• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Simply delicious oil-free vegan recipes

  • Recipe Index
    • Recipes by Category
    • Recipes by Tag
    • Recipe Box
  • About Me
    • Press
  • NewsBites
  • Shop!
  • Website

Hot Skillet Salad

February 8, 2011 By Susan Voisin 152 Comments
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy Policy.

Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook

It’s a salad and a stir-fry all at the same time! Leafy greens kale and bok choy are steam-fried along with cabbage and carrots in this oil-free kale salad.

Hot Skillet Salad

I’m on a diet healthy eating plan.  Those of you who just stumbled on this blog are probably now looking at its name and going, “Well, duh!”  But the fact is, I never really talk about my struggles with my weight here because that’s a long and personal discussion, and my writing style is fast and breezy and cut to the chase, er, recipe.

So let’s just suffice it to say that though the recipes I post here are low-fat and most are suitable for any healthy diet plan, there are things in my pantry that aren’t fat-free or low in sugar or unprocessed, and they’ve been known to find their way out of my pantry and into my mouth.  (I’m looking at you, Boca Chik’N and Fruitful O’s!)  No matter how healthy my dinners are (and they really are what you see on this blog), I don’t make any progress losing weight if I eat junk for lunch and between meals.  So I’ve cut out all processed foods, including flour and sugar, which always cause me to crave more processed food.

And I feel great!  My new motto is “If I didn’t cook it myself and it doesn’t fit on my blog, I don’t eat it.”  That’s a long motto, but you get the idea.

Hot Skillet Salad
I’m basically following Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s Eat to Live (I have my own little tweaks), and one of its main precepts is “Thou Shalt Eat a Mega-Huge Salad for Lunch.”  Mega-Huge means take the salad bowl you use to make salad for dinner parties and fill it up with lettuce, spinach, kale, and various other leafy greens and top them with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, peas, and whatever other raw vegetables you can find.  Finally, top that with an ounce or two of raw nuts and some cooked beans, and then eat the entire thing.

My main problem with this main precept is that I get tired of salads every day, especially during the winter when the thought of cold salad often leads me to heat up the beans before pouring them over the salad.  So yesterday I opened my fridge and took out all the “remnants” of other recipes–the cabbage and kale I’d chopped for a photo shoot, the white beans leftover from Roasted Parsnip Soup, two baby bok choy that I didn’t use in my last stir-fry–added some onions and carrots, and made a hot salad out of them:

Hot Skillet Salad

 

Then I posted the photo above to Facebook with the caption, “I just ate almost this entire stir-fry pan full of food–the kind of lunch that happens when I get tired of salads!”  So many people wanted the recipe (though one wanted to chastise me for my “gluttony”) that I posted the ingredients.  But since ingredients do not a recipe make, I figured I’d better give you the full run-down here on the blog.

What follows is exactly what I used and what I did, but since I was cleaning out my own fridge, not yours, feel free to use the vegetables that you need to use up.  Chopping time aside (and I was lucky to have most of this pre-chopped), this cooks very quickly: Be sure you use a deep enough skillet that you can cover because steaming is necessary to get the veggies cooked fast without oil.

And note the number of servings. The recipe made about 4 of the salad-plate-sized servings in the plated photo, but if you’re following Eat to Live, you’ll want to eat more than that (or even the whole pan!) so I’ve set the nutritional info up for 2 servings. You could also serve it as a side dish for 4; just divide the nutritional stats in half.

Hot Skillet Salad
5 from 4 votes
Print Pin SaveSaved! Add to Recipe BoxGo to Recipe Box

Hot Skillet Salad

I call this technique “steam-frying.” Cover the pan to trap steam to quickly cook the vegetables, but remove the cover and stir quickly and often to make sure they get equal exposure to the pan’s surface and don’t burn or stick.
Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes minutes
Total Time 25 minutes minutes
Servings 2
Author Susan Voisin

Ingredients

  • 2 baby bok choy
  • 1/4 cup red onion chopped
  • 3 ounces baby carrots about 6, slivered
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup red cabbage sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 4 cups sliced kale
  • 1 cup cooked great northern beans
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon fat-free balsamic dressing or balsamic vinegar
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

  • Wash the bok choy well. Slice the white stems into 1/4-inch slices and set aside. Slice the green leafy tops thinly and keep separate from the stems.
  • Preheat a non-stick wok or deep skillet. Add the red onion and cook until it begins to soften. Add the carrots, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook for another minute. Add the bok choy stems, cabbage, basil, oregano, and 1/4 cup water. Cover tightly and steam for about 3 minutes, stirring several times. Stir in the bok choy leaves, kale, and beans and add another splash of water if it’s too dry. Cover and steam until the kale is tender and bright green, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in salad dressing or vinegar just before serving.

Notes

This salad is zero points on Weight Watchers Freestyle program, unless you use a higher-fat dressing.
Nutrition Facts
Hot Skillet Salad
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 233 Calories from Fat 16
% Daily Value*
Fat 1.8g3%
Sodium 192mg8%
Potassium 1524mg44%
Carbohydrates 45g15%
Fiber 13g54%
Protein 15g30%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional info is approximate.

Course Main Course, Salad
Cuisine Gluten-free, Oil-Free, Vegan
Keyword kale salad
Have you made this recipe?Mention @SusanFFVK and tag #fatfreevegankitchen in your photos on Instagram.
Share on Facebook Pin This Recipe Share by Email

Eat to Livers Unite!

What do you eat when you don’t want salad?  Leave your ideas and recipes in the comments below. And see Hidden Cashew Ranch Dressing Plus Tips for Eating Salads When You Really Don’t Want To for more ideas.

Looking for other Eat to Live-able recipes? Check out my ETL sections both here and on the main website.  Looking for support? Join us in the Eat-2-Live Group on Yahoo!

Please pin and share:

It's a salad and a stir-fry all at the same time! Leafy greens kale and bok choy are steam-fried along with cabbage and carrots in this oil-free kale salad. #vegan #wfpb #eattolive #zeropoints

Filed Under: Lunches, Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes, Stir-fry and Other Asian Recipes, Vegan Weight Watchers Recipes with Zero Points, Vegetables Tagged With: Eat-to-Live, Gluten-free, Greens, Weight Watchers Points

Get NewsBites!

Sign up for our newsletter to receive new recipes & tips by email!

Privacy Policy
Previous Post: « Roasted Parsnip and Garlic Soup with Mushrooms
Next Post: E’s Super-Awesome Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kim

    May 26, 2012 at 11:28 am

    it said daiya is bad for you is that true? I would not buy that anyway but I didn’t know. But it makes me think about nutritional yeast, which I though was HEALTHY. Whats going onnn?!!

    Reply
    • Susan Voisin

      May 26, 2012 at 11:33 am

      Kim, Daiya is full of fat, which is why it’s not really a health food. But nutritional yeast is fine, in my opinion.

      Reply
  2. Andrea

    January 18, 2013 at 5:00 am

    Hi can i sub spinach for kale! Thx

    Reply
    • Susan Voisin

      January 18, 2013 at 7:29 am

      Sure, use any green you like!

      Reply
  3. Andrea Nittel

    February 11, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    Hey Susan!!! I agree with your hot salad idea, but something else I do is a genuine stirfry. I use a ton of veggies like garlic, onion, ginger, carrots, snap peas, broccoli, bok choy. I cook with either olive , grapeseed, or avocado oil and I also top it with nuts. For a sauce I use a bit of green curry or stir fry sauce ( sodium reduced). This can be eaten at lunch or supper – depending on the day and one’s schedule. I also sometimes add soy noodles or pumpkin/buckwheat soba noodles. There are so many possibilities. The way to change it up is to change the veggies and nuts. I am not a complete vegan like you are, but I use a lot of your recipes because I definitely lean that way. Even for meat eating people, it is healthier to have a few meals /week that do not contain meat. I eat fish/seafood, a bit of chicken and stay away from red meat. I often use mushrooms to replace meat in my recipes such as mushroom burgers and mushrooms and spaghetti sauce. I love your site and will continue to read all your great ideas!!!!

    Reply
  4. Mrs. Doodlepunk

    February 15, 2014 at 5:38 pm

    Oh. My. Goodness. I have everything to make this, right now! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Sakshi

      March 22, 2018 at 9:06 am

      same feeling 😀

      Reply
  5. Vibeke

    January 21, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    Mmm one of my favourite recipes!

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to My Kitchen!

Susan VoisinI'm Susan Voisin, and I love creating delicious whole foods plant-based dishes with no added oil. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram.
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Find It Fast

  • Instant Pot Recipes
  • Ridiculously Easy Recipes
  • Weight Watchers Recipes
  • Recipes by Tag (ingredient, gluten-free, etc.)
  • Complete Recipe Index

Find a Recipe

Allergens

All of my recipes are vegan, dairy-free, and fish free. To find recipes free of other allergens, click on an icon below.

Gluten FreeNut FreeSugar FreeSoy Free

Footer

Fall Favorites

Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale

Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna

Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna

Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin

See More Fall Favorites

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Photos, original recipes, and text © Susan Voisin. All rights reserved. Do not republish content without permission.

Nutritional information is approximate and is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. This site has no affiliation with Weight Watchers™️ and cannot guarantee accuracy of Points™️.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2023 · Susan Voisin · Privacy Policy· Log in