Delicious Broccoli Salad made with bacon, sunflower seeds, red onion, and goat cheese mixed with a creamy Greek yogurt-mayo sauce. So good!
Broccoli Salad
Here’s a great way to get a cup of veggies into your meal, serve this Broccoli Salad as a side with a sandwich, burger, or your favorite protein. It’s perfect as a side dish for a summer BBQ or potluck or a tasty lunch option. It’s easy to customize to your liking – Try adding in some chopped nuts, raisins, or other dried fruit for extra flavor and texture. If you’re a broccoli lover and need more broccoli side dish ideas, try this Broccoli and Orzo, Broccoli Cheese Soup or this Sesame Orange Broccoli.
This light and easy Broccoli Salad is from the new Downshiftology Healthy Meal Prep cookbook by Lisa Bryan, which offers over 100 make-ahead recipes that can be frozen or repurposed into different meals. I polled my audience on Instagram to see which recipe they wanted me to share from her book, and this one was the winner. I’m so glad because I really enjoyed it!! Her recipe has this as 4 servings, but I made it 8 1 cup servings which is perfect for a side dish. If you want to have it as a main you can double the portion.
A Healthier Broccoli Salad
This healthy salad recipe uses many nutritious ingredients:
- Broccoli is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, potassium, and folate.
- Sunflower seeds are a good source of healthy fats, protein, and nutrients, like vitamin E and selenium.
- Goat cheese is a lower-fat alternative to other types of cheese and is a good source of protein and calcium.
- The Greek yogurt in the dressing boosts the protein content and gives the salad a creamy texture without adding too much fat.
What Goes In a Broccoli Salad
- Bacon: Use eight slices of your favorite bacon.
- Broccoli: Cut a head of broccoli into bite-sized florets.
- Red Onion: Dice a third cup of red onion.
- Dried Cranberries: Buy unsweetened dried cranberries.
- Raw Sunflower Seeds: Toasted sunflower seeds will work if you don’t have raw.
- Goat Cheese: Crumble a quarter cup of goat cheese over the salad.
- Dressing: Greek yogurt and mayonnaise (light or regular)
How to Make Broccoli Salad for Weight Loss
- Lean Center Cut Bacon: Cook the bacon in the skillet or place the bacon on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 400°F.
- Vegetables, seeds and cheese: Combine broccoli florets, red onion, cranberries, seeds, and cheese.
- Light Dressing: Stir the mayo and yogurt in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture, and add the crumbled bacon.
What to Serve with Broccoli Salad
This salad recipe would go great with any almost protein, like burgers, pork chops, chicken, or steak. I also like it on its own for an easy lunch.
How long does broccoli salad last in the fridge?
Broccoli salad will last up to 4 days an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Variations:
- Broccoli: If you prefer to blanch your broccoli, you can by boiling it for about 1 minute. Drain it, rinse it with cold water to stop it from overcooking, and dry it before mixing the broccoli with the other ingredients.
- Fruit: Swap dried cranberries for raisins, dried dates, or diced apples.
- Vegetarian Broccoli Salad: Omit the bacon.
- Seeds: Substitute sunflower seeds with pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or pecans.
- Cheese: Sub goat cheese with feta or shredded cheddar.
- Dairy Free: omit the goat cheese and use dairy free yogurt.
More Broccoli Recipes You’ll Love:
- Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad with Capers
- Sesame Orange Broccoli
- Broccoli and Cheese Tots
- Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic
- Broccoli and Orzo
Broccoli Salad Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 slices center cut bacon
- 1 large head broccoli florets , sliced into bite-sized pieces
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup dried unsweetened cranberries
- ½ cup shelled raw sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
- ½ cup mayonnaise, I used Hellman's Light
- ¼ cup plain fat free Greek yogurt, dairy-or dairy-free
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy and browned, about 4 minutes on each side.
- If you prefer to bake it, bake on a sheet pan in a preheated 400°F oven to (200°C) 15 to 20 minutes, until crispy
- Transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool. Chop or crumble.
- While the bacon is cooking, in a large mixing bowl, combine the broccoli florets, red onion, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and goat cheese.
- In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and yogurt.
- Add the bacon and dressing to the mixing bowl and toss to combine.
this salad is sooooooo good!!
Where do i find the WW points for this? well as in your recipes from your cookbooks please?
Blue button under recipe title shows points, blue banner in recipe card will link to WW. For my cookbooks- https://www.skinnytaste.com/cookbook-index/ 🙂
Quick, easy, very tasty! Great summer salad.
I made a few modifications for things I had on hand. I subbed walnuts for the sunflower seeds, and I used some quick pickled red onions (simply soak sliced red onion in vinegar with or without a little spoon of sugar), and I added vinegar to the mayo/Greek yogurt mixture. I simply forgot the goat cheese and it was still delicious! I would make this again similarly or try adding the goat cheese. It is a nice alternative to potato salad and I think it gets better after sitting for a few hours to a couple days. Definitely a keeper. Thanks!
Loved it replaced the bacon with bacon bits. Could only find the soft goat cheese at aldi so used that. Will def make again!
Amazing flavor! Creamy and flavorful. You don’t lose the broccoli flavor, but you get enough dressing to kick it up a few notches!
Yum! I used more yogurt than mayo and added ww vinegar for an extra tang. There are so many different things I can do with this. Tonight I am going to grill some chicken breast and add it to the salad. Thanks!!
I LOVE this salad, i crave it and have made it so many times but i actually make it with cauliflower instead of broccoli since i cant eat broccoli! SO good and have had several friends ask for the recipe too!
Sounds yummy!
Love this one!
Hello,
What can you sun the goat cheese for? I don’t like goat cheese.
Feta or omit it.
A hit! I added white balsamic vinegar which made it even better.
This salad is amazing! Perfect spin on the classic broccoli salad. Only change I made was adding a splash of red wine vinegar to cut the richness, but will definitely be making again!
Hi
I was wondering how far ahead broccoli salad should be made?
You can make it a day ahead
This shocked me. It looks good but the ingredient list didn’t seem like it all went together. I am super impressed and will definitely be making this again!
This was a great side dish at Easter Brunch. I did cook the broccoli for 1 minute and then had to dry it which was time-consuming so I might try not cooking it next time.
Joanne, have you thought to try your salad spinner to dry the broccoli? Works great for me.
This is stellar, as are all your recipes. You really deserve your success, your recipes are delicious, nutritious, easy and you obviously research very carefully. Thank you!
Thank you for your kind words!
This is almost exactly our favorite recipe for broccoli salad. The recipe I use calls for a cup of mayo, 2T of vinegar and a quarter cup of sugar. No cheese. I’m going to try it this way.
One trick I use when I make it is to put everything in a gallon zip loc and put it in the refrigerator. I can flip, mush it, squeeze it and get the dressing all over everything. Much easier than stirring. Plus, if I am taking it somewhere I can bring the zip loc and the serving bowl and not have to worry about everything spilling. I also make it the day before serving it. It lets the flavors get into everything.
Great tip! I will try that next time!
Made it for a birthday party and it was a huge hit! Delicious update for a broccoli salad and my new go to side for gatherings! Thanks for another wonderful recipe Gina!
Great thank you love this and make it when ever I can
I think this is my new obsession. Indeed this salad tonight to go with some oven BBQ chicken thighs. I figured I would like it, but I wasn’t prepared for just how delicious this would be! I used Feta rather than goat cheese. And I had pepitas on hand so I used those in place of the sunflower seeds. I will definitely be bringing this to the next BBQ.
Thank you, Gina! I have always loved the broccoli salad at our deli, but it does not fit into my diet. I was elated to try this and it delivered the same great taste! I am over the moon:) I used feta and used 5 strips of regular bacon cooked crisp and it was great. I like the idea of adding apple cider vinegar and might give that a try next time. This is worthy of bringing to a pot luck or barbecue.
Grade: A Easy and good.
Delicious! I love traditional broccoli salad, but the sugar content is too much. This recipe is satisfying and the cranberries give it just the right amount of sweetness.
HELLO,
I AM NOT YELLING. I JUST WANT TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE QUESTION: DO YOUR COOKBOOKS COME IN LARGE PRINT?
They come in standard size print
Delicious!
Had this for lunch had to stop myself from eating more. I used 6 cups of broccoli (Costco fresh broccoli in bag ) will use the 7-8 cups next time. Reduce bacon to 4 slices (used turkey). So yummy! I’m sure it will be even better once it marinates.
Accidentally made this w/out the goat cheese and it was good/fine. Realized my mistake, added it and omg…next level!
i make it with broccoli and cauliflower red onions low fat cheese and bacon and skinny taste low calorie ranch very good
Can’t wait 2 try this.
I didn’t have all the ingredients and subbed out the cranberry for an apple, swapped the goat cheese for feta, and yum! I will be making again.
This is a great recipe. I LOVE broccoli salad but avoid it because there is usually sugar in the dressing so I was thrilled to see this one. Followed the recipe as written and it was tasty. My personal preference was to have a little more tang so I added about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. But, that’s just my personal preference – the recipe is great as written.
Thanks for this comment! I was surprised there was no vinegar in the recipe, and happy to hear that some ACV works well in it!
What a refreshing salad. Totally enjoyed it. Going in the rotation.
Approximately how many cups of broccoli? I need to cut most recipes in half ?
Good question. It would be fantastic if pounds or ounces was given for all ingredients. MY large onion might not be
YOUR large onion! Lol
The recipe states it makes 8 1-cup servings and since the other ingredients don’t add a ton of bulk, I assumed about 8 cups of broccoli. I made it in a 4qt bowl and filled it about halfway and it worked well.
What can you substitute in place of the mayo in this recipe?
Yogurt
I love that you are highlighting Lisa. When I received my book this was the first recipe I made. My husband does not really care for broccoli and he has been asking me to make it again.