Creamy Broccoli Salad is one of those recipes that always seems to disappear quickly whenever I make it. With fresh broccoli, crispy bacon, sweet cranberries, and a simple homemade creamy dressing, it has a lovely balance of flavours and textures.
It’s a great make-ahead salad for family meals, barbecues, shared lunches, or entertaining. The dressing brings everything together beautifully, creating a fresh and colourful side dish that’s easy to prepare and always popular.
Why I use a homemade dressing in this broccoli salad
I love sharing new salad ideas, in this case this is not a new recipe, rather a beloved one that you can find many variations of. I like to make my broccoli salad with my coleslaw dressing as it is just so tasty!
Why raw broccoli works so well in this salad
Broccoli is a lovely green vegetable from the brassica family, it did used to be considered a winter only vegetable but now we are lucky it can be grown year round here in NZ and readily available in supermarkets.
The health benefits of broccoli are many, its lovely and tasty and it can be eaten cooked or raw. I have used raw broccoli for this salad as the crunch and flavour are just perfect.
What do you need to make this broccoli salad?
The ingredients are just a few, like many salads you can add or substitute as you wish, this is just what we love to use:
- 1-2 Heads of Broccoli
- Bacon
- Slivered Almonds
- Cranberries
- Mayonnaise
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Lemon Juice
- Sugar
- Salt & Pepper
- Celery seeds (optional, but highly recommend)
Please scroll down for the full printable recipe card for quantities and method.
Tips for preparing the broccoli and bacon
To make this salad is so quick and easy! The longest part is chopping the small broccoli florets, you can do this while the bacon cooks. Cook the bacon how you choose, frying pan, air fryer or oven. You want the bacon lovely and crispy.
What goes into the broccoli salad dressing?
For the dressing combine the mayonnaise (I like to use a full fat egg mayo; Best Foods is my favourite one) the apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, pepper and celery seeds and whisk well to combine, and set aside.
If you prefer not to make the dressing from scratch, simply use your favourite store-bought coleslaw dressing instead.
How do you assemble broccoli salad?
In a bowl add the rinsed and well dried broccoli, finely diced bacon, cranberries and slivered almonds, then pour over the dressing and combine well. Ensure every piece of broccoli is coated.
Feel free to garnish with a little extra cranberries and almonds, a little mint is lovely here too! Then leave this to rest for at least an hour for the flavours to infuse.
More salad favourites to try
If you enjoy this Creamy Broccoli Salad, be sure to have a look through my other salad recipes too. There are lots of easy favourites perfect for family dinners, barbecues and shared lunches. I hope you love this one! If you are particularly a fan of brassica salads, check out my Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad, it is such a delicious side dish.
Creamy Broccoli Salad Recipe
Creamy Broccoli Salad
Creamy Broccoli Salad combines broccoli, bacon, cranberries, and a homemade creamy dressing for an easy make-ahead salad that's perfect for sharing.
Ingredients
- 1-2 Heads of Broccoli - approx 6 cups or 360 g small florets
- 3 Pieces of Bacon, 90 g, cooked, finely diced
- 1 Cup Mayonnaise, 235 g
- 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon White Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Celery Seeds (optional but highly recommend)
- ⅓ Cup Cranberries, dried, 40 g
- ½ Cup Slivered Almonds, 60 g
Instructions
- Cook the bacon until crispy, either in a fan bake oven, frying pan or air fryer for approx ten minutes. Once cool, finely dice
- Cut the broccoli into small florets, discarding the long stems, rinse and thoroughly dry and set aside
- In a small bowl, add the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, pepper, salt and celery seeds, whisk well to combine and set aside
- In a large bowl add the broccoli florets, cranberries, slivered almonds and bacon. Then pour in the prepared dressing and toss to coat the broccoli mixture well.
- Allow this to rest covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to 24 hours before serving
- Feel free to garnish with a little more cranberries and almonds, and some finely sliced mint to serve
- Best eaten within 3 days of making, store covered in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Is there an alternative to the homemade dressing?
Yes, use any store-bought coleslaw dressing you enjoy
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 365Total Fat 35gSaturated Fat 6gUnsaturated Fat 29gCholesterol 140mgSodium 466mgCarbohydrates 6gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 8g
JustAMumNZ.com, occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although justamumnz.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
I really hope you love this Creamy Broccoli Salad as much as we do. It’s such a simple, tasty salad to have in your regular recipe collection, and one I know I’ll be making again and again. Be sure to let me know in the comments below if you make it. This salad is perfect for your next BBQ and is also lovely served alongside grilled fish or ham.
If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to hear how it turned out for you in the comments. You can also leave a ⭐ rating in the recipe card above, it really helps others find and enjoy this recipe too.
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Happy baking,
Anna x
AnnMayMorris says
I think it’s much safer to at least blanch the brocolli in hot water or even cook in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes because A ) this is much safer to eat particularly when mixing with any type of mayonnaise and B) it’s a much nicer texture to eat.
justamumnz says
Unsure the reasoning behind it being unsafe to eat with mayonnaise? Many raw vegetables are served with mayonnaise or dressings, such as cabbage, cauliflower etc. This is a raw broccoli salad, a very common popular recipe. If you wish of course you can cook or blanch yours if you find it easier to digest that way.
Kate Galvin says
I’m vegetarian – how would it go without bacon?
Anna From Just A Mum says
Definitely is just as creamy and delicious without bacon! Anna
Helen says
Fab recipe but what could I replace the almonds with.
justamumnz says
Walnuts, cashews, pecans, pine nuts, sesame or pumpkin seeds etc