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

This broccoli salad recipe is one among my favourite facet dishes. A creamy, tangy selfmade dressing coats crisp broccoli florets, chewy dried cranberries, sharp pink 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 find it irresistible.
This broccoli salad recipe is simple 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 absorb the dressing’s punchy taste. Pack it up for a potluck, a cookout, or a weekday lunch, or serve it as a vacation facet dish. It’s assured to be successful!

A Broccoli Salad Recipe That’s Good for You
Broccoli salad is a typical cookout facet dish, however the typical traditional broccoli salad recipe is loaded up with sugar, ample mayo, bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese. My model is a brisker, 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 time lengthy!

Learn how to Make Broccoli Salad
Step one on this recipe is chopping the broccoli. Ensure to chop the florets into bite-sized items and to finely cube the stems. The small items will soften extra and absorb the dressing higher than bigger items will.
Subsequent, you’ll combine up the selfmade broccoli salad dressing. As a substitute of utilizing the standard 1 cup mayo: 2 tablespoons vinegar ratio for my broccoli salad dressing, I change among the mayo with olive oil and up the proportion of vinegar. I additionally add a couple of teaspoons of Dijon mustard and somewhat honey to the combo, making for a light-weight, tremendous tangy dressing with a tasty candy/salty taste.
Add the broccoli, pink onion, and dried cranberries to the creamy dressing, and stir to coat.

Now for the perfect half: the smoky toasted nuts and seeds! Tamari almonds and sunflower seeds or pepitas add great crunch to the salad and produce richness and smoky taste. They’re the right 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.

Greatest Broccoli Salad Recipe Suggestions
Wish to make the perfect broccoli salad round? Listed here are a couple of easy ideas:
- Lower your broccoli small. As a result of this salad options uncooked broccoli, you need to be sure the items are sufficiently small to develop into totally coated and soften within the dressing. Additionally, when the broccoli items are the same dimension to the opposite components within the salad, you may get somewhat of all the things in every chunk.
- Let it marinate. This salad is sweet proper after it’s made, but it surely’s even higher after a couple of hours (and even days) within the fridge. The broccoli softens and absorbs the flavors of the dressing—my household liked 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 high. In the event you 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
- In the event you’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.
- In case you have leftover salad, retailer 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 facet dish for potlucks and cookouts! Serve it alongside traditional cookout recipes like these:
Spherical out the meal with different summer time favorites like grilled zucchini and grilled corn on the cob. Don’t neglect 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
In the event you love this salad, attempt one among these simple salad recipes subsequent:

Broccoli Salad
Serves 6
This broccoli salad recipe is the right simple cookout facet dish! Tangy, refreshing, and stuffed 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.
Forestall your display from going darkish
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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 elements from the stem first.
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Within the backside of a massive 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 couple of to sprinkle on high. Season to style and serve.
*Be aware: Chop the florets into roughly ½-inch items. Cube the stem into smaller ¼-inch items.
