Valentina's Corner
This broccoli bacon salad recipe makes the most incredible salad. Full of delicious flavors and textures, this salad is full of surprises! Each bite is full of fresh florets and crispy bacon. Not to mention the homemade creamy mayo dressing that brings everything together, making the perfect side dish.
Broccoli is such a diverse vegetable. Whether you love simple oven-roasted broccoli or prefer it in a broccoli salad.
This salad is full of broccoli, chopped bacon, cranberries, sunflower kernels, and sliced almonds, making every bite a medley of flavors and textures. This is the perfect salad to make in advance and mix together before serving.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Prep in advance. This recipe makes the perfect salad that you can make ahead of time!
- Customize. So many delicious ingredients go into this salad, you can easily add more to make this salad your own.
- Delicious. This salad is a beautiful blend of remarkable flavors; you won’t be able to get it out of your head.
Ingredients for Broccoli Bacon Salad
- Broccoli – chopped into broccoli florets.
- Bacon – cooked, and cut into strips. You can also use bacon bits for a shortcut.
- Onion – finely chopped. Red onion tastes best when raw.
- Add-ins – the craisins, sunflower seeds and sliced almonds are great add-ins.
- Dressing – a combination of mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Toppings – Swap out the craisins for raisins for a variation of flavor.
- Add cheese – Make this salad like our broccoli bacon salad with cheese, by tossing in cubed or grated sharp cheddar cheese.
- Cabbage salad – Toss in freshly grated cabbage to add a spin on our cabbage broccoli salad.
- Extra crunch – Add some home-baked croutons to this salad for an extra delicious crunch.
How to Make the Best Broccoli Salad:
With just a few simple steps, you can have this hearty broccoli bacon salad recipe ready to enjoy!
- Cook the bacon – Air-fry bacon and then cut into small, bite-sized pieces.
- Prep – Chop up the broccoli into florets and finely chop the onion.
- Creamy dressing – Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and stir together.
- Assemble – Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl and add in the dressing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS-
You may definitely add chicken as protein to the salad recipe. This is a great way to use leftover chicken.
This salad and the dressing may be prepared in advance and kept refrigerated overnight.
If you have leftovers, the salad will keep fresh for up to 3 days in the refrigerated, covered.
Broccoli salad is best if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
No, raw broccoli is great in this recipe. The homemade dressing softens the broccoli florets and it’s a perfect crunchy salad. The best part, uncooked broccoli retains more fiber.
The broccoli stems are very nutritious so you can chop them up and use them in the salad. But you can also just discard the stems.
You can use white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. If you don’t have vinegar you can also use freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Make-Ahead:
To make this salad in advance, simply combine all the salad ingredients without dressing the salad. Combine the salad and the dressing right before serving, and enjoy!
Storage & Refrigeration:
Store: Leftovers of this salad store very well! Keep the salad in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days!
Freeze: We don’t recommend freezing this salad.
Other Delicious Salad Recipes:
If you loved this salad recipe, be sure to try our other homemade salad recipes, here are some of our favorites:
If you tried this best broccoli salad recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below – we appreciate it!
Broccoli Bacon Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups broccoli florets, raw
- 1/2 lb bacon, chopped and cooked
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup craisins
- 1/2 cup sunflower kernels
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
Instructions
- Cook bacon until crispy.
- Cut broccoli into medium uniform florets. Finely chop the onion.
- Prepare the dressing; whisk together the mayo, sugar and vinegar until creamy.
- Combine all of the ingredients. Mix well.