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A lightened-up recipe for broccoli salad made with golden raisins, red onion, fresh broccoli florets, light mayonnaise, and low-fat cheddar cheese.
This broccoli salad is a new twist on an old favorite. This recipe is my absolute favorite broccoli salad and super easy to throw together! It’s best to make this salad and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow all of the flavors to mingle.
Tips For Making Homemade Broccoli Salad
You can keep the bacon room temperature if you are serving that same day and add it right before serving so that it keeps its crispy texture. I love the flavor combo of the sharp cheese, golden raisins, crunchy bacon and nuts, and fresh broccoli. You get that great sweet/savory blend and a lot of different textures going on in this dish. It’s also a great way to get kids to eat their veggies.
I could seriously eat this broccoli salad for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! It’s one of my all-time favorite side dish recipes and it’s made with bacon. Everything is better with bacon. If you have issues with lactose, use a brand of cheese that is lactose-free like Cabot cheese. It’s one of the few kinds of cheese that I tolerate well and it’s absolutely delicious.
A few more favorite chilled vegetable salads to try are this easy and tasty Black Bean and Corn Salad and Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples and Almonds.
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon preferably natural, nitrate free bacon
- 1/2 cup light olive oil based mayonnaise or Vegenaise (in the original blue bottle)
- 1/3 cup organic sugar
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar such as Bragg organic
- 3 heads broccoli cut into florets
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds or 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 red onion finely chopped
- *optional: shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.
- Drain, crumble and set aside.
- In a small bowl mix together mayo, sugar and vinegar to make the dressing.
- In a large bowl combine all other ingredients.
- Toss with dressing and chill for an hour or more.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Amee Livingston
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Ann from Sumptuous Spoonfuls says
This sounds fantastic Amy! and it’s so pretty too