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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!
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.
To Make Broccoli Slaw
- Salad: Cut granny smith apple into julienne matchsticks or small dice (recipe below). Toss with lemon juice to keep them from browning.
- Dressing: For the broccoli slaw dressing, combine the dressing ingredients.
- 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.
- Rinse the stems and peel away the tough outer layer.
- 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.
- Use in place of bagged slaw in the recipe below.
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!
Broccoli Slaw
Equipment
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
- Rinse the stems and peel away the tough outer layer.
- 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.
- Use in place of bagged slaw in the recipe below.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad, Side Dish
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Refreshing and Delicious! Great salad for barbecue side salad or by itself for lunch Two thumbs up
This looks like a great option for something different on the Christmas dinner table. Wondering how much salt & pepper is recommended for this recipe.
Hi Bobbie, I would start with ¼ teaspoon and add more as needed.
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.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome recipe
Thanks, Justine!
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!!
Thanks, Dawn! So happy you enjoyed it.
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.
Happy to hear you loved it, Martine! Toasting the sunflower seeds is definitely worth the effort, I agree!
I added some pineapple bits. YUMMO!
Can’t wait to try some of these recipes
Easy quick and yummy. We had with rockfish for dinner. Swapped the sunflower seeds with walnuts cuz had no sunflower seeds.
Looks delicious
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!
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.
Those are great substitutions!
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!
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.
Fantastic and easy summer salad!
So simple, healthy, and so delicious! I used red wine vinegar instead just for the heck of it. Thanks, Holly!
What kind of vinegar do you use ? Red wine or just white vinegar?
I use white vinegar but you could certainly change it up in this recipe.
This recipe is perfect – it quickly became a frequently requested favorite with my family.
Made this tonight and it was delicious, thank you!