One of the BEST examples that salads do NOT have to taste boring!!! 🙌 This broccoli salad truly contains the best things about traditional broccoli salads, with a delicious, slightly-healthier-than-traditional dressing that I’m confident you will love! This broccoli salad is bursting with fresh broccoli (duh), red onion, chewy raisins, salty sunflower seeds, crispy salty bacon, crunchy sweet apples, and smothered in a tangy-yet-sweet creamy dressing.
Time for a little salad action over here after this chocolate goodness. Just like this blueberry farro feta chicken salad, Brussels sprouts salad, and fig fall salad , this salad is PACKED with so many different textures and flavors. It all started way back a few months ago during the Christmas season when I was assigned to bring a salad dish to one of our family Christmas celebrations. I initially thought of bringing this Brussels sprouts salad, since it went over well at Thanksgiving. BUT after making that salad serious so many times in a row, I thought it was time for something new!
I’m happy to report that this broccoli salad was very popular as well at my family Christmases (I made it a couple times for different celebrations), and I’ve made it several times since! In fact, my brothers even requested to keep the leftovers, so I count that as a win. 😏
Creamy Dressing
In my understanding, most dressings for broccoli salads are made up mostly of mayo (plus sugar). I’m not really the biggest mayo fan, with small exceptions for some chicken salads or when it’s somewhat hidden in some sort of mixed dish. In this BEST broccoli salad, I used a combination of both olive-oil mayo and full-fat plan Greek yogurt as the base of the dressing! You can use nonfat or 2% fat yogurt, but the full-fat is obviously creamier and still provides some protein. A bit of apple cider vinegar (ACV) for some tang, and honey to add some sweetness just rounds out the dressing! You will only need ½ cup olive-oil mayo and 1 tablespoon honey for the entire salad, which is a fraction of the mayo and sugar most recipes call for. But I’m 100% confident you will LOVE IT.
While I haven’t tried it, you could like use all mayo or all yogurt instead of mixing both. Let me know if you try this!
Let’s break down the ingredients and substitutions in this broccoli salad!
Ingredients in Broccoli Salad
Broccoli.
Can’t really have a broccoli salad without broccoli. 🤣
Red Onion.
You can use white onion, but I prefer the taste of red onion raw.
Raisins.
Feel free to substitute cranberries or golden raisins if you wish! I’ve also used fresh grapes instead of the raisins.
Sunflower seeds.
I love using roasted and salted for the best flavor.
Apples.
My favorites are Pink Lady, Gala, Honeycrisp, or Fuji!
Bacon.
Any variety you like! Just make sure you cook it (obviously) before adding it to the salad! My favorite, hands-off method is baking broccoli in the oven; usually 400 degrees about 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your bacon and your preferred crispy-ness factor (I like mine CRISPY).
Serving Suggestions
As written, this broccoli salad makes a delicious and versatile side dish for so many occasions! Family holiday, cook out/BBQ, weeknight side dish with dinner, etc. However, I also love adding chicken or chickpeas to this salad to make it more of a meal! Unlike most lettuce-base salads, this salad actually holds up well in the fridge for a couple days making it an excellent option to take leftovers to work for lunch! Regardless of how you eat this broccoli salad, I’m hope you love it as much as I do! It’s simply perfect year round. 🙂
- 1.5 lb. broccoli, chopped fine (about 7 cups chopped)
- 1 red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- ½-3/4 cup raisins
- ½ cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds
- 2 apples, chopped
- ½ lb. bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped
- ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt (I used full-fat)
- ½ cup olive-oil mayo (I used Kraft brand)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Salt and pepper
- In a large bowl, stir together broccoli, red onion, raisins, sunflower seeds, apples, and bacon.
- In a smaller bowl, mix together the dressing: Greek Yogurt, mayo, apple cider vinegar, honey, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour dressing over salad and mix until combined.
- Store leftovers in fridge!
That’s one of my favorites.
So glad you like it 🙂 You should make it again!