Sides & Salads

The Perfect Fresh Broccoli Salad

When most of us consider salad recipes we instantly gravitate to salads with spinach and arugula and kale and other leafy veggies.

Well, at present I am gonna introduce you to a new salad recipe that’s still green however no leaves are worried and it’s going to just knock your socks off.

It can be an easy broccoli salad and it is creamy, crunchy, sweet, and that I quite believe you’re gonna find it irresistible.

Image by KARLYNN JOHNSTON via Thekitchenmagpie.com

How To Make Broccoli Salad:

The only item that requires any cooking in this broccoli salad is the bacon.

So we’ll get started by placing eight slices of bacon on a parchment-lined baking tray.

Whenever I cook a whole package of bacon like this, I always bake it in the oven rather than use the stovetop as it’s much easier and cleaner. 

So we’ll cook the bacon for about 15 minutes or until it’s crispy and while that’s cooking we’ll get the rest of our salad together.

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The bulk of our salad is raw broccoli and I’m using a large head of broccoli that equals about five cups of small broccoli florets once we chop them off.

Now you may not know this but you can specialize the leftover broccoli stem and make broccoli noodles. 

So once you have all the florets, just make sure they’re in bite-sized pieces and then add them to a bowl.

Next, you’ll dice up a red onion and you want about a third of a cup of red onion. Then add that to the bowl as well. 

At this point, our bacon should be done so remove that from the oven and transfer the bacon to a paper towel to dry.

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And remember that the bacon will continue to crisp up as it dries.

The last few ingredients in our salad include half a cup of sunflower seeds, half a cup of dried cranberries, and a quarter cup of goat cheese. 

These ingredients are all really flexible so if you’d like to swap in a different seed, nut or dried fruit go for it. 

You can even make this broccoli salad dairy-free. At this point, the bacon should be cooled and a little more crunchy so go ahead and crumble that into the salad.

The dressing for this salad is super easy and is just a combination of mayonnaise and yogurt but I always make my mayonnaise at home because it’s so incredibly easy and fresh.

You guys have likely seen this on my earlier how to make mayonnaise but all you have to do is add one egg, half a tablespoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of white wine vinegar, half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a pinch of salt, and one cup of neutral-flavored oil and I’m using a light olive oil.

Then grab your stick blender and hold it firmly on the bottom while you turn it on. 

The mayonnaise will start to emulsify and reach the top and when it does, you can then move the blender up and down to make sure that everything is fully blended. 

We’ll combine half a cup of mayonnaise with a quarter cup of yogurt and you guessed it, I’m using my homemade yogurt but you could of course use store-bought yogurt as well. 

Then stir that together. 

Top it on the salad and combine everything together for a delicious broccoli salad.

I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe and if you did make sure to give it a thumbs up.

FOR MORE HEALTHY SALAD RECIPES

Black bean and corn salsaCucumber and tomato saladHealthy Shrimp Avocado SaladAvocado Tuna Salad

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The Perfect Broccoli Salad Recipe


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  • Author: Howard Land
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x

Description

The Perfect Broccoli Salad made with bacon, cranberries, and other simple add-ins. it is creamy, crunchy, sweet and that I quite believe you are gonna find it irresistible.


Ingredients

Scale

Broccoli Salad :

  • 1 broccoli head, approx 5 cups of florets
  • 8 slices bacon
  • 1/3 cup red onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Broccoli Salad Dressing :

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt

Optional :

  • Crumbled blue cheese
  • Feta or Mascarpone Cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the bacon slices to a parchment-lined baking tray and cook for 15 minutes or until crispy. Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer to a paper towel to dry and cool.
  2. While the bacon is cooking, slice off all the broccoli florets and make sure they're in bite-sized pieces. Add them to a large mixing bowl along with the red onion, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and goat cheese.
  3. To make the dressing, add the mayonnaise and yogurt to a small bowl and stir together. Add the dressing to the mixing bowl and stir until everything is well combined.
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 14 minutes
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Calories: 376.7

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