Creamy Broccoli Salad
I’ve been loving like mad on this Broccoli Salad lately, so I decided it was probably time for me to share the recipe with you.
Funny how I tend not to share my “regulars” on here, probably because I find they’re too boring to make an appearance on these pages. But this salad, I seriously can’t seem to get enough of. Every night for well over a week, I’ve been fixing me bowlful after bowlful.
After a while, I got tired of making practically the same dish night after night, so I decided to test if maybe I could make a bigger batch and see how it would hold up to a somewhat prolonged stay in the fridge. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the results of my little experiment. While the salad did wilt some, which was to be expected, it still held its shape pretty decently, maintained a very good amount of crunch and didn’t lose one iota of tastiness!
I will not hesitate to add this one to my list of salads to whip up on the week-end to last me throughout the week. While it might not go through the entire week, it will hold for a good 3 or 4 days. Good enough for me!
This is the kind of salad that’s stupid easy to make too: you just basically prep all your ingredients, which doesn’t take much time at all, then dump everything in a giant bowl and stir.
Even prepping the ingredients is super easy. There’s no sticky garlic to peel, no meany onions that will make you cry… Only a bunch little broccoli florets, a couple of cute little cukes, some baby spinach leaves and a trio of sweet bell peppers to chop, half an apple to julienne, and a handful of olives, raisins and pecans to throw in.
Heck, there’s not even a vinaigrette to make. All this tasty salad requires is a pinch of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, a good splash of balsamic vinegar and a generous blob of paleo mayo. Of course, you already have some of that in the fridge, right? If you don’t, lucky you will have to whip up a batch. Call me crazy, but making mayo never fails to put a huge smile on my face. I’m always like “YAY! I’m all out of mayo, need to make some more!” *insert stupid crazy big grin right here* Doesn’t take much to make me happy, does it?
Well, if you’ve made some of that mayo before, you probably understand where I’m coming from. If you haven’t… you most certainly will after you have!
Alright, enough about that mayo already, it’s salad we’re supposed to be making. It might not be quite as fun, but it sure is just as tasty.
So once you’ve got all your ingredients gathered into a humongous mixing bowl, give everything a gentle stir until evenly combined. Ah, and you don’t even need to be this gentle. This is a pretty sturdy salad. It can take a little gruffness. So go at it and mix it with all your might! Just don’t send it flying all over the place… (who, me? yeah… I might have… just a little!)
Now of course, you don’t have to stick to the exact list of ingredients that I used here. I didn’t make it exactly like this every single night I had it, you know. I remember adding avocados once or twice (of course, you know how much I love my avocados) and raw mushrooms, too, which were absolutely brilliant! I wouldn’t recommend adding mushrooms if you’re not gonna eat this right away though, as they will turn mushy on you.
Some of the key ingredients which vastly contribute to giving this salad its bold flavor and character, namely the olives, raisins, apples and balsamic vinegar, I wouldn’t leave out. Oh, and the broccoli of course. It is, after all, the very foundation of this dish, so you definitely want to leave that one in, too!
Other than that, go wild, have fun!
For the record, fresh parsley and watercress instead of spinach work extremely well, and walnuts replace the pecans brilliantly. Zucchinis can very well sub for the cucumbers, and a little bit of finely chopped celery adds a very agreeable additional crunch.
Seriously, I just finished the last of this tonight, and I’m thinking I want to whip up another batch tomorrow.
You know what? I think I will. And want to know what the best part is? I’m all out of mayo!!!
Creamy Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups broccoli florets, chopped
- 4 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped
- 2 mini seedless cucumbers, diced
- 1 of each yellow, orange and red sweet bell peppers, chopped
- 1/2 red apple, julienned
- 1/4 cup raw pecans, chopped
- 1/4 cup organic raisins
- 1/2 cup sliced green olives
- 1/2 cup paleo mayo
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- the juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and stir delicately until well combined.
- Serve immediately or leave in the fridge for a few hours for flavors to meld.
- This salad will keep for a few days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Although some wilting is to be expected, it still remains very tasty.
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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21 Comments on “Creamy Broccoli Salad”
Just wondering if you know how this salad would do if you used regular mayo? That’s all I ever have in the fridge.
Regular mayo will work for sure, only from a nutritional standpoint, that stuff is a disaster, so I can’t really recommend using it… I say making a batch of the good stuff is very well worth it! 🙂
Thanks! Well I will probably try making some paleo mayo using your recipe here when I run out of the storebought junk 🙂 But I’m too frugal to just throw it out!
I totally hear you, Laura. I’m sure that once you’ve tasted the good stuff, you’ll never even be tempted to buy a jar of the ready made stuff ever again. Make sure you tell me how it turned out for you when you do whip up a batch! 🙂
This salad is a nutritional powerhouse.
I mean there’s literally everything one needs: veggies, fruit, good fats and even some protein.
Would love to have some of that tonight for dinner. Great recipe!
Come on over, babe! I’ll fix you a big bowlful. I think I’m kind of getting the hang of it, now! 🙂
B E S T P A L E O B L O G .
I shall make the salad, make the mayo and source out some high quality pork fat!!!
Although I am familiar with all your resources, I find your recipes and writing very inspiring and just more “je ne sais quoi” -balanced. Thank you. If you have not already, would you consider writing about feeding children a paleo diet. Do you keep grains in the house for your child?
Thank you so much for your kind words, I truly, truly appreciate them. Wow, you just made my day, seriously.
As for feeding my kids a paleo diet, unfortunately, they are now old enough to make their own choices and buy their own food, so I can’t really force it upon them. I can try and influence their decisions, but that’s about where it ends. As a hardcore paleo aficionado, I do not keep grains or any processed products in the house…
Encore merci pour tes bons mots! 🙂
Interesting combination of ingredients. But thanks to it we have nutritional meal for lunch or dinner. And all necessary components are hidden in fresh salad, perfect!
Even though I completely love homemade and haven’t bought any in a long time, I can’t say I love making it as much as you! But you’re right, it’s always nice to have in the fridge. It’s funny how many things seem to “require” mayo when you have it conveniently laying around 🙂
I love super chunky salads!
That looks amazing! I want to make it, but I don’t have a hand blender so I’ll have to find another way to make homemade mayo. Can I not use the mason jar as an attachment to my blender and make it that way? Thanks!
Unfortunately, Jessica, you absolutely need the hand blender, but I can guarantee it’s very well worth the purchase, even if you’re only ever gonna use it to make mayo!
Oh MY! That IS good! And I haven’t even let sit and marinate yet!! Made a huge batch for my boys while I am gone for a few days along with your Pork Roast–which is in the oven as we speak. Thank You for Sharing!
I’m really so happy to hear, Debbie! Thank you so much for all your great feedback, that’s like pure gold to me. You are a real gem, my dear, seriously. Hope the boys like the roast and salad! 🙂
I have been very remiss not to leave a comment since I have made this THREE times in the last two weeks. EVERYONE loves it! I must say I was initially taken back with the combination of ingredients…very odd- but oh my do they come together beautifully. Your mouth explodes with flavor. Of course my son can’t wait and eats it as soon as I make it but ideally it needs a day to meld and it just keeps tasting better and better – not that it lasts all that long. Thank you for another fabulous recipe that I’m adding to my rotation.
3 TIMES IN 2 WEEKS??!? WOW. This is total music to my ears, thank you so much Rose! You have no idea just how much I appreciate your feedback. You totally ROCK, my dear. 😀
O.M.G. this has zoomed straight to the top as my favorite veggie salad of all time! [minus the raisins… I’m not a raisin fan] I was out of pecans when I stumbled across this, so I tossed in a double handful of shelled pistachios. Yum!
Only one thing would make this perfectly perfect…
c’mon, say it with me…
BACON!!!
Hahahahaha! I totally agree! Bacon would totally be the bomb in this salad. 😀
Toasted pecans are quite good, too, though. Just you wait until you try it. Add both toasted pecans and crispy bacon and OMG, you’ll be in 7th heaven.
And how about dried cranberries, do you like those? They would sub perfectly well for the raisins, and perhaps do an even better job.
That’s it… you just got me craving this salad something fierce. I might have to whip up a batch for lunch! 😉
Very tasty.
Only one comment, what you guys call “Paleo Mayo” is not other that the original “mahonesa” which is in fact a french simplification of the classical “Alioli” (oil and garlic) from Spanish Mediterranean islands but without garlic, and that has been always made with olive oil (the only oil we use…), so calling it “Paleo-Mayo” is just a shame, it will be much more accurate to call the other crappy mayos made with whatever crappy oil “Rubbish-Mayo” or similar… 🙂
Crappynesa?
We refer to it as paleo mayo just as a means to specify that it is made with ingredients that are paleo friendly, or paleo approved, unlike most commercial mayos…