This is the best healthy broccoli salad recipe! With a rich and creamy dressing and the perfect amount of crunch this salad is made with broccoli, red onion, almonds and fresh grapes. It's great for picnics, and barbecues and makes the perfect side dish.
Table of Contents
Why you will love this recipe:
- The flavour! The dressing is rich and creamy and the salad has the perfect crunchy texture from the slivered almonds and fresh broccoli. Grapes add the perfect amount of sweetness which contrasts really well with the tart, tangy dressing.
- It is quick and easy it is to make. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare! Plus you don't need to blanch the broccoli which makes it even easier.
- It's made with pantry staple ingredients and it also makes great leftovers so it's perfect for meal prep.
- This broccoli salad is paleo, Whole30 compliant, dairy free, gluten free and sugar free. It can easily be made vegan too. It's also made with no bacon.
If you love delicious salad recipes you will also love my Italian meal salad.
Ingredients and substitutions:
- Mayonnaise - A good mayonnaise is key to making the dressing on this salad. I love using my homemade mayonnaise but you can use your favourite store bought mayo too.
- Dijon mustard - to give the dressing just a little tang and extra flavour.
- Coconut vinegar and balsamic vinegar - the combination of these two vinegars makes the creamy dressing on this salad taste so good! Coconut vinegar can be hard to find so you can swap this for apple cider vinegar if you don't have coconut vinegar.
- Fresh broccoli - For this salad you will want to use fresh broccoli and not frozen broccoli. You do not need to blanch the broccoli. You will want the broccoli to be in bite-sized pieces so you can either cut the broccoli florets yourself or buy pre-washed and pre-cut broccoli to make your prep even easier.
- Red onion - this helps add even more flavour to this salad. You could swap this for another type of onion such as yellow onion, white onion or sweet onion.
- Salt - to help enhance the delicious taste of the dressing on this salad.
- Parsley - dried parsley is used to add more flavour to the creamy dressing.
- Grapes - grapes add the perfect amount of sweetness to this salad. They contrast perfectly with the tartness of the broccoli and the creamy dressing. Instead of grapes you could add other fruit such as apples.
- Slivered almonds - not only do almonds taste amazing and add flavour to this salad, they also give it a nice crunchy texture. You could swap the almonds for another nut or seed too. Other delicious options include pine nuts, sunflower seeds or cashews.
How to make (step-by-step):
Step one:
First, put all the ingredients for the salad in a large bowl.
Step two:
Then put the dressing ingredients in another small bowl or glass measuring cup and stir everything well until it's smooth and creamy.
Step three:
Now pour the salad dressing over the salad ingredients.
Step four:
Now mix everything well so that the salad ingredients are evenly coated in the dressing. Then serve and enjoy!
Top Tip:
This salad tastes even better if you let it sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours (or overnight) before serving so it's even better the next day!
Recipe variations and add ins:
- For even more crunch add some cooked bacon to this salad.
- Instead of slivered almonds you could use pine nuts, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
- If you prefer to blanch your broccoli when you make broccoli salad you can do that.
- To make this salad vegan: use a vegan mayonnaise.
- If you prefer a sweeter dressing: add 1-2 tablespoon of maple syrup to the dressing.
- If you are serving a crowd feel free to double or triple this recipe.
How to serve:
This salad pairs well with many different dishes. Here are my favourite ways to serve it:
- Serve it with burgers such as pork burgers, gluten free burgers or duck burgers.
- This paleo broccoli salad makes a great side dish for pork chops like my blueberry pork chops.
- Pair it with ribs! These slow cooker pineapple ribs are my favourite.
- This is the perfect recipe to serve with chicken wings including salt and pepper chicken wings or honey lemon pepper wings.
- It goes great with Bavette steak, grilled chicken or fish!
- Broccoli salad is the perfect side dish to bring to picnics, summer parties, potlucks, barbecues or tailgates.
How to store:
Store this salad in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
I don't recommend trying to freeze this salad. The broccoli will get rasher mushy when you thaw it.
Frequently asked questions:
Nope! For this broccoli salad there is no need to steam the broccoli, I just use raw broccoli but if you prefer you can also blanche it.
Some broccoli salad recipes will ask you to blanch the broccoli, but not all. This simple broccoli salad requires no blanching so it is ready in no time.
Yes! You can easily make a broccoli salad with no bacon. Instead of bacon, other options to add crunch to broccoli salad include using nuts or seeds such as slivered almonds, pecans or pine nuts.
No, broccoli salad does not freeze well. After being frozen the broccoli will become rather mushy when it thaws.
Other healthy recipes you will love:
- Dairy free ice cream bars
- Healthy Asian Coleslaw
- Teriyaki Broccoli and Peppers Stir Fry
- Healthy Potato Salad
- Simple Walnut Dressing
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Recipe
Healthy Broccoli Salad
Equipment
- Large bowl
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 2 heads broccoli, finely chopped
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1 cup sliced red grapes
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion (or more to taste)
Dressing Ingredients
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon coconut vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine all the salad ingredients.
- In a separate bowl or jar, combine the dressing ingredients and stir them well until they are smooth.
- Add the dressing to the salad and stir everything well until combined.
- Optional: put the salad in the fridge for 1-2 hours before serving to help the flavours become stronger and the broccoli to get more crisp.
Notes
- This salad tastes even better if left in the fridge for 1-2 hours before serving.
- Nutritional values are an estimate and will vary depending on the exact ingredients you use.
- Store this salad in the fridge for up to a week after you make it.
Tatiana
Loved this recipe. I used apple cider vinegar and it worked great! So tasty. So simple. Thanks Erin!
Erin Carter
Oh yay I'm so glad you like it!!!!
Lindsay
I'm not going to be able to get Coconut Vinegar in time to make this recipe. What's your best suggestion for an alternative?
Erin Carter
I have personally not tried it with any other vinegar so I am not sure how the taste would change if you do. I would probably try apple cider since I often have that one but if you try another please let me know.