Lighter Broccoli Salad

At a glance

What stands out: This recipe is a deli classic, made easier on the waistline with a creamy yogurt dressing. Lighter broccoli salad is a crowd pleaser at any barbecue and it keeps well in the fridge. You can make it with or without bacon, whichever you prefer.

How long it takes: 20 minutes, but allow an extra hour for chilling time. The salad has better flavor if it has a chance to marinate.
Equipment you’ll need: large mixing bowl, measuring cup
Servings: 8

Popular Broccoli Salad

We don’t know who first decided to combine raw broccoli, bacon, onions, and raisins in a creamy mayonnaise dressing, but we're certainly not upset about it. While there are many recipes for broccoli salad, we wanted to create a healthier broccoli salad. The original version is a little calorie-heavy, especially for a salad, with all the mayonnaise and bacon.

Some of you may be thinking “we hope she doesn’t ditch the bacon to make this salad lighter.” Don’t worry, our philosophy is everything in moderation (except popcorn), so we didn’t ditch the bacon. We mean, what’s broccoli salad without the bacon? That being said, you can certainly skip the bacon. Our mom is NOT a bacon fan so she substitutes toasted sunflower seeds and that tastes great, too.

Lighter Broccoli Salad

So you may be wondering, how is our recipe for broccoli salad any healthier than the original? Good question!

Secret ingredient in the dressing. Instead of mayonnaise, we use plain Greek yogurt, usually lowfat or nonfat. Skipping the mayonnaise reduces the fat content of the salad and you won’t notice the difference. We substitute yogurt for most of or all of the mayo in our creamy dressings. Try our lighter coleslaw or orzo salad with yogurt dill dressing.

Stays true to the classic salad. Other than the lightened-up dressing, this recipe is pretty true to the deli salad you find in grocery stores. Fresh broccoli, red onions, and chewy raisins, they’re all in there. They each bring their own lighter qualities to the salad.

Cooking Tip

If you soak the chopped onions in ice water for about 10 minutes before adding them to the salad, it takes the aggressive bite out of them. They stay crisp and have just the right amount of onion flavor. Red onions are a great addition to this salad even if you think you don’t love raw onions! For a different onion flavor, you could try pickled red onions.

Straightforward Recipe Variations

Add extra flavor to the dressing. The dressing recipe includes celery seeds which have a distinctive celery flavor. It’s a little drift from the classic deli-style broccoli salad, but try it, and we bet you’ll love it too. Be sure to buy the tiny brown seeds; celery salt is not the same thing. If you prefer, leave the celery seeds out.

Try jumbo raisins. We love these jumbo raisins. You can use regular or golden raisins but these jumbo raisins do add a special something because they are extra chewy and juicy.

Make it vegetarian. If you want to leave out the bacon, add roasted sunflower seeds for a nice crunch. Sometimes we use both!

Try a different deli salad. If you’re just not a fan of broccoli, be sure to try our classic green pea salad, coleslaw, or creamy potato salad. Dill potato salad is always a hit, too!

Keeping leftovers

Broccoli salad keeps well in the fridge for up to three days. The broccoli will soften slightly and the bacon won’t be as crisp but the salad still does taste excellent.

• Yield: 8
• Prep: 20 minutes
• Total: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 cups (heaping) coarsely chopped fresh broccoli ( 3 crowns or 1 large head)
• ¼ cup diced red onion ( ½ large red onion)
• ½ cup crumbled or chopped cooked bacon, optional ( 8 slices)
• 1 cup raisins (regular, golden, or jumbo)
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (see note)
• 3 tablespoons honey, or to taste (or granulated sugar)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon celery seed, optional (not celery salt!)

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, onion, bacon (see note), and raisins.
2. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together dressing ingredients: yogurt, honey, vinegar, salt, celery seed, and pepper. Taste, and add additional salt and pepper to taste.
3. Pour dressing over broccoli and stir to combine until all broccoli is coated with dressing.
4. For best flavor, refrigerate for at least one hour. Stir again before serving.

Notes

Dressing: You can use full fat, low fat, or nonfat yogurt. We've noticed that the salad gets a bit watery the next day with nonfat yogurt. If you’re not a fan of yogurt, mayonnaise is great, too. We often make the dressing with a combination of yogurt and mayonnaise.

Onion tip: To take the bite out of onions and make their flavor less strong, soak the chopped onions in ice water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain them well and pat dry before adding them to the salad.

Bacon: If you’re making the salad ahead of time, you may want to reserve the bacon and stir it in right before you serve it so it stays crisp. If you prefer, use turkey bacon or leave the bacon out altogether. Roasted sunflower seeds are a great substitute.

Storage: Broccoli salad keeps well in the fridge for up to three days.