Kale is a trendy food right now, and for good reason — it’s uber healthy! One cup contains only 35 calories, 1,000 percent of your daily recommended vitamin K, 200 percent of your daily recommended vitamin C, and more than 180 percent of your daily recommended vitamin A. In addition, this super food contains vitamin B6, as well as the eye health-promoting carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin.

While many of us know kale is a smart addition to our daily diet, the taste can often be a whole other story. Let’s give props to those who can eat raw kale with little buffer ingredients, but, for many, this healthy green is truly an acquired taste. That’s why it is so popular to bake them into chips and cover them with spices so they sort of resemble potato chips! While kale chips may be healthier than potato chips, it doesn’t mean they’re healthier than raw kale! If slathering kale with oil and then baking it to bear the taste is your go-to method for consuming this superfood, try some of these ways to eat more raw kale:

1. Pair with premium ingredients for a killer salad

Food pairings can really transform your meal, especially when trying to offset the bitter taste of kale. Start with a big bowl of raw kale and add raw ingredients like granny smith apples, butternut squash, sun-dried tomatoes, and avocado. The different texture of these ingredients will help satisfy your palette while you easily eat through that entire serving of kale. This great salad with avocado and red chilli is another great example of how to salad up your kale while at the same time enjoying other strong flavors.

Avocado Kale Chilli Salad

2. Make a smoothie

One of the easiest ways to hide the taste of kale is to blend it up with some fruit and nut milk. You’ll be drinking your vitamins while savoring the sweet taste of ripe fruit. Try this strawberry kale smoothie, and you’ll enjoy all the benefits of the kale in one delicious liquid form!

Strawberry Kale Smoothie

3. Put it over pasta

You can make one mean pesto sauce by mixing kale with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, nutritional yeast, salt, red pepper flakes, and lemon, then putting it all into a food processor. This cheese-free pesto is great atop whole wheat pasta or gluten-free noodles. Try this spicy kale pesto with zucchini noodles. You’ll be so in love, you’ll forget you’re eating a ton of greens (and then be so pleasantly surprised!).

Spicy Kale Pesto with Zucchini Noodles

4. Give it a massage

To learn to better love the taste of raw kale, show it some love first and massage it with yummy dressing. Combine a set of ingredients, like avocado, orange juice, salt, and cinnamon, into a bowl and massage it with kale and parsley. Try this raw massaged kale salad with fresh figs and oranges.

Raw Massaged Kale Salad with Fresh Figs and Oranges

5. Blend into hummus

By blending kale in a food processor with garbanzo beans, olive oil, tahini, and your choice of other ingredients, you’ll taste the creamy loveliness of hummus while hardly noticing this kale. Try this oil-free kale-edamame hummus. Now here’s a snack of champions!

Oil-free Kale Edamame Hummus

For more ideas on how to get your kale on, check out these 20 ways to enjoy kale, the king of greens.

Lead Image Source: Oil-free Kale Edamame Hummus