A study was conducted to investigate the effects of palm kernel expellers on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and blood profiles of weaned pigs. A total of 88 weaned pigs (6.94 ± 0.76 kg BW; 28 d old) were randomly allotted to 2 dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen; 11 replicates/treatment): a typical nursery diet based on corn and soybean meal (CON) and CON + 20% of palm kernel expellers (PKE). Pigs were fed for 6 wk using a 3-phase feeding program with declining diet complexity and with phases of 1, 2, and 3 wk, respectively. Blood was collected from randomly selected 2 pigs in each pen before weaning and on d 7 after weaning. Pigs were fed dietary treatments containing 0.2% chromic oxide from d 29 to 35 after weaning. Fecal samples were collected from randomly selected 2 pigs in each pen daily for the last 3 d after the 4-d adjustment period. Measurements were growth performances, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and incidence of diarrhea. Data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS. The statistical model for every measurement except frequency of diarrhea included dietary effect as a fixed effect and sex as a random effect. The chi-squared test was used for the frequency of diarrhea. The PKE tended to increase ADG (246 vs. 215 g/d; P = 0.06), increased ADFI (470 vs. 343 g/d; P < 0.05), and decreased G:F (0.522 vs. 0.628 g/g; P < 0.05) during phase 2 compared with CON, but did not affect growth performance during phase 1 and 3. During overall experimental period, PKE tended to increase ADG (383 vs. 362 g/d; P = 0.05) and increased ADFI (549 vs. 496 g/d; P < 0.05) compared with CON, but did not affect G:F. However, no differences were found on digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen, and energy between CON and PKE. The PKE tended to reduce frequency of diarrhea (15 vs. 25%; P = 0.08) for the first 2 wk after weaning compared with CON. Similarly, PKE tended to decrease white blood cells (8.19 vs. 9.56 × 10³/μL; P = 0.07), red blood cells (2.92 vs. 3.25 × 10⁶/μL; P = 0.09), and packed cell volume (11.1 vs. 12.6%; P = 0.06) on d 7 after weaning compared with CON. In conclusion, PKE had no negative effects on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and blood profiles of weaned pigs.