Broccoli Salad is a quick salad full of fresh crisp broccoli, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and bacon bits. It’s all tossed in a really easy creamy homemade dressing.
Since it’s best made ahead of time (and everyone raves about this recipe), it’s a great potluck dish and a favorite addition to a holiday table.
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What Makes This The Best Broccoli Salad
Simple. Delicious. Easy. The best broccoli salad recipe doesn’t need a lot of fancy ingredients.
- It’s so incredibly easy to make!
- The 3 ingredient dressing is super simple and extra creamy with a little tang. We love that it doesn’t have tons of sugar!
- Since it’s best made ahead of time, it’s perfect for potlucks and bbq’s or even lunches throughout the week.
- It is always a hit, we almost never have leftovers but if you do have leftovers, they last for about 5 days!
If you have extra veggies you need to use up, you can easily add them to this dish. Zucchini, cauliflower, celery, or peppers can make great additions!
Ingredients in Broccoli Salad
Fresh broccoli florets are the star of this dish. The broccoli doesn’t need to be cooked first. Just wash and drain well (a salad spinner can help ensure it’s dry).
Crispy bacon adds a salty smoky flavor. I use real bacon bits in this recipe to keep is simple but you can cut and crumble your own if you’d like.
Add ins include:
- onions (red or green work well)
- dried cranberries (add raisins if you’d like)
- sunflower seeds. Swap out the seeds for any kind of chopped nuts like almonds or pecans.
How to Make Broccoli Salad
This is probably one of the easiest salads you will throw together, which is why it has become a favorite (plus it’s so yummy)!
- Wash the broccoli and dry it very well. Cut the florets (and the stem) into bite-sized pieces, this can be done up to 4 days ahead of time. If you’d like you can also add some broccoli slaw to the salad.
- Whisk the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside per the recipe below.
- Place the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and toss with dressing. Remember to allow time for the recipe to chill in the fridge. This gives the broccoli a chance to soak in some of the dressing making it even better!
Broccoli Salad Dressing
We love this creamy broccoli salad dressing and it’s super simple to make in just 3 minutes.
- Mayonnaise can be swapped for dressing (like Miracle Whip).
- A sugar substitute of your choice will work well in this recipe.
- If you’re looking for a premade dressing, try coleslaw dressing or creamy poppyseed dressing.
- To make this broccoli salad recipe healthier, substitute half of the mayonnaise for plain Greek yogurt and skip the bacon bits.
Tips for the Best Creamy Broccoli Salad
- Wash your broccoli ahead of time if possible, this helps to ensure it drains well.
- This gives the broccoli a chance to soak in some of the dressing, resulting in an even more flavorful salad!
- Allow time for the recipe to chill in the fridge. This gives the broccoli a chance to soak in some of the dressing, resulting in an even more flavorful salad!
Make Ahead & Leftovers
Broccoli Salad can be made in advance and kept in the fridge (at least an hour but up to 24 hours) until you’re ready to serve. If you’d like to make further ahead, keep the dressing separate and toss a few hours before serving.
Leftovers will last about 4-5 days in the fridge.
More Easy Salads We Love
Did you enjoy this Broccoli Salad? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Ingredients
- 8 cups broccoli florets cut into bite-sized pieces
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup bacon bits
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Whisk together dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine broccoli, onion, cranberries, sunflower seeds, and bacon bits. Pour the prepared dressing over and mix well.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad
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I recently tripled this recipe for a large event. The only change I made was I nixed the bacon bits, and use thick cut, Hickory Smoked bacon (coarse chopped). It was the FIRST dish emptied on the food table. A VERY GOOD SIGN!
I cheated a little and used one of those veggie choppers vs doing allllll that cutting by hand. I used the medium grid for the broccoli and the finer grid for the red onion. It made SHORT WORK of the allllll the veggie preps.
This will be my go-to recipe for alllll upcoming summer potlucks. Sooo easy to transport in a sm. cooler on ice packs.
How many pounds of broccoli equals 8 cups of cut broccoli?
Hi Kim, it is approximately 1 ½ pounds
Sounds great
my only question is can you use frozen instead of fresh?
I haven’t tried making this salad with frozen broccoli so I can’t say for sure how it would work. If you do try it, thaw the broccoli and drain very well before adding the other ingredients. Let us know how it goes!
this is my all time favorite recipe to make,, being diabetic i switched the sugar with splenda or truvia, there were times ive added grilled chicken or shrimp, other times ive added flax seed,dried sweet cranberries and sunflower seeds.
loved this
I found for cutting up 1 whole broccoli, 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar was too much, half of that is perfect. Instead of the bacon I added Greenpeace, and it’s delish! I can eat this everyday. thank you for the recipe:)
Have you tried using cauliflower instead of broccoli for this recipe?
I have only made this recipe as listed but other readers have enjoyed adding cauliflower to this recipe.
this is the best broccoli salad.
For the cider vinegar are you referring to apple cider vinegar?
Yes, I use apple cider vinegar. Enjoy the recipe.
First time making broccoli salad! I was impressed with the ease of preparation..
It was delicious, crunchy, sweet and tangy…
Easily makes enough for four days ( total 8 servings)
Keeps well!
Will definitely make it again!
if you try to print this recipe it will try to print out the ENTIRE page. Pages and pages and pages of crap and blank pages.
Hi Jeff, there is a print button on the recipe that will print just the recipe in a lovely formatted way.
Can you use yellow onion?
Yes Dee, if that’s what you prefer or have on hand a yellow onion will work!
You can also add a little sharp cheddar cut into small chunks to add another level of flavor to it!!!
Excellent and Easy!
Thanks for sharing!
YOU ARE NOT LYING! This is EXACTLY what I wanted. So simple but Holy SMOKES this is delicious!! I used vegan mayo and crispy beets instead of bacon to make it plant-based and it totally soothed my soul. Thank you so much for sharing. Wonderful!!
Exactly the flavour I was looking for. This salad is delicious!
It was SO good we made another batch right after we finished the first one! Hearty enough for a stand-alone lunch. I did cut the sugar in half on the 2nd batch and it was still great. The more it marinates, the better it gets.
ive actually made this and added grilled chicken to the salad and OMG!!!! LOL
Very good brocoli salad ♥️
PS……if you want your oignons for a light taste put your oignons in cold water they won’t be as strong …
Love it thank you
Thank you for the tip :)
Thanks for that tip!
EASY AND TASTY. TOP OF MY SALAD LIST