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    Home » Recipes » Super Salads

    Crunchy Broccoli Salad with Bacon

    Published: Aug 9, 2024 · Modified: May 9, 2025 by Sally Cameron · This post may contain affiliate links · 4 Comments

    310 shares
    Vivid green broccoli salad with bacon, red onions, and walnuts in white bowl.
    ↓ Jump to Recipe

    Crunchy broccoli salad is a summer favorite salad that might just get the vegetable non-eaters in your house to enjoy their vegetables. Crisp broccoli, salty bacon, sweet dried cranberries, crunchy nuts and seeds, plus a creamy tangy dressing. It's great for summer lunches and dinners and easily prepped ahead for a fast and cool side dish for summer meals.

    Vivid green broccoli salad with bacon, red onions, raisin, and walnuts in white bowl.

    Broccoli is one of those dependable vegetables that's always around, and here's a way delicious to get more of it into your diet. With great flavors, textures, and colors, this crunchy broccoli salad recipe is a crowd pleaser. Steaming the broccoli briefly makes the broccoli florets more tender than in a raw broccoli salad. If you've never made one, I hope you'll try this easy broccoli salad recipe. It's also called a broccoli crunch salad. 

    Jump to:
    • Why You'll Like This Recipe
    • Recipe Ingredients
    • Substitutions and Variations
    • How to Make Crunchy Broccoli Salad
    • Serving Suggestions
    • Recipe FAQs
    • More Great Vegetable Side Dishes
    • ⭐️Did You Make This Recipe?
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    Why You'll Like This Recipe

    • A crunchy vegetable salad is a tasty way to get more veggies into your diet.
    • Easy to prep ahead and enjoy during the week.
    • Nice for summertime served chilled.
    • Great flavors, colors, and textures to make it a hit. 

    For another summer side dish with bacon, try this sweet corn succotash with bacon.

    Recipe Ingredients

    Broccoli salad ingredients

    • Broccoli: Choose heads of fresh broccoli and trim them yourself for the right sized florets. In a hurry, buy bagged florets but results are better if you do it yourself.
    • Bacon: Crispy bacon is a nice counterpart to the crunchy broccoli, or skip for keeping it plant-based.
    • Dried fruit: Provides a nice sweet-tart addition to the salad, choose dried cranberries or raisins.
    • Nuts: Chopped crunchy walnuts give the salad added texture and healthy fat too.
    • Seeds: Pumpkin seeds are packed with nutrition as well as great flavor.
    • Onion: Red onion is standard and adds nice color, but you can swap for shallot or even green onion or chives if preferred.

    Salad dressing ingredients

    • Mayonnaise: Many off-the-shelf brands contain not-so-good ingredients like GMO soy oil. I prefer the soy-free version of this brand for it's light clean flavor. It's egg-free too. Find it in the refrigerated dairy area of your market, or use your favorite brand.
    • Sweetener: Honey or maple syrup add a little sweetness.
    • Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or white vinegar all work.

    Please see recipe card for measurements, salt and black pepper. 

    For a different dressing option, try this coleslaw dressing recipe with horseradish and Dijon mustard.

    Chef's tip: Can I use frozen broccoli for broccoli salad? Fresh is best for this salad as frozen broccoli has a lot of moisture and is not as crisp. If frozen broccoli is the only option, cook it according to package directions until just tender and plunge into an ice bath immediately. When chilled, drain well and proceed with the recipe. The texture may be a little different but the flavors will still be terrific.

    Substitutions and Variations

    • Dried fruit: For a lower-sugar option to cranberries or raisins, try Golden Berries. They are lower in sugar with a sweet-tart taste. They are also known as poha berries or pichu berries. Good in crunchy homemade granola too.
    • Nut and seed options: Try cashews, slivered almonds, shelled hemp seeds, pine nuts, or shelled sunflower seeds. Macadamia nuts are delicious too.
    • For vegans and vegetarians: Skip the bacon and use a plant-based (egg-free) mayonnaise.
    • Not a mayonnaise fan? Make the dressing with plain Greek yogurt. 

    For a sweet way to use dried cranberries, make chocolate bark in bite-sized cups.

    Chef's tip on buying broccoli: There can be a lot of waste buying broccoli heads due to the heavy stems. Buying broccoli for these photographs I had 30% waste. If you want to try to use the stems versus toss them (or compost them), peel stems with a vegetable peeler, chop and freeze to use in soups such as this creamy broccoli soup.

    How to Make Crunchy Broccoli Salad

    You need about 3 good sized heads of broccoli as there is waste with the stems. If buying bagged florets, you need a pound.

    Raw broccoli florets in a glass bowl with a green striped towel.
    Step 1: Trim thick broccoli stems and cut the florets into small pieces. You should have 8 cups of florets, about a pound. 
    Bright green steamed broccoli florets in a steaming basket.
    Step 2: Briefly steam the broccoli until crisp tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp paring knife.
    Bright green broccoli in an ice bath bowl of ice and water after steaming.
    Step 3: Shock broccoli ice water to stop the cooking process and keep the florets bright green and crisp. Dry on a clean kitchen towel.
    Mayonnaise, vinegar, and honey in a glass bowl with a stainless steel whisk.
    Step 4: Whisk together mayo, vinegar, and honey in a small bowl for the creamy dressing. 

    While the broccoli is briefly steaming then chilling, start cooking the bacon. Either chop the bacon strips crosswise into pieces before frying or fry the strips whole, then chop or crumble.

    Cooking bacon pieces in a black iron skillet golden brown.
    Step 5: Fry bacon pieces or strips until crisp and browned.
    Draining crisply cooked bacon on paper towels.
    Step 6: Drain bacon on layers of paper towels on a baling sheet or plate.

    Chef's tip on red onions: If you find red onions too strong, after chopping, add them to a small bowl of ice water and soak for a few minutes, then drain and dry before using. This helps to temper the bite of red onions.

    Serving Suggestions

    All of the components for a crunchy broccoli salad are easily prepped ahead and refrigerated until serving time. I do them ahead and package individually, then toss to serve and add the dressing. It's a good meal prep vegetable salad, just package the dressing in small separate containers.

    If you don't think you'll eat the whole batch, dress only what you'll need and refrigerate the rest in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

    Crunchy broccoli salad is great with just about anything such as grilled steaks, burgers, these oven baby back ribs, and grilled lemon chicken.

    Broccoli Bacon Salad in a white bowl for serving.

    Recipe FAQs

    How do I make the broccoli tender but still crunchy?

    To keep the broccoli tender but crunchy, steam or boil it briefly then immediately shock it in ice water, drain and dry. Shocking in ice water, also called an ice bath, stops the cooking process and keeps the broccoli crisp and bright green. The culinary technique is called blanching. Watch the timing on cooking the broccoli. It's done when you can just pierce it with the tip of a sharp paring knife. You want it crisp tender, not soft.

    What are some variations of broccoli salad?

    To keep broccoli salad interesting, try these fun ideas. Add small cubes of cheddar cheese, vary the dried fruit swapping raisins for dried cranberries or golden berries, use different nuts and seeds, add grated carrot for color, or finely chopped red bell peppers.

    Can I make a broccoli salad vegan?

    To make a broccoli salad vegan, skip the bacon and use a vegan mayonnaise. Add nuts and seeds for more texture and interest. For more color, add grated carrot or red or orange bell peppers.

    More Great Vegetable Side Dishes

    Versatile, there are so many ways to prepare them. Hot or cold, salads or sides, try some of these side dish recipes to change things up. You might find some new favorites. Check out the vegetable recipes index page for more inspiration.

    • roasted broccoli
      Roasted Broccoli and Parmesan
    • broccoli cabbage slaw
      Broccoli Slaw Recipe with Creamy Apple Cider Dressing
    • Summer vegetable medley
      Easy Sautéed Mixed Vegetables Recipe
    • A bowl of burnished roasted Brussels sprouts glazed with Balsamic.
      Roasted Balsamic Glaze Brussels Sprouts

    ⭐️Did You Make This Recipe?

    Let me know if you made this broccoli salad by adding a comment. I appreciate your feedback and enjoy hearing from you. If you loved it, please give it a 5-star rating! They really help other readers.

    Originally published in August 2019

    📖 Recipe

    Crunchy Broccoli Bacon Salad

    Sally Cameron
    Crunchy broccoli bacon salad with sweet dried cranberries, crunchy walnuts and pumpkin seeds, plus a creamy dressing. Great for summer lunches and dinners. See notes at end for special dietary needs.
    5 from 3 votes
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    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 3 minutes mins
    Course Salad
    Cuisine American
    Servings 6
    Calories 335 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    Dressing

    • ¾ cup Vegenaise or mayonnaise
    • 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
    • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar white vinegar or red vinegar

    Salad

    • 4 slices bacon
    • 2 heads broccoli crowns about 1 ½ pounds
    • ⅓ cup dried cranberries raisin or goldenberries
    • ¼ cup chopped walnuts
    • 2-3 tablespoons red onion chopped or sliced thin
    • 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds raw or toasted

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    Instructions
     

    Prep Ahead Directions (optional)

    • To prep ahead: trim, steam and chill broccoli, refrigerate. Fry the bacon, drain and chop, refrigerate. Chop the onion, refrigerate. Make the dressing and refrigerate. Toss before serving

    To Make and Serve

    • Whisk the dressing ingredients together until smooth in a medium bowl and set aside to toss the salad. Fry the bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels and chop. While the bacon is cooking, start on the broccoli.
    • Fill a large bowl half full with ice and cold water for an ice bath. Trim broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces for 8 cups florets. See post photo for help. Save broccoli stems for another use. In a medium pot add a vegetable steam basket and enough water to come to the bottom of the basket. Cover with a lid and bring to steaming over medium high heat. Add the broccoli and steam for 2 minutes. Immediately remove the broccoli to the ice bath to stop the cooking process and retain the bright green color.
    • To serve, add the bacon, broccoli, and all other ingredients to the bowl with the dressing and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately or refrigerate for an hour before serving. Salad is best dressed and served close to serving time to maintain crispness. Leftovers will hold up to two days well covered but the broccoli will not be as crisp.

    Notes

    Substitutions:

    • Dried fruit: For a lower-sugar option to cranberries or raisins, try Golden Berries. They are much lower in sugar with a pleasant sweet-tart taste. They are also known as poha berries or pichu berries.
    • Nut and seed options: Try cashews, slivered almonds, shelled hemp seeds, pine nuts, or shelled sunflower seeds. Macadamia nuts are delicious too.
    • For vegans: Skip the bacon and use a plant-based mayo such as Vegenaise.
    • For vegetarians: Skip the bacon.
    • Not a mayonnaise fan? Make the dressing with plain Greek yogurt.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 335kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 8gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 229mgPotassium: 696mgFiber: 6gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 1263IUVitamin C: 181mgCalcium: 100mgIron: 2mg
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    310 shares

    Comments

    1. Monte Williams says

      February 07, 2025 at 9:53 am

      5 stars
      This is one of those salads that’s hard to stop eating. Great with meals and for snacking!

      Reply
      • Sally Cameron says

        February 11, 2025 at 1:25 pm

        Thanks Monte! lOve to hear that you enjoyed this salad! As a broccoli-lover, I love it too.

        Reply
    2. Porsche guy says

      July 22, 2024 at 7:44 pm

      5 stars
      Im not a huge broccoli fan, but my wife made this and I really enjoyed it. The crispy bacon and those pepitas added so much taste and crunch. We’ll be eating leftovers again tomorrow. Nice for warm weather served chilled.

      Reply
    3. Debbie Burgess says

      July 23, 2019 at 5:35 am

      What a timely post as I just made this salad. I was lucky enough to find tender, fresh broccoli, so I didn't need to steam it, and I peeled the stems and chopped them. They were sweet! Also, I think the whole salad improves flavor and textures if you make this ahead of time, so I used two big crowns for just Bob and me, lightly dressed them, and we ate it with three suppers over the course of a few days.

      Here in the South this salad is made with tons of Dukes Mayo and shredded cheddar, but I much prefer OUR version. Good post!

      Reply
    5 from 3 votes (1 rating without comment)

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    Chef Sally Cameron of aFoodcentricLife.com in her kitchen.

    Welcome! I'm Sally, a professionally trained chef, former personal chef and caterer, lover of fresh healthy food, and sharing it with others.

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