This Broccoli Bacon Salad is a fresh and flavorful salad full of incredible texture. A nutrient packed salad with all of your favorite veggies, it’s assembled in 15 minutes, and makes for a pretty fantastic side dish.
If you’re looking for a new way to eat broccoli, or a new salad recipe to help switch things up, you’re in luck with this easy broccoli salad recipe!
Reasons You’ll Love This
Sweet Salad – If you like your salad on the sweeter side, you’ll love the dressing on this salad and the addition of dried cranberries!
Broccoli – Boiled broccoli can get old after a while, try your hand at making broccoli this way!
Summer Dish – This chilled, broccoli cranberry salad is perfect to make for the summer months when you want something filling, but don’t want to turn on your oven!
Colorful – The salad has fruits and veggies, protein, nuts and everything else good for you!
Lettuce based salads were so last year! This broccoli based salad is such a fun and fresh way to get your greens in. Once you add this recipe to your summer salad rotation, there’s no going back!
Ingredient Info
- Mayo – I recommend using a nice brand of mayo like Hellman’s or Best Foods. However, you can use whatever you have on hand.
- Sugar – White granulated sugar is the best option for this recipe. You can also substitute for honey if you’d rather.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – Apple cider vinegar has the tang and sweetness that’s perfect for this recipe.
- Bacon – You’ll want the bacon to be cooked, cooled down and crumbled into bite sized pieces before adding it to the recipe.
- Broccoli – Fresh heads of broccoli are ideal for this recipe. I don’t recommend using frozen broccoli.
- Red Onion – White or yellow onion will also work in this recipe.
- Sunflower Seeds – Sunflower seeds add a nice crunch to this salad! You can also use pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds instead.
- Dried Cranberries – Dried cranberries are sweet and a bit tart. You can also use raisins and make a broccoli raisin salad.
Step By Step Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the cooked, chopped bacon, broccoli, red onion, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries.
- Toss that together to combine.
- In a separate large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sugar, apple cider vinegar and salt. Whisk that together until even.
- Pour the homemade dressing over the salad and toss to combine completely. Let the salad chill covered in the fridge for at least an hour so the flavors can marinate. Take it out, toss it again and serve!
Tips & Advice
Storage – Keep the leftover salad in the fridge covered for up to 2-3 days. You may even find that the leftovers taste better the second day!
Add To It
The stuff you add into this salad is completely up to you! You could add carrots, cheese, nuts, chopped apples and so much more! This recipe would also make a wonderful meal if you added some grilled chicken, salmon or any other protein on top.
Equipment
For this recipe, you’ll need a few or all of the following materials
FAQs
You’ll want to cut them into small bite-sized pieces. Not too small to where they can’t be picked up by a fork, but not too large to where they can’t be tossed well in the dressing.
I recommend washing it after, to get all the corners of your broccoli clean, but you can do what works best for you!
Serves Well With
Broccoli Salad with Cranberries is really great by itself for lunch, but it also makes a lovely side dish alongside some of these just as lovely main meals:
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Broccoli Bacon Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
Salad
- 6 strips cooked bacon (cooled and crumbdld)
- 3 heads broccoli (washed, dried and chopped into small pieces)
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds (toasted)
- 1/3 cup Craisins or other dried cranberries (raisins can also be used.)
Instructions
- Add all dressing ingredients to a bowl and mix until well combined.
- Add salad ingredients to a large bowl and toss to combine.
- Add dressing mixture to the salad ingredients and gently stir to combine until the salad is well coated and dressing is evenly distributed.
- Chill for at least one hour. This is a great salad to chill overnight if possible.
- If desired, top with additional crumbled bacon, cranberries and sunflower seeds just prior to serving.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
