Meet my favorite broccoli salad recipe...aka the best cookout side dish! With a lightly creamy, tangy dressing, it's fresh, healthy, and delicious.
This broccoli salad recipe is one of my favorite side dishes. It’s my lighter spin on classic Midwest broccoli salad, and though you won’t find any cheese or bacon here, it’s every bit as delicious. A creamy, tangy dressing coats crisp broccoli florets, chewy dried cranberries, sharp red onion, and smoky roasted nuts. Even salad skeptics will love it.
This broccoli salad recipe is easy to make, and even better, make ahead. A few hours or a day in the fridge gives the broccoli a chance to soften and soak up the dressing’s punchy flavor. Pack it up for a potluck, a cookout, or a weekday lunch. It’s guaranteed to be a hit!
A Broccoli Salad Recipe That’s Good for You
Broccoli salad is a standard cookout side dish, but the typical classic broccoli salad recipe is loaded up with sugar, ample mayo, bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese. My version is a fresher, healthier twist—I nix the sugar, meat, and cheese altogether. The result is a crisp, refreshing salad that’ll be the star of your cookouts all summer long!
How to Make Broccoli Salad
The first step in this recipe is chopping the broccoli. Make sure to cut the florets into bite-sized pieces and to finely dice the stems. The small pieces will soften more and soak up the dressing better than larger pieces will.
Next, you’ll mix up the homemade broccoli salad dressing. Instead of using the typical 1 cup mayo: 2 tablespoons vinegar ratio for my broccoli salad dressing, I replace some of the mayo with olive oil and up the proportion of vinegar. I also add a few teaspoons of Dijon mustard and a little honey to the mix, making for a light, super tangy dressing with a delectable sweet/salty flavor.
Add the broccoli, red onion, and dried cranberries to the creamy dressing, and stir to coat.
Now for the best part: the smoky tamari almonds and pepitas! They add wonderful crunch to the salad and bring richness and smoky flavor. They’re the perfect nutritious substitute for bacon and cheese. They’re easy to make—toss the almonds and pepitas with tamari, maple syrup, and smoked paprika, and toast in a 350°F oven for 10 to 14 minutes, until golden brown. Top the salad with the nuts.
Season to taste, and enjoy!
Tip: If you can’t find pepitas, sunflower seeds work here too!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Best Broccoli Salad Recipe Tips
Want to make the best broccoli salad around? Here are a few simple tips:
- Cut your broccoli small. Because this salad features raw broccoli, you want to make sure the pieces are small enough to become fully coated and soften in the dressing. Also, when the broccoli pieces are a similar size to the other ingredients in the salad, you can get a little of everything in each bite.
- Let it marinate. This salad is good right after it’s made, but it’s even better after a few hours (or even days) in the fridge. The broccoli softens and absorbs the flavors of the dressing—my family loved it on day three!
- Save some nuts for the last minute. Sure, I like to make this salad ahead so that the flavors can develop, but the key to making it great is the crispy, smoky nuts and seeds on top. If you add them too early, they’ll lose their crunch, so save some to sprinkle on right before serving!
Storage
- If you’re making this recipe ahead, wait to add the almonds and pepitas. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature. Store the rest of the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Add the almonds and pepitas right before you eat.
- If you have leftover salad, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
What to Serve with Broccoli Salad
This broccoli salad recipe is a perfect side dish for potlucks and cookouts! Serve it alongside classic cookout recipes like these:
- Best Veggie Burger
- Easy Black Bean Burger
- Portobello Mushroom Burger
- Vegan Hot Dogs
- BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches
Round out the meal with other summer favorites like grilled zucchini and grilled corn on the cob. Don’t forget the lemonade to drink!
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love
If you love this summer salad, try one of these easy salad recipes next:
- Easy Pasta Salad
- Best Potato Salad
- Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Watermelon Salad
- Creamy Coleslaw
- Orzo Salad
- Greek Salad
- Or any of these 51 Best Salad Recipes!
Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound broccoli crowns
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, I like Sir Kensington's or vegan mayo
- 1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
- â…“ cup diced red onions
- â…“ cup dried cranberries
Smoky tamari almonds
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup pepitas
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- ½ teaspoon maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika, more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Chop the broccoli florets into ½-inch pieces and any remaining stems into ¼-inch dice. Peel any woody or course parts from the stem first.
- In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, mayo, apple cider vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, garlic, and salt. Add the broccoli, onions, and cranberries and toss to coat.
- Place the almonds and pepitas on the baking sheet, toss with the tamari, maple syrup, and smoked paprika and spread into a thin layer. Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes (they’ll get crispier as they sit).
- Toss the almonds and pepitas into the salad, reserving a few to sprinkle on top. Season to taste and serve.
Notes
Made this for lunch today, it was delicious. (But then I’ve come to expect nothing less from your recipes!) I think that the nuts I made were v slightly burned and next time I’ll leave them in the oven for slightly less time (or maybe just use caremalized pecans??) but either way it all tasted great. Thanks!
This was great! The textures and flavours are amazing together and besides a little chopping, it’s so simple to put together. My whole family loved it.
Love this salad very much. I am trying to transition to being vegan, and recipes like this are so helpful! Thank you for sharing.
This is such a easy recipe ?…the taste is wonderful …will continue to make..thank you?
I’m so glad you loved it!
I make this regularly we love it so much. We are vegan so I substitute vegan Mayo. I also add a pack of prepackaged broccoli or kale slaw and a can of chickpeas to make it a lunch. Soooooo goooood!
I’m so glad you’ve been loving it!
Can I substitute walnuts for the almonds
yes, but I’d watch them more closely in the oven – they might be done in less time.
Can you make this the day before? Thinking about serving it chilled with grilled chicken for Mother’s Day!
You can, just leave the almonds and pepitas out until you’re ready to serve so they stay crisp.
A truly scrumptious salad. Now a firm favorite for lunches. Thank you!
Hi Erica, I’m so glad you loved it!
Under the printable version of the recipe, the 2nd ingredient is 3 tablespoons, but you don’t say what the ingredient is. I am assuming it’s the olive oil, but you really should correct the recipe.
Hmm, I see 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, I’m not sure what might be happening on your monitor? If you have a minute and could email me a screenshot, I could figure out if there’s a glitch.
It was amazing. It was my first time trying the recipe and loved it. Its all the ingredients that are available in your pantry. I didn’t roast the almonds but they tasted the same. Will be trying out other recipes as I go along.
I want the calorie measurement for the serving that is done so those who are on diet can modulate the quantity they eat.
I’m glad you loved the salad! I’m sorry, we don’t provide calorie info.
I have made many, many broccoli salads as my family and I never tire of broccoli! And this one is the very favourite, which is saying a lot because we haven’t been let down by any of the broccoli salads I have made. The only changes for us: I don’t use mayo (egg allergy) so I used the same quantity of half Greek Yogurt and half sour cream. I left out the pepitas as I couldn’t find peanut free pepitas (peanut allergy). The smoky tamari almonds are an amazing addition, don’t leave them out! I took your advice and did not add any of the almonds until right before serving and everyone absolutely loved them. I’ve made this salad many times as it’s now in my regular rotation. PS. I have made the smoky tamari almonds by themselves just for us to munch on!
Absolutely loved this and will definitely be making it again.
This was so good! I am not a broccoli lover, my partner is, so I tend to get creative with it. But eating it in this salad was beyond my expectations.
I did not have any dried cranberries, so I subbed those with grapes, and used what available nuts I had in my pantry. An amazing salad, I will definitely make it again!
This is the most delicious salad! Made it exactly as recipe said. The whole family loved it and I’ll be making it again soon for a dinner party. Thanks so much for this great salad, yummo!
Absolutely delicious! Will definitely make this in the future.
Really tasty! I chopped up the stems as if celery(made good crunch). Dressing is rock star. I used low sodium soy sauce. I was afraid that it might be too salty for me, so I cut the amount in half. The almonds turned put well. Would be great snack too. Served it with oven poached salmon, butter dolloped & broil-browned before serving. Thanks!
I just wanted to say that this is super flexible! I’ve made as described (delicious). Today, however, I had a few other things in my kitchen – scallions , a little bit of leftover curry mayo, and dried cranberries w/ orange oil.
I dropped the mustard and honey in the dressing because of the curry mayo (but kept the garlic). Everything else was the same. This turned out amazingly!
Loved by everyone around the table! Thank you for such a good recipe. I removed the mayo. I also used a reduced amount of soy sauce instead of tamari because I had that in the cupboard.
Will definitely make again 🙂
This recipe is a treat, the flavors are balanced superbly. Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Hello! I absolutely love this salad. Do you know the macros for this salad?