The best broccoli salad recipe is homemade for freshness. It has crunchy broccoli, crispy bacon, juicy raisins, cheddar cheese, and a creamy, sweet, tangy homemade dressing.
This small-batch recipe is fast and simple to make. You can customize this basic recipe with multiple optional ingredients and adjust the size.
🥦Ingredients
Fresh Broccoli
Cheddar cheese
Bacon and raisins—optional but recommended
Red onion
Dressing—mayonnaise, white vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper
Optional—tomatoes, carrot, celery, cauliflower, dry cranberries, sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, pecans
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Featured Comment by Emily :
"So minimal but so awesome!"
It's much better than the deli broccoli salad made days ahead. This easy and quick recipe is perfect for family picnics or summer take-a-dish parties, but it's good enough for year-round occasions.
Multiple options are provided so you can customize it. You can make it healthy with low-fat ingredients or for your keto, vegetarian, or vegan diet.
If you need other summer salad ideas, check out Small Batch Macaroni Salad, Broccoli Slaw, Caprese Pasta Salad, or Simple Spinach Salad with Bacon.
👨🍳How to Make Broccoli Salad—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Start by washing and trimming the broccoli florets and stems.
2. If using bacon, chop and fry until crispy.
3. In a large bowl, mix broccoli, chopped red onion, bacon, raisins, and sharp cheddar. Add other optional ingredients and mix well.
4. Make the dressing of mayonnaise, salt, pepper, vinegar, and sugar. Mix into the salad.
5. Refrigerate for a few hours for the flavors to come together before serving.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Optional ingredients to make it your way
Make broccoli cauliflower salad by substituting chopped fresh cauliflower for half the broccoli. Skip the bacon or make it without mayo by using low-fat Greek yogurt instead. Or try dried cranberries instead of raisins.
A half-cup of sliced cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries, diced carrots, or diced celery are all excellent additions.
Nuts will add a nice crunch. A half cup of toasted sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, or pecans would be great.
You can make it for your Keto, vegan, or vegetarian diet—it is up to you.
✔️Tips to make it right every time
The broccoli needs to be the freshest possible. The older it is, the dryer it will taste, more like the deli version, which always seems dry. A medium head of broccoli will yield about 2-3 cups of broccoli florets, and a large head of broccoli will make 3-4 cups.
For broccoli salad dressing, use good-quality mayonnaise with white or apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. You can use Greek yogurt instead of the mayo if you wish. Adjust the sugar and vinegar to your taste to make it sweeter or tangier.
For cheese, sharp cheddar is classically used and cut into small cubes or shredded. Other cheeses, like feta, may be used or skip the cheese entirely.
Bacon is easier to cook if cut into pieces before cooking, or you can cook full slices and crumble them.
Making broccoli salad for two or a crowd
This recipe is set for 4 servings, which is a suitable size for one medium head of broccoli without waste.
You can easily make only two servings by cutting the recipe in half. Instructions for freezing the remaining fresh broccoli are in the FAQs below. For a crowd, adjust the servings to the amount you need.
To adjust the recipe size
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
Making ahead
You can make broccoli salad ahead and refrigerate sealed in an airtight container. But storing it for more than 2 days will cause texture issues, more like deli-bought salad.
Serving
While we all consider broccoli salad a deli dish for picnics, it is excellent for passing at gatherings any time of year. A delicious homemade broccoli salad will make you stand out from all the coleslaw and potato salad dishes.
For grilling season, I like to use it with grilled chicken breasts or hamburgers on the grill. Or summer brunch served with Waldorf Chicken Salad or Chicken Salad Sandwiches.
How to store broccoli salad
Place leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate them safely for up to 4 days, but it will be better if consumed within 2 days. Do not freeze.
❓FAQs
For a "Healthy Broccoli Salad," substitute low-fat mayo or lower-fat Greek yogurt. You can also substitute diced ham or Canadian bacon for the bacon.
Wash and trim the broccoli and place it in a single layer on a tray without overlapping or touching other pieces. Freeze for 2-3 hours until frozen solid. Then, place the frozen broccoli in zip-lock bags or another airtight freezer container. Store for 2 months.
Food safety
- Wash hands and surfaces before starting.
- Properly rinse and clean fresh vegetables.
- Don't leave food sitting out for over 2 hours if the environmental temperature is under 90° or 1 hour if it is over 90°F. If it is over these time limits, it should be discarded.
- Do not use the same utensils that previously touched raw meat without proper cleaning to prevent cross-contamination.
- Gatherings are ready-made for food safety issues and leftovers at the party. Let's plan for food safety and get it right. Check out the USDA Food Safety recommendations.
👨🍳Recipe
Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Raisins
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Ingredients
- 2-3 cups fresh broccoli - one medium head
- 2 strips bacon
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup sharp cheddar - small cubes
- ½ medium red onion - chopped
Broccili Salad Dressing
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- ½ to 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ to 1 tablespoon white vinegar
Optional ingredients
- ¼ cup cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, or celery - halves
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, walnuts
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Start by washing and trimming the broccoli. Trim the florets off and cut them small.
- Don't throw the broccoli stems away. Trim off the leaves and the tough peel, then cut into ½ inch cubes. You need 2-3 cups for a full recipe—a medium head.
- Cut 3-4 slices of bacon and cook until crispy over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. Drain the bacon on a paper towel.
- Additional ingredients: ¼ cup (½ medium) chopped red onion, 4 oz. sharp cheddar in small cubes, and ¼ cup of raisins. Optional: ¼ cup sliced cherry tomatoes, diced carrot, diced celery, or dried cranberries. You can also add some nuts: toasted sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, or pecans.
- In a small bowl, combine ½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon pepper, ½ to 1 tablespoon white or apple cider vinegar, and ½ to 1 tablespoon sugar. Vary the sugar and vinegar for your taste. Pour into the broccoli mixture and mix to combine.
- Refrigerate for a few hours for the flavors to come together before serving.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Using low-fat mayonnaise will decrease the calories almost in half.
- This is a very easy recipe to scale down or up for your needs. Discussed in the post.
- The broccoli needs to be the freshest possible. The older it is, the dryer it will taste.
- A medium head of broccoli yields about 2-3 cups, and a large head yields 3-4 cups.
- A quarter cup of sliced cherry tomatoes, diced carrot, celery, or dried cranberries are all good additions.
- Nuts will add a nice crunch. A quarter cup of toasted sunflower seeds, almonds, or pecans would be a great touch.
- The flavors will come together better after overnight refrigeration, but it is also great the day it is mixed.
- Good refrigerated for about two days. The broccoli will seem dry afterward, but it is safe to 4 days if stored and served safely. Safety tips in the post.
- Nutrition calculations use full-fat mayonnaise but none of the optional ingredients.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Based on Food Network's Paula Deen Broccoli Salad recipe. The original Paul Deen recipe needed some modification, more options, and made smaller.
Editor's Note: Originally Published March 13, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Kate says
Instead of the bacon, try using some coarsely chopped Smokehouse Almonds (Blue Diamond brand, I think).
Emily Littlefield says
So minimal but so awesome!