Broccoli Salad with Creamy Dressing

This broccoli salad is the side I bring when I want the vegetable bowl to empty before the chips do at a cookout. Raw broccoli, smoky bacon, red onion, and dried cranberries go into a creamy dressing you whisk together from three pantry staples.

I make it the night before a party, and I think it’s better the next day once the broccoli has soaked up the dressing. The florets go in raw, so they stay crunchy for days instead of wilting the way a leafy salad would.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s a make-ahead side. You stir it together the night before, the raw broccoli holds its crunch instead of going limp, and it’s better for the wait rather than worse.
• One big bowl of broccoli stretches into six servings, making it an easy, filling side to carry to a potluck without buying anything unusual.
• The dressing is three pantry staples whisked together, so you skip the bottled kind and decide for yourself how sweet or tangy it turns out.
• Smoky bacon, sweet cranberries, and sharp red onion give every forkful something different, which is what gets the broccoli skeptics at my table to finish it.
• It travels. It has to stay cold, but it holds up in a bowl on ice far better than lettuce, so it survives the trip to a cookout in good shape.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here’s what’s worth knowing before you start; the printable card below has the full list with quantities.

• Broccoli: Use fresh, not frozen. Frozen broccoli thaws soft and watery, which is the opposite of what this salad needs. Cut it into small, bite-sized florets so the dressing can coat every piece.
• Red onion: It brings a sharp bite and a bit of color that keep the creamy dressing from tasting flat. Dice it small so no single piece takes over.
• Dried cranberries: These are the sweet note that balances the tangy dressing and the salty bacon. Use the sweetened kind rather than fresh or frozen cranberries, which are far too tart here.
• Sunflower seeds: They’re the crunch, and they cost less than the nuts a lot of salads lean toward. Add them close to serving so they don’t go soft.
• Bacon: Cook it until crisp, then chop it. Real bacon carries the smoky flavor here; to keep the salad vegetarian, leave it out or use a plant-based bacon.
• Mayonnaise: It’s the body of the dressing. Full-fat gives the creamiest result and clings to the broccoli best.
• Apple cider vinegar and sugar: Together they set the tang-and-sweet balance of the dressing. Start with the amounts on the card, then move either one to suit your taste.

How to Make Broccoli Salad

A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.

Whisk the dressing first

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and a little salt and pepper until smooth.

Taste it now and adjust the sugar or vinegar before adding it to the broccoli, since it’s much easier to fix a small bowl than a full one.

Combine the broccoli and mix-ins

Put the bite-sized broccoli florets in a large bowl with the diced red onion, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and cooked bacon.

Make sure the broccoli is dry first, because water clinging to the florets is what thins the dressing and leaves a puddle at the bottom of the bowl.

Dress it, then chill

Pour the dressing over the top and toss until every piece is coated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour so the broccoli softens just slightly and takes on the dressing; then serve it cold.

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

• Dry the broccoli properly. After you wash it, spin or pat it dry, because water left on the florets is the most common reason this salad turns watery.
• Tame the onion. If raw red onion is too sharp for you, soak the diced pieces in cold water for about ten minutes and drain them well before they go in. You keep the color and lose the harsh edge.
• When I make it ahead for a party, I keep the bacon and sunflower seeds in a separate little dish and scatter them on right before serving, so they stay crisp instead of softening in the dressing overnight.
• Cut the broccoli into small, even pieces. Big florets don’t hold dressing, so you end up with dry bites and a pool of dressing underneath.
• If the dressing feels too thick to coat everything, loosen it with a splash of water. If it tastes flat after chilling, remember that cold dulls seasoning, so add a pinch more salt or a little more vinegar.

Recipe Variations

• Add cauliflower. Swap half the broccoli for raw cauliflower florets and you get the broccoli-and-cauliflower salad a lot of people grew up with; both go in raw, so the method doesn’t change. I make mine with all broccoli, but it’s a well-supported swap that plenty of cooks rely on.
• Stir in cheese. I’ve tested this one plenty of times: fold in a handful of sharp cheddar or a little crumbled feta for a salty edge that plays off the cranberries.
• Change the dried fruit. Raisins or chopped dried apricots step in for the cranberries with no other adjustment, a swap I’ve tested all three ways and keep coming back to.

How to Store Leftovers

This is a good salad to make ahead. You can mix it a day before and keep it covered in the fridge, and I think it’s better for the wait. If you’re taking it to a cookout, keep the bowl cold by nestling it in a larger bowl of ice, and don’t let it sit out longer than 2 hours, or 1 hour if it’s above 90°F outside.

Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. The dressing may loosen and pool a little as it sits, so stir it before serving again. Don’t freeze it, because mayonnaise-based salads separate and turn watery once they thaw.

What to Serve With Broccoli Salad

This is a cookout side dish at heart, so I like to serve it next to something off the grill or the smoker. It’s the salad I most often put beside a rack of oven-baked ribs, where the cool, creamy broccoli cuts through the sticky sauce.

It works just as well with a smash burger or a plate of chipotle-grilled chicken when you want a fresh, crunchy side that isn’t another starch. Because it holds cold, it also earns a spot on a bigger potluck table alongside the other salads instead of competing with them.

FAQs

More Sides and Mains for Your Next Cookout

If this one’s going on the table, here’s what I’d put around it.

• Air Fryer Broccoli for the nights you want broccoli hot and crisp instead of cold and creamy.
• Red Cabbage Coleslaw when you want a second make-ahead cold side; the two sit well next to each other and both travel.
• Italian Pasta Salad with Salami if you need something heartier on the same spread to balance a lighter main.
• Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets for feeding the kids, who will happily work through a plate of these while the adults get into the salads.
• Loaded Tater Tots for when the crowd wants something hearty, alongside all the vegetables.