Broccoli Salad

By KSmitherman

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5-6 cups fresh broccoli florets (about 1 pound of florets)
• 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup cooked, crumbled bacon
• 1/4 cup of red onion, chopped
• 1 cup of frozen peas, thawed (or fresh peas if you can get them)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey

Details

Servings 4
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 20mins
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

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broccoli. Some people like raw broccoli, and actually, I love raw broccoli stems. They taste a lot like cabbage or cauliflower. But the florets? If they're raw, keep them away please. So, how to make a broccoli salad if you don't like raw broccoli? The solution - blanch the broccoli for 1 minute, or no more than two minutes. The broccoli will still be firm enough for the salad, the color will be even prettier, because blanching brings out the green, and the taste will be less raw and more cooked. In this recipe, the broccoli pairs wonderfully with the toasted almonds, bacon, peas, and onion. The honey and vinegar in the dressing adds some sweet and sour to the mix. Normally I cringe at the thought of broccoli salad, but honestly, this is one of the tastiest salads I've ever made, broccoli or not.

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Bring a large pot of water, salted with a teaspoon of salt, to a boil. Add the broccoli florets. Cook 1-2 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want the broccoli. 1 minute will turn the broccoli bright green, and leave it still pretty crunchy. 2 minutes will cook the broccoli through, but still firm. Set your timer and do not cook for more than 2 minutes, or the broccoli will get mushy. Drain the broccoli and immediately put into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Let cool and drain.

Combine broccoli florets, almonds, crumbled bacon, chopped onion, and peas in a large serving bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, cider vinegar and honey. Add dressing to the salad and toss to mix well. Chill thoroughly before serving.

I made brocolli salad before, but different from yours. I put in 'tuna in oil' and toss the boiled brocolli together with mayonnaise. Mine is a very simple version though. But it tastes nice because the tuna smells nice. And my friend who doesn't eat brocolli eats it because of the tuna! Haha.

Instead of peas, we use raisins. It adds a lovely sweet taste and even more fiber, iron and Vit B&A

I like my crunchy things to be crunchy when I eat them (almonds, bacon), so I wouldn't add them to this salad until right before serving. I am definitely going to try this recipe very soon!

This is a really good salad. I do think blanching would make it taste better. I've only had it with the raw broccoli and sometimes it doesn't taste quite right. I will try blanching the next time I make it.

Since I discovered blanched broccoli maybe 10 or 12 years ago I've never been satisfied with raw crudites of broccoli. I'm quite happy with 25-45 seconds of boiling time for such applications, followed by the usual dunk in ice water. It concentrates the good flavors of broccoli, tames the rawness, and maintains the desirable crunchiness. Usually I just use raw ginger and good soy sauce as a garnish, much like I frequently do with spinach, which likes mercilessly brief blanching (5-10 seconds).

I make a broccoli salad that similar to this recipe. However, I do not cook or blanche the broccoli. I find that if you refrigerate the salad for 2 hours, the broccoli becomes more tender (chopping broccoli into small florets also helps). The only other differences are that I use crisp turkey bacon instead of regular, use sugar instead of honey, I add raisins and do not include almond or peas. It's always a crowd pleaser.

I had two minor issues. This first one was probably a newbie mistake and was that you need to drain the broccoli well after blanching. My dressing mixed with the extra water and it pooled at the bottom instead of sticking nicely like in Elise's photo. The second was that if you use fake bacon bits like I did, 1/2 cup is a bit on the heavy side. Maybe adding a weight limit on the bacon measurement would be good.

My sister-in-law made a similar salad this weekend. I think she combined several recipes and maybe threw in everything else she liked. She did not put peas, but she did put bacon, sharp cheddar, broken pecans, sunflower seeds, raisins, craisins, and (by-the-way the broccoli) with the dressing mixture. My brother HATES mayonaise (won't come near it in anything!), but he laps this down like it is going out of style, as did the rest of my family. We made the dressing separately and poured it over the mixed salad, which had been in the refrigerator overnight and was still crunchy and good, at the last minute. We did not, however, use the entire dressing mixture on the salad. We used just enough to coat the salad lightly, so that may be better for mayo avoiders.

I made this salad yesterday and found it to have too much mayonaise. I followed all the measurements, but there was way too much dressing for the salad. If I make it again, I will certainly use less mayo.

I make a super easy version of this. I use bottled coleslaw dressing instead of the mayo, vinegar, and honey/sugar mixture. I use bacon bits (real not simulated). I don't blanche the brocolli, but I make the salad ahead of time so it has plenty of time to marinate. I use raisins instead of peas and sunflower seeds instead of almonds.

I had this at a friend's house and it was really delicious. I got the recipe from her neighbor who made it, and I plan to make it soon. She did not blanche her broccoli first and used sugar instead of honey, and no nuts, peas, or salt.

This is a great salad, I use real mayonnaise 1 cup, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, any veggie that brings color like small tomatoes or red onions. Add dressing just before serving and top with bacon bits. Its always a hit and easy to fix. Jean from Texas

I made this salad the other day but used olive oil instead of mayo. I beat the olive oil and vinegar together to make a vinaigrette and then added honey. Left it to marinate overnight and the flavors were wonderful the next day. Can't wait to make it again.

I usually also add 1 or 2 teaspoons of cooking oil (palm oil or blended cooking oil) into the boiling water prior to blanching the broccoli or any other leafy green. It makes the greens look really nice!

This recipe is so popular with all of my family and friends. Not a nay sayer in the group. I do not blanche the brocoli but am definitely going to try this. We also use raisins, crasins and sunflower seeds, also, cubed Muenster cheese. The cheese is awesome. Adds another wonderful texture, color and taste but not overpowering.

This recipe is the perfect combination of sweet, salty, cool & crunchy. I've made a variation of this for years but have never thought of blanching the broccoli - duh! Raw broccoli sure can be un-palatable but I've always made it the night before to soften it. I'm going to blanche next time. Another variation is cauliflour, broccoli, bacon & shredded cheddar with the same dressing.

In a small saucepan, mix the first four ingredients. Add grated onion (small to medium, depending on your taste), add the olive oil and vinegar. Heat until sugar is melted. Cool and refrigerate.

Reheat and use to wilt lettuce or serve cold on salad. Keeps in refrigerator indefinitely.

This has been a long standing regular at our family parties. My mom makes it, leaving the broccoli fairly large. Another family member choppes it up very finely. The finely chopped version seems to go over a bit better with those eaters who are not fans of raw veggies. Not sure why. I will have to try it with peas sometime since our version has red grapes in it instead.

Fabulous recipe, and so easy. I've made it twice since reading the post. I skipped the bacon (and faux bacon) and cut the mayo approximately in half. I've substituted green garbanzo beans for peas, when I had them (until recently, Trader Joe's carried frozen green garbanzo beans--join me in lobbying for their return!), and followed one commenter's suggestion and added dried Montmorency cherries. Wonderful.

This salad is also really good if you add in cheese tortellini. Very yummy!

This was spectacular. I made it a few weeks ago and everyone loved it. I came to look the recipe up again so I can serve it with your grilled flank steak recipe. I'm head over heels for flank steak right now, not to mention grilling. This is so yummy and won't heat up my house too much!

I make a broccoli salad that is similar and it usually gets rave reviews. Now I can add this variation to my recipe collection. Thanks

I had eaten several versions of this salad and was happy to find one with all the great suggestions for improvements - I love improvising and always substitute half homemade yogurt for mayo in recipes. To make, use a starter from healthfood store, or couple tablespoons of good yogurt, add to any quantity of milk (fat content of choice) that has been boiled to 160plus then cooled to 115 degrees, leave in thermos a few hours or overnight. THEN take back small amount and freeze, to have for starter next time. I'm never without fresh yogurt and freezing the starter each time was a breakthrough idea!

I've always made the "raw" version of this salad, but today I'm going to make it with frozen broccoli. I figure it's been blanched already, right?

Just made this for a party last weekend and it was a hit! I will cut back the honey next time (i have a very distinct VA clover honey on hand), and maybe add a dash of Tabasco. It was wonderful! Great texture. Love the peas for a touch of sweetness.

Thank you thank you thank you for this wonderful recipe. I made this last night and it was delicious - I was polishing off the leftovers at midnight after everybody else went to bed. I don't think there's ever been a broccoli dish I could say that about until this one! I didn't have a couple of the main ingredients on hand (bacon, red onion) but the recipe is completely flexible - I substituted dried cherries and a mix of green and white onions. Why does it seem like every recipe from this site turns out well?

Love it! To make it vegetarian, we left out the bacon. To give it more chewiness, we added a can of garbanzo beans (rinsed). This could be made vegan by using Nayonnaise, and substituting sugar for the honey.

One of my favorite things about this site is that I can generally read the recipe and make it same day without having to do a test run. Your recipes are always great and reliable, Elise. Thanks!

I have a similar recipe for broccoli salad, except I also add seedless green grapes, cut in half, lengthwise, and sunflower seeds. I also don't put in the peas, or the almonds. And the dressing I make is mayonnaise, lemon juice, and sugar.

Go light on the mayo, add some dijon mustard, skip the bacon, add some slices of fried kielbasa for the win!

This is delicious. I like that the broccoli is blanched first. I also added a small handful of raisins to the dish.

I love Broccoli salad, especially with this kind of sweet-sour dressing (also worth trying: combine broccoli with spring onions, a cup of raisins and peanuts each and the same dressing - yum!). Instead of blanching the florets in a separate pot of water, I place them into a strainer and blanch them by pouring one kettlefull of boiling water over them (out of the electric kettle). The broccoli florets are bright green, not raw and still crunchy and you don't have to wash the pot.

I'm thrilled to try this recipe this weekend for a family BBQ!! Is it best to prepare the salad ahead of time or chill the veggies and dressing separately and toss last minute adding the bacons bits and slivered almonds? Thanks!!

I have made this salad a couple of times and it is SO yummy. I substituted the peas with shelled edamame. The edamame added a little more crunch. So good! It's a keeper!

This salad is so delicious! My husband and I love the tanginess. I add cheddar cheese :)

I really liked the recipe, but did not feel like adding the peas and bacon. So, I did what I do best. I used the recipe as a base and went along and created my own. I substituted slivered almonds with sunflower seeds and mayonnaise with olive oil. Thanks for the idea. You are great!

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