Creamy Broccoli Slaw is a crunchy, crispy, summer addition to any barbecue, picnic, or potluck!

Shredded broccoli is mixed with tart granny smith apples, chewy dried cranberries, and crunchy sunflower seeds tossed in a simple creamy dressing!

Serve this as a side, on top of pulled pork sandwiches, or even in a wrap or burger!

Creamy Broccoli Slaw with sunflower seeds

Ingredients for Broccoli Slaw

Why decide between a broccoli salad and a creamy coleslaw when you can have both? This easy broccoli slaw recipe combines shredded broccoli stalks with carrots and a bit of purple cabbage.

  • Broccoli Slaw: Broccoli coleslaw mix is sold at almost any grocery store near the bagged salads. You can also easily make your own with broccoli stems.
  • Fruits: shredded granny smith apples and dried cranberries add sweetness
  • Seeds: we love sunflower seeds but they can be replaced with blanched almonds or other nuts
  • Dressing: mayo, vinegar, and sugar

Variations

  • This broccoli slaw dressing is great with almost any kind of coleslaw mix.
  • Add sliced green onion or diced red onion if desired.
  • A teaspoon or two of Dijon mustard can be added to the dressing.
Broccoli Slaw ingredients in a bowl

To Make Broccoli Slaw

  1. Salad: Cut granny smith apple into julienne matchsticks or small dice (recipe below). Toss with lemon juice to keep them from browning.
  2. Dressing: For the broccoli slaw dressing, combine the dressing ingredients.
  3. Combine: Toss all ingredients with the dressing and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend.

To Shred Your Own Slaw

This broccoli slaw recipe is a great way to use up broccoli stems. You can also finely chop some of the broccoli florets and add them in.

  1. Rinse the stems and peel away the tough outer layer.
  2. Cut the stems into fine matchsticks (julienne) or shred them with the largest holes on a box grater or food processor. I prefer fine matchsticks in this recipe.
  3. Use in place of bagged slaw in the recipe below.
Broccoli Slaw ingredients in a bowl topped with cranberries with sunflower seeds and pepper

To Store Broccoli Slaw

Creamy broccoli slaw will keep up to four days in the refrigerator. If it gets a little watery, drain it, add some extra sunflower seeds for crunch!

Serve It Next To…

Broccoli slaw is such a versatile salad all year long! Scoop over a bed of mixed green lettuce and top with croutons or add into a wrap with slices of cooked bacon or even over pulled pork! Add some creamy crunch to your favorite hamburger.

Serve alongside grilled sausages or as a side to hotdogs for a new twist on a summer barbecue!

More Favorite Coleslaw Recipes

Did you enjoy this Creamy Broccoli Slaw? Leave us a rating and a comment below!

image of Everyday Comfort cookbook by Holly Nilsson of Spend With Pennies plus text
Creamy Broccoli Slaw with sunflower seeds
4.96 from 95 votes↑ Click stars to rate now!
Or to leave a comment, click here!

Broccoli Slaw

Shredded broccoli is mixed with Granny Smith apples, dried cranberries, and crunchy sunflower seeds in a simple creamy dressing!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 12 servings

Equipment

buy hollys book

Ingredients  

  • 32 ounces broccoli slaw mixture see notes for homemade
  • 1 large granny smith apple
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • ½ cup sunflower seeds plus additional for garnish

Dressing*

  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

  • Cut the apple in half and remove the seeds. Cut into fine matchsticks (julienne) and toss with lemon juice.
  • In a large bowl, add the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and celery seed. Whisk to combine.
  • Add the broccoli slaw, apple, cranberries, and sunflower seeds. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Garnish with additional sunflower seeds if desired.

Notes

*Dressing: This salad is lightly dressed for lots of crunch and fresh flavor. The dressing can be doubled if desired.
To shred your own slaw: You can also finely chop some of the broccoli florets and add them in along with shredded carrot and/or cabbage.
  1. Rinse the stems and peel away the tough outer layer.
  2. Cut the stems into fine matchsticks (julienne) or shred them with the largest holes on a box grater or food processor. I prefer fine matchsticks in this recipe.
  3. Use in place of bagged slaw in the recipe below.
Store leftover salad in a covered container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Stir before reserving. 
4.96 from 95 votes

Nutrition Information

Calories: 161 | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 81mg | Potassium: 302mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 317IU | Vitamin C: 71mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American
plated Creamy Broccoli Slaw with a title
Creamy Broccoli Slaw with tart apples and writing
plate of Creamy Broccoli Slaw with writing
plated Creamy Broccoli Slaw and close up photo with a title

Categories:

, ,

Recipes you'll love

About the author

Holly Nilsson is the creator of Spend With Pennies, where she creates easy, comforting recipes made for real life. With a passion for nostalgic flavors and simplified techniques, Holly helps busy home cooks create delicious meals that always work. She is also the author of “Everyday Comfort,” which promises to inspire even more hearty, home-cooked meals.
See more posts by Holly

Follow Holly on social media:

pinterest facebook twitter instagram

Free eBook!

Subscribe to receive weekly recipes and get a FREE Bonus e-book: Quick & Easy Weeknight Meals!

You can unsubscribe anytime by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of emails you receive.

4.96 from 95 votes (80 ratings without comment)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Refreshing and Delicious! Great salad for barbecue side salad or by itself for lunch Two thumbs up5 stars

  2. This looks like a great option for something different on the Christmas dinner table. Wondering how much salt & pepper is recommended for this recipe.

  3. Here’s the thing, I did a few things different BUT… some was out of necessity. I used it as my base and believe me, it was so good.
    I only had a 16oz bag AND only using half of it for the 2 of us. I used the mayo, vinegar, surgar, celery seed ( I LOVE) and s&p recipe, not quartered but to our liking. I also added a tiny bit of (fresh) cilantro & dill because we had it. And I mean a tiny bit. We didn’t have the dried cranberries, BUMMER, or dried cherries. Oh well! Our sunflower seeds were rancid BUT, I chopped some dry roasted peanuts and served on top.
    We had it with egg noodles topped with roasted chicken breasts with our Peanut sauce, thai style, no cooking peanut sauce.4 stars

  4. This salad was refreshing and delicious. I also chopped up some fresh pears with the apples. My kids loved it (which is saying something:))
    Thank you for another one of your simple, easy and delicious recipes!!5 stars

  5. This salad was delicious. I made it exactly as described except I realize now that I had halved the dressing by mistake. No wonder I thought there wasn’t enough dressing.

    I went through the trouble of toasting the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet. Totally worth the extra step.

    I’ll be making this one again.

    1. Happy to hear you loved it, Martine! Toasting the sunflower seeds is definitely worth the effort, I agree!

  6. Easy quick and yummy. We had with rockfish for dinner. Swapped the sunflower seeds with walnuts cuz had no sunflower seeds.5 stars

  7. The measurements here seem a bit off to me. There is simply not enough dressing for 32 oz of broccoli slaw mixture. Actually, I made 1.5 of the dressing to cover 16 oz of slaw mixture. I also let it sit for just over an hour which was definitely not enough time. Overnight was the way to go!3 stars

  8. Good recipe! Had to sub out some items raisins for cranberries, orange instead of apple and pine nuts. Just didn’t have the other items.5 stars

      1. It would have been nice to see the ingredients of the “broccoli slaw mix” so that I could make it completely from scratch, but I looked up what’s in the pre-mixed bags and made my own “mix”. I had to sub green cabbage for red but I doubt that changed the flavor much. Good recipe otherwise!4 stars

  9. Recipes like this are great because they are so easy and taste so good. I only used 1 pound of slaw, one prefer a creamy slaw. I can’t imagine it would be enough for 2 pounds of broccoli slaw mixture. The dressing is very good and I ended up doing 1 1/2 times the recipe – which was perfect for our salad.5 stars

  10. So simple, healthy, and so delicious! I used red wine vinegar instead just for the heck of it. Thanks, Holly!5 stars