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 enjoyed this Broccoli salad easy to make too. Great for dinner when it is too hot to cook in the kitchen. 🥵😁❤️
It’s definitely the perfect salad to make for dinner when it’s hot out! Glad you loved it, Laura.
Made this tonight and it was great. I didn’t have any goat cheese, so I left it out. I love that I can always count on your recipes to be simple and delicious. Thank you.
I’m so glad you loved this broccoli salad, Tracy! Downshiftology is definitely all about easy, delicious recipes!
I love the broccoli salad ! Easy to make
I’m so glad you’re loving this broccoli salad, Valencia!
YUM!
Happy to hear you’re loving this broccoli salad, Kaylee!
I just made this for the second time as it is delicious, healthy and good for several days!! I also always use your homemade mayo for everything.
That’s great that you make the mayo from scratch. Well done!
I have been with you since 2022 and have enjoyed many recipes. The ease of printing was very helpful. Healthy eating has been a constant and buying some of your tools has been a gift.
My concern to allow email address printed to be able to receive the recipes. Your old way was excellent and now I fear Potential Scam invading. This has become a problem lately.
Thank you for your wonderful site and book.
Fondly,
Kit Tillotson
Hi Kit – Thanks for expressing your concern! We have added this feature as a way for people to opt into my email newsletter by clicking the white check box. If you don’t want to opt-in, you can just submit your email (without the checked box) and it shouldn’t ask you for your email again to print. We will not spam your account, so don’t worry!
If you’re used to sweet broccoli salad, just know this is a bit different. Not bad at all, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Should’ve expected it, but didn’t. As a midwesterner, I added some sugar and vinegar, as I’m used to and prefer that type of broccoli salad.
Loved it. I added in some shredded rotisserie chicken, too. I only had white onion on hand and felt like that would be too strong for me, so just omitted the onion. I used pepitas instead of sunflower seeds. I thinly sliced the stems and parboiled for a few minutes. That was good. Oh, and Feta instead of goat cheese. Truly, this salad is infinitely customizable. But the homemade mayo is not negotiable! I add a nice sized clove of garlic to mine. Yum.
Great minds think alike! I also love adding shredded chicken into this for a protein-heavy meal prep salad. Enjoy, Karen!
I made this salad to take for friends lunch…Yummy. Everyone wanted the recipe. I went home with a empty dish.
Amazing! Glad this broccoli salad was loved by all, Marilyn.
Thanks Lisa. I needed a “save recipe” option. This is helpful. I’ll test it out. Wendy ❤️🇨🇦❤️
Glad that feature is extremely helpful, Wendy! Now you can access all your favorite recipes in one spot. Enjoy!
Made this as our salad tonight while leftover bbq chicken was heating in the oven. Very tasty. Variety of textures.
The perfect pairing with BBQ chicken! Glad it was a hit, Linda.
What is nutritional value based on. 1 cup or less?
Hi Ann – Yes, I would say each serving is around a cup, depending how big your broccoli is.
My husband and I loved this recipe. I did quickly blanch the broccoli first though. Excellent!
Glad this broccoli salad was a hit for you and your husband, Anne!
I made this crunchy delicious salad for a neighborhood party, and it was gone in a flash! I’ve always hesitated to take salads to parties as they often wane and wilt if they sit for any length of time, but this one made all the difference. The crunch of it! This will be my go to salad for the summer months ahead. Absolutely delicious. So glad I tried it! And so many requests for the recipe too.
Now you have a party salad you can feel confident bringing! Glad it was a hit, Jane.
The broccoli salad was wonderful even without the cheese. We do not have access to a great many cheeses where I live. I also made your copycat Hellman’s mayonnaise as well. The consistency was perfect but the taste was soooo bad made with one cup of acosado oil! All I could taste was avocado oil. I truly don’t believe I can finish using the mayo.
Happy to hear you loved this broccoli salad, Linda!
I’m so glad you posted this salad. I was looking for something ‘summery’ and had forgotten about it. It’s easy and delicious. I do like to slightly blanche the broccoli, mostly the stalks.
Glad this came as a good reminder, Nancy! It’s definitely a must-make for summer.
Looooove it! I switched the sunflower seeds with slivered almonds since I prefer those and it turned out so good. Thanks for the inspo!
Glad you found what works for you, Dana! The slivered almonds sounds equally amazing. Enjoy!
This recipe is a staple at our house! Everyone loves it. I like to add a little apple cider vinegar to my dressing for this one. Healthy, crunchy, and delicious.
Love the touch of apple cider vinegar, Kelsie. Enjoy!
What’s not to love about this salad? It’s simple, ingredients are always available, it’s healthy and it really is so popular with friends when I share-I just have to remember to always add a few more strips of bacon! Delicious!!!
I’m not against adding a bit more bacon into the mix! Happy to hear you’re loving this broccoli salad, Cindy.
This was pretty good. It was nice to have a different kind of salad that wasn’t lettuce or spinach based. My husband loved it and ate most of the salad that night.
Happy to hear both you and your husband loved this broccoli salad!
Hi, Lisa! This sounds so good, need to try it soon! What brand of unsweetened cranberries do you use? I haven’t had any luck finding ones that don’t have added sugar. Thanks in advance!
Hi Vicky – I get mine from Whole Foods. Hope you enjoy this broccoli salad!
It’s a perfect salad to make if you like crunchy, a bit of sweet, creamy and bacon.
Love setting it with burgers, sandwiches and part of a picnic with all different salads for a meal. Easy to make. Hardest part is cooking the bacon just right and cleaning the broccoli.
It really is the best salad for picnics and completing your spread! Glad you love this recipe, Kira.
I made this salad for my parents and they both absolutely loved it. So easy to prepare and it was delicious!
Happy to hear everyone loved this broccoli salad!
Yes it was so delicious! I shared the recipe. My family loved it..
I’m so glad the whole family loved this recipe, Lisa! Sounds like a winner.
This broccoli salad is the best! It’s on repeat at my house weekly (or bi-weekly), unless I see a new salad to try. Keep up all the good things, Lisa. We love you here in Midwest USA!
Hi Terri – Happy to hear this broccoli salad has been such a hit in your household!
I’ve made this a few times and it never disappoints!! Planted plenty of broccoli in my veggie garden so this salad will be a staple for friends, family, and church ‘coffee hour’! Thanks, Lisa
I’m sure this salad will taste amazing with all the fresh broccoli you grow this season, Kathy!
I have modified a few times as I no longer eat meat. Last week used all same ingredients using vegan mayo plus tri-color pasta with halved cherry tomatoes and a bunch of nuts and goat cheese! Yummmmmm
Wonderful! Glad you were able to tweak this salad to your liking. Sounds delicious, Kathy.
So good! I had no idea mayo and yogurt made such a delicious dressing! Makes me want to explore that further. We are having this salad on the Chesapeake Bay with our grilled pork tenderloins. 😋
What a delicious combo for dinner! Glad you’re loving this broccoli salad recipe, Jen.
MMMMMMMMMM Man this is definitely a five star recipe thank you so much for the recipe family fav!!! And I used ranch an a substitute for the greek yogurt and it was delicious!!! 🤤
Glad this broccoli salad worked out great with ranch instead, Emma!
Absolute hit at a potluck party on the beach! Thank you!
Broccoli salad is the best potluck recipe, isn’t it? My personal favorite as well. So happy you enjoyed it, Jannette!
Just made it for dinner. It was so much better than I thought it would be. I had to use toasted pine nuts because that’s all I had. Everything else was exactly as written. Five star all the way.
Glad this came as a good reminder, Mary! It’s definitely a must-make for summer season. Enjoy!
I have now made Lisa’s broccoli salad four times in the last 8 weeks. I love all the various tastes and textures. It’s so easy to put together and keeps well in the fridge. Mostly, you just have to measure the ingredients and put them into a bowl. The only cutting is the broccoli florets. It was actually quite meditative to cut them into bite-sized pieces! Sometimes I ate the salad as a side, other times as a main. When I was out of cranberries, I used raisins. I don’t eat bacon, so I substituted cooked soy-based chorizo. That turned out to be a great alternative. A few times I added some canned chickpeas to amp up the protein in the dish. Looking forward to doing some more experimenting with the add-ins (I think walnuts will be next). Definitely a fave to be kept on repeat.
Hi Lorraine – I’m so glad you’ve been loving this broccoli salad so much! Love the different variations you made with ingredients you had on hand. Enjoy!
I love this broccoli salad. A great dish to take to pot lucks, always a hit.
Hi Joan – Happy to hear this broccoli salad has been such a hit for potlucks!
It is a joy to use Lisa’s recipes for condiments, entrees, salads and desserts – several times a week. As much as I love this broccoli salad, it is one of many that I love. I talk a lot with others about the tasty recipes, prep tips and consistent quality of presentation by Lisa. Thank you!!
Aw, thanks so much, Judy! I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying so many of my recipes, including this broccoli salad!
I love this recipe had forgotten all about it.
Front and centre now.
Re introduced to me.
Thank you.
Happy to hear this broccoli salad came up again for you. It really is such a delicious salad to keep in your rotation, Jonette.
This broccoli salad is a family favourite and absolutely perfect for a warm summer day! I love the crunch and how refreshing it is. Definitely a go-to recipe for picnics!
Hi Laura – This broccoli salad is indeed such a great salad recipe for summer days being outside!
Great
Hi Lisa,
I am gearing up to do Whole30 again in February so getting some recipes in order. How do you make the dressing work? What would I sub for the yogurt?
Thanks!
Hi Bethany – I would do all mayo for the dressing, instead of half and half with the yogurt. Good luck on your Whole30!
This is such a surprising salad. Its so easy to make and so convinient because of the simple ingredients. I´ve made this multiple times this month because of that. Although, instead of mayonnaise I´ve used ali oli (garlic and oil dressing) as dressing and it turned out so good!
I’m happy to hear you love it, Lara! It really is a simple, classic salad, and one that should be on repeat. Enjoy!
I’ve made many versions of this salad & this is by far the best. In fact, my family loves it so much I made it twice in 2 days. Thank you for such a healthy, delicious recipe!
Hi Laura – I’m so glad everyone is loving this broccoli salad, enjoy!
I never thought that I would enjoy raw broccoli BUT was pleasantly surprised when I tried this recipe. The ingredients work so well together — savory and sweet. I have shared it with my family and they have also fallen in love with it. It’s a go to side dish for us now.
I’m glad you were pleasantly surprised, Jen! Raw broccoli has a delicious crunch, but it’s made even better with the creaminess of the dressing in this salad. Enjoy!
Absolute hit! Just made and we devoured it for lunch! Tried a few of your recipes now and they have all been lovely :) Thanks for sharing!
Yay, I’m so happy you loved it, Nicolene!
A household favorite and always a big hit with company. The BEST Broccoli salad recipe I’ve ever made.
Yay, so happy to hear that!
This broccoli salad is always my go to. It pairs nicely with just about any dish as a great side dish.
I agree, it’s one of the most versatile salad recipes out there. Enjoy!
I gave this recipe to a friend coming to my house for Thanksgiving to bring. It was delicious and everyone loved it!
Hi Lara – Happy to hear everyone enjoyed this broccoli salad!
If I don’t eat bacon, is there an alternative to use, or do you suggest another broccoli salad recipe instead ? I don’t want to give up flavor.. Thanks!
You can just omit the bacon!
Easy and so tasty
Hi Lisa,
Love your recipes, food is yummy. I made 2 of your salads for our Church picnic yesterday. The Best & Classic Broccoli Salad & boy it was a hit. When I went through the line the tupperware was almost empty. When I got my tupperware when I was leaving it was empty. I loved it & I will be making this salad again. I also made the Chick Pea salad & the tupperware was 2/3 full. I guess they are an acquired taste.
I’m also baking a butternut squash in the oven right now. Preparing it for supper w/ roasted chicken. PS I am not a fan of goat cheese so I did not put that in. Excellent chef & teacher thank you
Hi Sherry – I’m so glad you’re enjoying many of my recipes, especially this broccoli salad! :)
I am not a huge fan of raw broccoli, but this recipe just may change my mind. This was super tasty & it keeps well for a few days. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Cassondra – I’m so glad you enjoyed this broccoli salad!
Hi Lisa!
I made this salad for my low carb days and it is very delicious, both my husband and I really liked it! ☺️☺️
This salad is so nourishing and delicious! I made a batch for a family meal and had several more servings for a quick and easy lunch throughout the next week. The broccoli stayed crisp and the dressing was so easy. Would highly recommend making this one!
Hi Sara – Thanks for leaving a review and happy to hear you enjoyed this broccoli salad!
Made this today and it’s so yummy!
Hi Sheryl – Happy to hear you enjoyed this broccoli salad!
5++ stars of course AGAIN!
Just made this and oh how yummy. I put the raw broccoli in boiling water for 30-45 seconds and then submerged the broccoli in an ice bath. It becomes a vibrant green and “softens” it a bit while still maintaining the crunch. I placed the cut red onion in ice water before using it to take the bite out it.
This will be a staple for summer entertaining.
Hi Fiona – Happy to hear you love this broccoli salad! And yes, you can always soften the broccoli a bit :)