrowers
hookmountaingrowers June 4, 2017
COuld use less coconut milk in the rice and less coconut flakes in the kale. I also doubled the kale.
 
Jennifer N.
Jennifer N. May 8, 2017
This also works great with butternut squash and Japanese short grain rice. I don't use the aminos, sometimes just a few drops of apple cider vinegar or ponzu sauce. My husband (who doesn't like fish) asks for it weekly out of the nearly 100 recipes in my rotation.
 
merav
merav March 14, 2017
Made this last night - was a total hit! everyone licked their plates clean! the only thing i did differnetly was thickly slice some red onion to roast with the sweet potato for added sweetness and also add some sea salt on the potatose.
 
Jes A.
Jes A. January 17, 2017
First try of this tonight.
I was confused on the sweet potatoes because I don't see them in the picture and I could go either way on them, you don't really need them, but they are an added bonus. My husband said he liked them and felt they complimented the dish, so I will make them again. I had to bake longer than 30 mins and I only did two sweet potatoes. I forgot to get kale, and had just a bit left and substituted the rest for spinach. Spinach does not krisp, but the sauce was tasty. I really enjoyed this overall. And it's really not too difficult to make. So we are adding it to our rotation and if I host people, this will be an impressive dish.
I cooked the salmon to the side of the spinach/kale as I don't like the skin of the fish and I was able to scoop the salmon off the skin and onto my plate.
I skipped the coconut aminos and flaked coconut.