This broccoli salad recipe is a scrumptious cookout aspect dish! It options contemporary broccoli, dried cranberries, and toasted nuts and seeds in a creamy dressing.

This broccoli salad recipe is considered one of my favourite aspect dishes. A creamy, tangy home made dressing coats crisp broccoli florets, chewy dried cranberries, sharp purple onion, and smoky roasted almonds and sunflower seeds. It’s my lighter spin on traditional Midwest broccoli salad, and although you received’t discover any cheese or bacon right here, it’s each bit as scrumptious. Even salad skeptics like it.
This broccoli salad recipe is straightforward to make, and even higher, make forward. A number of hours or a day within the fridge provides the broccoli an opportunity to melt and take in the dressing’s punchy taste. Pack it up for a potluck, a cookout, or a weekday lunch, or serve it as a vacation aspect dish. It’s assured to be successful!

A Broccoli Salad Recipe That’s Good for You
Broccoli salad is a typical cookout aspect dish, however the typical traditional broccoli salad recipe is loaded up with sugar, ample mayo, bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese. My model is a more energizing, more healthy twist—I nix the sugar, meat, and cheese altogether. The result’s a crisp, refreshing salad that’ll be the star of your cookouts all summer season lengthy!

Learn how to Make Broccoli Salad
Step one on this recipe is chopping the broccoli. Be certain to chop the florets into bite-sized items and to finely cube the stems. The small items will soften extra and take in the dressing higher than bigger items will.
Subsequent, you’ll combine up the home made broccoli salad dressing. As an alternative of utilizing the standard 1 cup mayo: 2 tablespoons vinegar ratio for my broccoli salad dressing, I exchange a few of the mayo with olive oil and up the proportion of vinegar. I additionally add a number of teaspoons of Dijon mustard and just a little honey to the combo, making for a lightweight, tremendous tangy dressing with a tasty candy/salty taste.
Add the broccoli, purple onion, and dried cranberries to the creamy dressing, and stir to coat.

Now for one of the best half: the smoky toasted nuts and seeds! Tamari almonds and sunflower seeds or pepitas add fantastic crunch to the salad and produce richness and smoky taste. They’re the proper nutritious substitute for actual bacon and cheese.
They’re simple to make—toss the almonds and seeds with tamari, maple syrup, and smoked paprika. Toast in a 350°F oven for 10 to 14 minutes, till golden brown. Prime the salad with the nuts and seeds.
Season to style, and revel in!
Discover the entire recipe with measurements beneath.

Finest Broccoli Salad Recipe Ideas
Need to make one of the best broccoli salad round? Listed below are a number of easy ideas:
- Reduce your broccoli small. As a result of this salad options uncooked broccoli, you need to be certain the items are sufficiently small to develop into absolutely coated and soften within the dressing. Additionally, when the broccoli items are the same measurement to the opposite components within the salad, you may get just a little of every part in every chew.
- Let it marinate. This salad is sweet proper after it’s made, however it’s even higher after a number of hours (and even days) within the fridge. The broccoli softens and absorbs the flavors of the dressing—my household beloved it on day three!
- Avoid wasting nuts for the final minute. Certain, I wish to make this salad forward in order that the flavors can develop, however the important thing to creating it nice is the crispy, smoky nuts and seeds on prime. If you happen to add them too early, they’ll lose their crunch, so avoid wasting to sprinkle on proper earlier than serving!

Learn how to Retailer and Make Forward
- If you happen to’re making this recipe forward, wait so as to add the almonds and sunflower seeds or pepitas. Retailer them in an hermetic container at room temperature. Retailer the remainder of the salad in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days. Add the nuts and seeds proper earlier than you eat.
- When you’ve got leftover saladretailer it in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.

What to Serve with Broccoli Salad
This broccoli salad recipe is an ideal aspect dish for potlucks and cookouts! Serve it alongside traditional cookout recipes like these:
Spherical out the meal with different summer season favorites like grilled zucchini and grilled corn on the cob. Don’t overlook the lemonade to drink!
Our readers like to serve this salad at holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter too.

Extra Salad Recipes You’ll Love
If you happen to love this salad, attempt considered one of these simple salad recipes subsequent:

Broccoli Salad
Serves 6
This broccoli salad recipe is the proper simple cookout aspect dish! Tangy, refreshing, and filled with yummy candy/salty taste, it is a lighter model of the traditional recipe, made with much less mayo and no sugar, meat, or dairy.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Chop the broccoli florets into ½-inch items and any remaining stems right into a ¼-inch cube. Peel any woody or coarse components from the stem first.
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Within the backside of a big bowl, whisk collectively the olive oil, mayo, apple cider vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, garlic, and salt. Add the broccoli, onions, and cranberries and toss to coat.
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Place the almonds and sunflower seeds on the baking sheet, toss with the tamari, maple syrup, and smoked paprika and unfold into a skinny layer. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or till golden brown. Take away from the oven and let cool for five minutes (they’ll get crispier as they sit).
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Toss the nuts and seeds into the salad, reserving a number of to sprinkle on prime. Season to style and serve.
*Notice: Chop the florets into roughly ½-inch items. Cube the stem into smaller ¼-inch items.
