Broccoli Salad with Bacon

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Broccoli salad with bacon is healthy, colorful and delicious. It features tasty veggies, bacon and cheese with a simple dressing that’s light and flavorful. Assemble this easy summer salad in just 20 minutes.

📌 PIN BROCCOLI SALAD WITH BACON

🥗 WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS BROCCOLI SALAD

• Healthy broccoli salad makes an excellent main dish or side.
• It’s a fabulous choice for potlucks, picnics, and BBQs. The recipe is easy to upscale to feed a crowd.
• To make this recipe in advance, prep the salad ingredients and the dressing. Transfer the items to separate containers, and refrigerate. When ready to serve, toss everything together in a salad bowl.

🥦 AVOID FOOD WASTE: If there’s fresh broccoli leftover after assembling this dish, use it for another recipe like broccoli cheddar soup.

🛒 Ingredients

Broccoli Salad with Bacon

• Broccoli: This veggie is the star of our broccoli salad. At the market, look for broccoli with bright green heads and compact clusters of florets. The stalks and stems should be nicely firm, but not woody.
• Red Onion: Adds color, flavor and texture.
• Grape Tomatoes: Look for firm ripe tomatoes that are deeply red. If desired, use cherry tomatoes instead.
• Medium Cheddar Cheese: This ingredient is so delicious. It’s a nice addition to this recipe, and pairs well with bacon.
• Bacon: We prefer thick-cut bacon from the butcher’s counter. We cook it until crispy, then roughly chop it. It adds protein, flavor and texture to this delicious broccoli salad.
• Sunflower Seeds: Contribute a nutty flavor and lots of texture.

Salad Dressing

• Mayonnaise: Is the creamy base of our homemade dressing. I prefer Best Foods Real Mayonnaise or Duke’s Mayo. But feel free to use the brand you have on hand.
• Granulated Sugar: Adds the perfect amount of sweetness.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: Provides delicious tang.

📖 RECIPE STEPS

RECIPE PREP: Fry the bacon until crisp. Rinse and dry the veggies. It’s important to fully dry the broccoli – use with paper towels or a lint-free kitchen towel. We don’t want droplets of water to thin out the dressing.

• STEP 1: Chop off the stalk and stems from the broccoli and discard them. For broccoli salad we’re only using the florets. Cut the florets into bite-size pieces. Transfer them to a salad bowl.
• STEP 2: Chop the red onion. Slice the grape tomatoes in half. Cube the cheese. Chop the cooked bacon. Add them to the salad bowl along with the sunflower seeds. Gently toss to combine.
• STEP 3: Prepare the salad dressing. In a small bowl or mason jar, whisk together the mayo, granulated sugar and apple cider vinegar.
• STEP 4: Pour 2/3 of the dressing over the broccoli salad. Reserve the rest of the dressing for later, to add as desired. Toss the salad. Serve immediately, or cover the bowl and refrigerate until serving time.

🧑🏼‍🍳 HOW TO KEEP BROCCOLI SALAD CRISP

When assembling the salad in advance, don’t add the dressing until serving time. Refrigerate the salad in one container, and the dressing in a separate container. This will help keep the texture of the veggies, bacon, and seeds crisp, and protect the cheese from getting wet and sticky.

Broccoli salad is best enjoyed the same day. Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container and saved until the following day, but the texture will not be the same. Tomato juices will have thinned out the dressing. The texture of the bacon will be limp not crisp, and the cheese may be gooey.

👩🏻‍🍳 HOW TO KEEP BROCCOLI SALAD COOL

Summer is the perfect season to take this salad to potlucks, picnics, or serve it at a backyard gathering. Because the salad has bacon and cheese, and the dressing has mayo, for food safety we need to keep this dish cool.

• For outdoor venues, look for a shaded area. Fill a deep chafing dish with ice. Place the covered salad bowl on top. Arrange additional ice around the sides of the bowl. This will keep your salad nice and cool.
• If the extra salad dressing will be served separately (not mixed into the salad), be sure to keep that cool as well.
• If packing broccoli salad for a picnic, keep it cold in an ice chest.
• When packing this salad for lunch, keep it cool in an insulated tote.

🥗 MORE HEALTHY SUMMER SALADS

During the hot-weather months we’re all looking for healthy refreshing meals and sides that won’t heat up the kitchen. These healthy summer salads really fit the bill. Add them to your meal-plan rotation.

• Watermelon Arugula Salad
• Strawberry Spinach Salad
• Chinese Chicken Salad
• Summer Pasta Salad with Veggies
• Cucumber Salad
• Tropical Fruit Salad with Agave-Lime Dressing

RATE THIS RECIPE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Flavor testers rated this the BEST broccoli salad with bacon. They loved the colorful fresh ingredients, crisp delicious textures, and the easy flavorful dressing. They appreciated how quick and easy it came together.

If you agree this recipe’s a keeper, give it a 5-star rating in the comment. Then be a recipe hero. Share it with friends. 📌 Pin it to Pinterest.

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BROCCOLI SALAD WITH BACON 👉🏻 JOIN THE CONVO

Do you love making cool healthy salads during warm-weather months? What do you think about this broccoli salad recipe? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!