This Broccoli Salad is made with blanched fresh broccoli tossed with toasted almonds, bacon and peas, topped with a homemade honey vinegar dressing. It's a go-to potluck salad for summer cookouts and picnics!

Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

VIDEO! How to Make Broccoli Salad

The Best Way to Make Broccoli Salad

The problem with most broccoli salads is the broccoli — the raw broccoli. Some people like raw broccoli, and actually, I love raw broccoli stems. They taste a lot like cabbage or cauliflower. But the florets? If they’re raw, keep them away please.

So, how to make a broccoli salad if you don’t like raw broccoli?

The solution — blanch the broccoli for 1 minute, or no more than two minutes. The broccoli will still be firm enough for the salad, the color will be even prettier, because blanching brings out the green, and the taste will be less raw and more cooked.

Other Ingredients in this Broccoli Salad

In this recipe, the broccoli pairs wonderfully with the toasted almonds, bacon, peas, and onion. The honey and vinegar in the dressing adds some sweet and sour to the mix.

Normally I cringe at the thought of broccoli salad, but honestly, this is one of the tastiest salads I’ve ever made, broccoli or not.

Prep Salad Ingredients to Make Ahead

This salad needs at least an hour to chill in the fridge before serving, or up to six hours or so. The salad is best served the day it’s made.

If you’d like to prep further ahead, you can blanch the broccoli, fry the bacon, and make the dressing a a day or two ahead. Keep them refrigerated separately, and wait to assemble the final salad until the day you plan to serve them.

What Pairs Well with Broccoli Salad

This salad will happily grace any buffet spread, from a summer cookout to a holiday gathering. It pairs well with almost any main dish, but it goes particularly well with chicken, steak, or salmon.

More Easy Side Salads to Try!