Broccoli Salad Recipe
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The best Healthy Broccoli Salad Recipe! Made with no mayo, this easy side dish is super healthy and quick to make. Perfect for a picnic!
No picnic or potluck is complete without the side dishes and broccoli salad is the perfect recipe to go alongside any meal!
Made with no mayo, this easy side dish is instead made with non fat greek yogurt to make this salad creamy, low fat, low carb and DELICIOUS!
This truly is the best broccoli salad. Some broccoli salads have up to a cup of sugar in them. This recipe uses a little bit of honey for sweetness, but it has zero refined sugar and 6 cups of broccoli. It’s made with only 10 ingredients, it’s so simple to make in under 15 minutes, and it tastes amazing!
Serve it alongside Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Healthy Tuna Salad, Healthy Chicken Salad or any of these Healthy Grilling Recipes for a delicious meal.
liz’s tips for healthy broccoli salad
- Cut the broccoli finely- Make sure to really chop your broccoli. No one wants a big piece of raw broccoli in their salad
- Eat fresh & chilled – This salad is best eaten fresh and nice and cold. Don’t let it sit out for a while!
Ingredients
Substitutions
Broccoli: We don’t recommend substituting broccoli florets in this recipe.
Red Onion: We have only tested this recipe with red onion. White onion might work, but we can’t be sure without testing it. It might be a little too strong. You can omit the red onion and add in 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder instead of red onion.
Bacon: You can use regular bacon or turkey bacon. You can omit bacon to make this recipe vegetarian.
Cheese: Cheese is optional. Colby Jack or pepper jack would be good in this recipe, or you can omit cheese. We recommend buying a block of sharp cheddar cheese and grating it yourself.
Sunflower Seeds: Sunflower seeds can be subbed with shaved almonds, chopped pecans, or pine nuts.
Non Fat Greek Yogurt: We have only tested this recipe with nonfat plain greek yogurt, but I think it would work with dairy free yogurt or regular yogurt.
Mustard: Any mustard will work in this recipe. We used whole grain mustard, but a dijon mustard will also work or even yellow mustard.
Honey: We haven’t tried subbing honey with maple syrup but I think it would work.
Spices: Feel free to add more or less salt/pepper/garlic powder. You can add in parsley or basil (fresh or dried)
Other Add Ins: Craisins (dried cranberries), Raisins, Chickpeas or Nuts would all be great additions to this recipe!
Dressing: I haven’t tried this with other dressings, but I bet it would work! Check out these healthy salad dressings for more ideas!
How To make healthy Broccoli Salad
This recipe is super easy to make. Here’s how to make it:
- In a large bowl whisk together your broccoli salad dressing. Add your broccoli, onion, bacon, cheese, and sunflower.
- Stir until combined & enjoy!
This recipe is super creamy and delicious while having absolutely no mayonnaise! You won’t even miss the mayo!
Should I Blanch Broccoli For Broccoli Salad?
You don’t have to blanch broccoli for broccoli salad.
I prefer making broccoli salad with raw broccoli. It comes out much crispier. When you blanch the broccoli, I find that it gets soggy quicker.
If you do blanch the broccoli – don’t blanch it for more than 1-2 minutes.
Broccoli Salad Healthy Serving Suggestions
This salad is so yummy – it goes with virtually everything and is a perfect side dish for a summer bbq. Here are some recipes we’d recommend serving it with:
- Healthy Pulled Pork
- Balsamic Grilled Chicken
- Crockpot BBQ Chicken
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Grilled Vegetables in Foil
- Easy Farro Salad
- Traditional Greek Salad
How to Store Low Calorie Broccoli Salad
Broccoli Salad is best eaten fresh right after you make it.
How long can you keep broccoli salad in the fridge?
Refrigerator: Broccoli salad can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days. After that, it will start to get a bit soggy, and the broccoli will not be as crisp.
Freezing: Do not freeze broccoli salad. It will not be good
Other healthy side dish recipes:
Check out these other healthy side dish recipes!
Healthy Recipe for Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb broccoli chopped finely (6 cups)
- ¼ cup red onion diced finely
- ½ cup bacon cooked crisp and chopped
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds raw or roasted
Dressing:
- 3/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- ½ tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Chop your broccoli and onion finely. Set aside
- In a large bowl mix together your dressing.
- Add your broccoli, onion, bacon, cheese, and sunflower seeds.
- Stir until everything is evenly coated & enjoy!
I loved the taste of this recipe. The Greek yogurt made the dressing somewhat stiff. Next time I’d add some fat free sour cream with the yogurt to give it a more ‘saucy’ feeling.
So glad you liked it! You could also add full fat greek yogurt to make it creamier!
A little too tart for my taste. I added a bit more honey and about a fourth cup of Hellmans Mayo. Calories will be higher but marginally
I thought this was quite good. I omitted the bacon because I had family members who don’t eat bacon. I subbed some marinated air fried tempeh that had a bacon-like flavor. I also added some fresh red grapes and everyone thought this was a tasty salad.
This was so easy and great tasting
Pretty good, thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Vicky!
Just served this at a race day get together and it was a smash hit! Loved being able to serve something to my family that was yummy and good for them. Thanks so much for this recipe.
So glad you liked it, Mariah! Thank you!
LOVE this recipe!!! I’m trying to eat less meat so I omitted the bacon and did a little dash of smoked chili powder again and it still had that tasty smokiness that bacon adds! Will definitely be making again this summer 🙂
So happy you liked it, Lily! Thank you so much!