This classic broccoli salad will delight you time and again! It’s the tastiest mix of crunchy broccoli, crispy bacon, red onion, cranberries, sunflower seeds, goat cheese, and a creamy mayo-yogurt dressing.
Why You’ll Love This Broccoli Salad
When it comes to the perfect year-round salad recipe, this broccoli salad reigns supreme! It’s great for holidays, potlucks, picnics, barbecues, and even weekly meal prep. Needless to say, it’s a classic for good reason, with its simultaneously crispy, creamy, sweet, and savory flavor. That’s why folks always go back for seconds! And did I mention bacon is involved? Here’s a few more reasons why you’ll love my broccoli salad recipe:
- It’s easily customizable. Swap out any of the add-ins with your favorite dried fruit, seeds, nuts, or cheese.
- It only takes 20 minutes. My favorite thing about this!
- It’s super durable. That means it’ll hold up for several days in the fridge.
- It’s always a holiday party hit. Whether that’s Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
Broccoli Salad Ingredients
- Broccoli: Chop the raw broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces.
- Red onion: I love diced red onion for a punch of flavor, but green onion works too.
- Bacon: Crispy bacon adds protein and that irresistible savory bite. Want another protein-packed broccoli salad? Try my broccoli tuna salad.
- Dried Cranberries: I use unsweetened dried cranberries, but raisins or dried cherries are great alternatives.
- Sunflower Seeds: For a little crunch, sunflower seeds are my go-to. But slivered almonds or your favorite nuts or seeds also work great.
- Goat Cheese: Just a sprinkle adds amazing creaminess. Crumbled feta or shredded cheddar are also delicious options.
- Broccoli Salad Dressing: This creamy mayonnaise-based dressing gets an upgrade with a bit of homemade yogurt. I skip the added sugar since yogurt adds just the right hint of sweetness and tang.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below
How to Make The Best Broccoli Salad
Step one: Cook the bacon in the oven (it’s way easier), and when that’s done, blot it dry with a paper towel.
Step two: While the bacon is cooking, slice the broccoli florets and red onion, and add them to the bowl along with the sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and goat cheese. Once the bacon is cooked and cooled, crumble the bacon in the bowl and mix it together.
Step three: In a separate small bowl, make the dressing by stirring together the mayonnaise and yogurt. Add that to the salad and stir everything together until it’s well combined. Voila, your broccoli salad is done!
Common Questions
Most traditional broccoli salads use raw broccoli for its crunchy texture. But if you can’t digest raw broccoli or don’t love the texture, you can blanch the florets for a few minutes. This will slightly soften them while retaining their bright green color and crispness.
Absolutely! Just omit the goat cheese or use a dairy-free alternative, and swap in dairy-free yogurt for the dressing. It’ll still be creamy and delicious.
Yes, you can! Simply leave out the bacon or use a plant-based bacon alternative. For the dressing, opt for vegan mayonnaise.
More Salad Recipes
- Chicken Salad: A spring/summertime classic.
- Tuna Salad: Perfect for a speedy lunch.
- Waldorf Salad: Another holiday favorite.
- Cobb Salad: The perfect high-protein salad.
- Greek Salad: The best Mediterranean salad.
- Or browse through my list of salad recipes and summer salads for more ideas!
If you make this broccoli salad recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out in the comment box below! Your review will help other readers in the community. And if you’re hungry for more healthy food inspiration and exclusive content, join my free newsletter here.
Description
Video
Equipment
- Glass Mixing Bowls Perfect for prepping and mixing all the components.
- Heavy Duty Sheet Pans My favorite sheet pans!
Ingredients
Broccoli Salad
- 8 slices bacon
- 5 cups broccoli florets (from 1 large head of broccoli)
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup dried unsweetened cranberries
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
Broccoli Salad Dressing
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
Instructions
- Cook the bacon. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Add the bacon slices to a parchment-lined baking tray and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, or until crispy. Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer it to a paper towel-lined plate to dry and cool.
- Add everything to a mixing bowl. Add the broccoli, red onion, cranberries, sunflower seeds, and goat cheese to a large mixing bowl. When the bacon is cool to the touch, crumble it on top.
- Make the dressing. Add the mayonnaise and yogurt to a small bowl and stir together.
- Toss to combine. Pour the dressing on top of the broccoli salad and toss to combine.
Lisa’s Tips
- Storage tip: Broccoli salad will stay fresh for 4 to 5 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. If you’re making it for a holiday party or gathering, you can prep it the day before, either with or without the dressing.
- Make sure you’ve sliced the broccoli florets into small, bite-sized pieces. It makes it far easier to eat that way.
- If you’re wondering what to do with the broccoli stem, spiralize it! Yes, you can totally spiralize a broccoli stem, just as you would a zucchini. It’s delicious! And while I don’t show you how to spiralize a broccoli stem in my Spiralizer Beginner’s Guide video, you can still get a little inspiration from the video.
Nutrition
©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Recipe originally posted June 2018, but updated to include new information and information for your benefit.
I love this salad! I get compliments every time I make it. I was just wondering – how long does this keep in the fridge? If I make it a day prior, will it still be fresh? Or maybe even better because the flavors have time to meld? Thanks!!
This is a pretty durable salad, so it will keep for between 3 to 4 days.
Made this for the first time 2 weeks ago and absolutely LOVED it. So easy to prepare. A lot lighter than I expected with the goats cheese and mayo. I didn’t use yoghurt as I didn’t have any on hand but I didn’t feel it took away from the taste. I also didn’t use bacon (to cater for vegetarians) and yet the whole thing was still absolutely delicious. Will make it again as part of our Christmas lunch spread.
Hope everyone enjoys this broccoli salad for Christmas!
I used sliced almonds instead of sunflower seeds and added chopped jalapeños. Sooooo good!
sounds good. What is the size of 1 serving? About 1 cup?
Yes, around 1 cup or so!
I’m looking forward to trying this. I suffer from diverticulitis, so I will blanch the broccoli to help my sensitive tum. Thanks as always for tasty, colorful & easy-pull-together recipes.
Yes it is the best. I make it over and over and over again. I make it as is and it’s just amazing. Sometimes I divide the sunflower seeds in half using 1/4 c, and then do the other half with 1/4 C. sliced almonds. This is also amazing. I use the “50% less sugar” Ocean Spray dried cranberries (still 1/2 C). I prefer it as they are a little more tart and add an even better bite of brightness. Goat feta is best, but if not on sale when i make it, I use danish feta, or any feta for superb results, and is still hard not to eat it all in one sitting. If you make this and it does not taste nice it will be the mayo that you have used. Good quality mayo is essential. A cheap mayo can ruin the entire flavour of this salad. I once bought “Macro Brand” organic mayo (New Zealand/Australia) and it was a disgusting flavour. Now I just stick with Best foods.
I’ve made this salad several times but in place of cranberries, I used apples because the recipe I used called for raisins and I don’t like them. I also did the cheddar cheese. I like how you used cranberry’s because I do like them, and changing it up with goat cheese sounds like a good choice as well. Think I will try your version. It sounds delicious.
Love the idea of adding apples into this as well for an extra crisp texture :)
One of my favorite recipes! Such an easy way to get a serving of veggies in.
This really is such a delicious way to get in your broccoli fix :)
My family is full of picky eaters & goat cheese will not fly with them haha any recommendations on others kinds of cheese to use?
You can just omit the cheese if you’d like, or try crumbled feta instead.
Is the serving size of this one cup? If not, what is it? Thank you! :)
I would say it’s about one cup, or a little over, depending on how big your broccoli is :)
This is yummy. I could easily eat the whole bowl. I did blanch the broccoli and put it an ice bath to cool. The mayo and yogurt is delicious together. And everything is better with bacon! This will be a summer staple. Thank you!
Glad you loved this broccoli salad Nancy!
At one time did you have a bacon video?
Yes, I do have a video on how to cook bacon in the oven :)
1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 3/4 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar makes a much more favorable taste.
Didn’t enjoy the flavours in this salad. The dressing is not a pleasant taste…very bland.
Looks delicious!! can’t wait to try it! thanks :O)
Hope you love this one Stephanie!
The best broccoli salad I have ever made!!! Easy fast and delicious
Happy to hear your broccoli salad turned out perfectly!
Can I use Feta cheese instead of Goat cheese?? Making this for Easter!! ♥️
Absolutely!
Can you meal prep this and eat it a day (or two) after making it?
Yes! This is a very durable salad and will last about 4-5 days in the fridge :)
Excellent !!👍🏾👍🏾
This broccoli salad is always a win!
This is so new and refreshing idea! And thank you Lisa for this and all the other healthy recepies.
This salad is so great for healthy lunch on work!
I love this one as well! A Downshiftology favorite :)
Very yummy salad that everyone enjoyed! Easy and simple to make but still stands out at the dinner table.
So glad this was a winning dish on your table :)
Another top notch recipe! I admit I was skeptical about it since I’m not a big fan of broccoli, but I had it at hand, together with goat feta and grapes (with which I replaced the cranberries) and some prosciutto (with which I replaced the bacon). And they all needed to be eaten ASAP so I gave this recipe a try. It was sooo good. I replaced the mayo with yogurt combined with mustur, apple vinegar and some linseed oil.
Your recipes are so versatile and so tasty, yet very healthy. I’m so glad I found your YouTube channel and your blog.
The flavor of the broccoli really transforms in this recipe to something sweet and savory! Happy to hear you enjoyed this one and continue to enjoy my videos + recipes :)
For the carbs. Is it the cranberries that make it so high? I feel like everything else should be pretty meto friendly and I could just eliminate the cranberries?
Hi Veronica – yes, those definitely add a good chunk to the carb levels. Feel free to tweak the recipe to suit you!
So delicious and so easy to put together, especially if I prep the bacon beforehand. Definitely adding this to the rotation.
Wonderful! Happy to hear you’ve enjoyed this recipe :)
This is by far my favourite Salad to make and eat. It is just so perfectly crunchy, and the dressing is just right not overpowering. It is so easy to put together.
Wonderful! Glad you’ve enjoyed this salad so much.
So many wonderful flavors in this recipe. Thank you!!!
Definitely a recipe keeper :)
re: BEST BROCCOLI SALAD RECIPE
With regard to the nutritional values & specifically the carbs, is the value given at the end of the recipe the total carbs per serving, if so what would the serving size be?, otherwise is the amount for the whole dish?
Many thanks
Hi Howie- The nutritional facts will always be for one serving. And for this recipe, each serving is about 1 cup :)
This has become one of our favorites!
Quick and delicious. It turns out great each time.
I do microwave the broccoli for about 1 minute so it’s a bit tender.
Wonderful! Glad you’ve enjoyed this recipe so much Karen.
It’s have bought the wrong kind of goat cheese. It was very smooth and wouldn’t crumble. Can you share the brand of goat cheese?
Hi there! At the market, look for the crumbled goat cheese :)
Yummy! I only had golden raisins and pumpkin seeds, and used about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to thin out the dressing (because Greek yogurt is all I had). And I left goat cheese as optional to each person because my husband is a non-cheese eater. This will be a weekly addition to our menu, thanks!
Hi Carolyn- So glad this salad came together beautifully with your few minor tweaks :)
This was DELICIOUS. I’m not a fan of mayonnaise, so I just dolloped on some yoghurt and drizzled it with your Dijon vinaigrette. 10/10
Yogurt is the perfect alternative for this recipe :)
Super tasty and quick to make! I used raisins as I did not have cranberries, but it did not matter: Excellent anyways.
So glad you loved this broccoli salad Celine :)
Easy to make and delicious! Best broccoli salad I’ve tried!
Hi Marina- Glad you found the perfect broccoli salad recipe!
I love this salad, I even enjoyed it for breakfast! I added one thing to make me love it even more: sprinkled it with seasoned rice vinegar before eating. Perfect!
Hi Connie- So glad you enjoyed this salad so much!
Finally made this beauty! The crunchy broccoli and salty bacon – so great!
I really had no idea what to expect, but once again the voice in my head said “In Downshiftology we trust!”
– Thanks for all you do Lisa. Big love from Melbourne
Haha, thanks so much Nic! I’m thrilled you loved this recipe. It’s one of my personal favorites as well. :) x
I had some left-over broccoli and remembered this recipe. Such a delicious and easy way to use it up. And now I have lunch for the next couple of days ;-). To be honest, I did not make the mayonnaise myself yet. That is still on the to-do list. But thanks Lisa for again a recipe that will be on repeat.
So glad you enjoyed this broccoli salad! And you’ll have to try the mayonnaise at some point :)
I made this salad last night with leftover steamed broccoli and it came out amazing! I don’t like mayo so I just used a poppy seed dressing I had and it worked great. I love the sweet and salty combo and the goat cheese took it to another level.
Wonderful! Sounds great with a poppy seed dressing :)
Delish! Quick and easy! Will be a new favorite salad for lunch!
Hi Lisa- Wonderful! Plus, this keeps well in the fridge :)
Loved this dish! I did blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 1-2 minutes (then placed in an ice bath) so they weren’t so raw. I also subbed candied walnuts for the sunflower seeds. Love how versatile this dish can be.
Hi Erica – This is definitely a versatile dish when it comes to the smaller ingredients in this. But, I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe!
This is such a refreshing salad and versatile , one happy gal 😊!
Hi Diane- Happy to hear you loved this broccoli salad :)
One of my all-time favourite salads and an absolute crowd-pleaser. It never fails to produce requests for the recipe when I make for friends. It also holds up well if you need to make it ahead of time so perfect for larger parties. Could eat the salad at every meal!
Hi Lisa,
Our family are huge fans of your simple recipes!
Is there a substitute for bacon in this recipe?
Thanks so much! I’m happy to hear that. You could use turkey bacon, if you’re staying away from pork. For meat-free, sauteed mushrooms add a great flavor.
You could use a coconut “bacon” made from unsweetened coconut flakes. There’s recipes on line.
I highly recommend this recipe, it is amazing!! I no longer have to pay almost $7.00 a pound for this salad at my local deli. This salad is by far the best I have had. Thank you Lisa.
Hi Darline – Making it right at home is so easy, and I think much more fresh than store-bought :)
I’ve been looking for the perfect broccoli salad for a LONG time and this is definitely it! I’m not a big fan of raw broccoli so I blanched it first (set it into boiling water for about 2 min- it will take longer if you have larger pieces I cut mine quite small- tested it and once I felt it was just the right texture I immediately put it into an ice bath until the broccoli was completely cooled, then I laid the broccoli out on a sheet pan to dry as I didn’t want my salad to get soggy) After that I prepared the homemade mayo which is the recipe from this site it was super easy to make and tasted delicious! I pretty much followed the rest of the recipe as shown except that I used dried cherries and toasted almonds instead of the cranberries and sunflower seeds. Also, while I added bacon to it I did not put the full eight strips of bacon as I felt that was just a bit much since I only had four cups of broccoli so I just crumbled it and added it until I felt it was enough, about 4 strips.
Such a great salad, you’ll love it! I can’t wait to share it at the BBQs is summer
Hi Lori – I’m so happy to hear you’ve finally found a winning broccoli salad recipe! As for the bacon, I never end up putting all the strips in there either, so you can always reduce the amount of strips you cook :)
Love this salad ! It is quick , easy & great taste!
Healthy & great with soup or sandwich !
Replaces starchy potatoes or fries!!
Hi Flora – I’m so glad you loved this salad! It’s great to eat on it’s own or as a side dish :)
This salad is such a crowd pleaser! I’ve brought it to family functions, and always get requests for the recipe. It’s one of the only salads I actually crave on a weekly basis. Thanks Lisa!
Hi Kayleigh- This is also one of my favorite salads to whip up and store in my fridge on the weekdays :) But, I’m glad everyone you’ve served this to has enjoyed it!
My husband and I loved this broccoli salad recipe. My husband is asking for this dish almost every week. It’s so easy to make. Thank you for this delicious broccoli salad.
Hi Genesis- Looks like you found a winning recipe for your husband! Good thing this salad also keeps well in the fridge for awhile :)
Loved this! It is truly addicting, and we’re talking about broccoli here people! I did add just a little bit of honey to the dressing, but it would have been awesome without it.
Hi Aimee- So glad you loved this recipe! It really is such a great salad, especially to store in the fridge for a few days.
Hi Lisa! I just finished the last of this amazing salad today for lunch. Oh my goodness! Seriously delicious. I made it over the weekend and wish there was more. This was my first time successfully baking bacon in the oven!!! I couldn’t cook the whole package (teeny tiny oven problems lol), so I made as much as I could. I made the Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs to go with it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you!!!
Hi Sasha – Congrats on cooking bacon in the oven for the first time! And I’m so happy you enjoyed this salad as much as I do. I love how long this salad lasts in the fridge and pairs great with any entree – especially my baked chicken thighs!
Oh My Gosh, another great recipe! Awesome alternative to typical broccoli salad!
Hi Stacey – Homemade broccoli salad is the best! Glad you enjoyed this version :)
This is another delicious meal! I will definitely be making this a lot in the summer.
Hi Karryn – Definitely a great year round salad :)