Broccoli Salad with Bacon

Do you want to get creative with your salad at dinner tonight? Surprise your family with this broccoli salad with bacon. It’s the perfect combination of tangy, salty, and sweet. Plus, the broccoli provides a satisfying, tender crunch that will convert even your staunchest salad hater into a salad lover. 

This recipe is made of five main salad ingredients, and a three ingredient dressing. But don’t let it fool you – it’s such a hearty, tasty dish, it will almost stand alone as a meal. There’s plenty to chew on – no leafy stuff here. 

It’s salty and sweet, crunch, and saucy. 

Even kids love it! 

Or at least, I did when I was a kid. My mom used to make this broccoli salad recipe occasionally when I was young, but I guess I sort of forgot about it over the years. Have you ever had that happen with your childhood foods? And then all of a sudden, you realize one day that you crave it? 

I have that occasionally, like last year with my great aunt’s layered spaghetti recipe, and the shoofly pie we used to have in our Amish community. 

When I made it the first time again a few months ago, I pretty much ate the whole salad myself. It was so good! It turns out, raw broccoli is a lot more tender than I remembered. 😅

The dressing on this is very similar to coleslaw dressing, but the salad has a whole different vibe, so don’t think they’re one and the same. 

First, gather your main ingredients, chop your veggies, and cook and crumble your bacon (not pictured)

Next, Gather your dressing ingredients: Salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and mayonnaise (make your own mayonnaise with this recipe)

Then mix them all together.

Now all there is left to do is assemble your salad. There’s no trick to it – just make sure your bowl is big enough to do some mixing without spilling. 

And that’s all there is to it. 

Broccoli salad with bacon

• This is super easy, because the only thing you need to cook is bacon – and even that can be eliminated if you have pre-cooked bacon. You could also leave out the bacon to make it vegetarian, but if you do, you’d be skipping out on a lot of flavor. 
• Feel free to make some substitutions. My mom used to use raisins, but I don’t care for them, so I swapped for Craisins (and they really hit the spot!). Another substitution could be in the nuts. Traditionally, you would use sunflower seeds as the recipe calls for, but I could definitely see using pecans (like in our fall harvest salad), chopped walnuts or pepitas. 
• If you don’t care for the flavor of apple cider vinegar, feel free to use white vinegar. I’ve done it both ways, and they’re both good, but I think apple cider is a little better. 

Broccoli Salad with Bacon

Print Recipe

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• Author: Elise New
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x

Ingredients

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• 6 cups broccoli, chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup Craisins
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 4 slices bacon, cooked
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

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Instructions

1. Combine broccoli, onion, craisins, sunflower seeds, and bacon in a large bowl
2. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine remaining ingredients, and stir together well
3. Pour over broccoli mixture, and toss
4. Serve cold
5. Enjoy!

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