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Cranberry Bacon Broccoli Salad featuring fresh broccoli, bacon, and cranberries is the perfect year-round salad for any family gathering!
Looking for an easy Summer salad to bring to a family get together, picnic, or BBQ? This easy broccoli cranberry salad is quick and delicious. Plus, it’s a family favorite.
Fresh salads are always a Summer time hit! For other great salads, check out my Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad and Watermelon Feta Salad!
Cranberry Bacon Broccoli Salad Recipe
As the weather is getting warmer and we start getting busy enjoying the season, I get excited to start cooking with summer flavors and in season fresh foods.
BBQs, the 4th of July, and summer time picnics are around the corner. Break free of those stagnant side dishes (like macaroni salad) and bring the season’s newest crowd pleaser!
Eating the same old (and expected) side dish gets boring. Shake things up with this bacon broccoli salad! It’s quick and easy to make.
Bonus: It’s perfect to make a head of time and just pull out for dinner or to bring to a gathering!
Broccoli Salad Ingredients
Salad
Broccoli: for this salad you will need raw broccoli florets (cut into small pieces). Try to keep them as even as possible for consistently sized bites.
Bacon: the salty bacon gives this salad a nice crunch. I recommend finely dicing thick cut bacon for meatier pieces in each bite.
Onion: I used red onions. They add beautiful color and flavor to the dish.
Dried fruit: tart cranberries add such incredible flavor to this dish! Looking for other dried fruit options? Consider swapping out cranberries for dried cherries.
Nuts: It is time for the perfect (almost final) topping. Top your salad off with sunflower seeds or pine nuts!
Dressing
Wet ingredients: mayonnaise and apple cider vinegar.
Dry ingredients: granulated white sugar, kosher salt, and black pepper.
How to Make Cranberry Broccoli Salad
1. Prepare the salad ingredients. In a large bowl, combine broccoli florets, red onions, cranberries, sunflower seeds, and bacon and toss until evenly distributed.
2. Make the salad dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over broccoli mixture.
3. Toss the salad. Toss lightly until the broccoli is evenly coated.
4. Serve. Serve at room temperature, garnished with extra onions, sunflower seeds, cranberries and bacon bits if desired.
What to serve with Broccoli Bacon Cranberry Salad
Looking for main dish inspirations? This broccoli bacon salad is one of my favorite side dishes to my favorite summer time recipes:
- Wild Mushroom Beyond Meat Burgers
- Jalapeño Lime Pan Seared Chicken
- Air Fryer Filet Mignon
- Tomato Feta Baked Spaghetti Squash
Need more inspiration for the 4th of July? Check out my favorite 4th Of July Recipes!
Bacon Broccoli Salad Variations and Substitutions
I love customizing salads; there is nothing better than keeping them delicious, yet different. This fresh Broccoli Salad is no exception. Check out some of my favorite variations to this salad.
Vegan Broccoli Salad: Make it vegan! You can substitute the mayo for vegan mayonnaise and substitute your bacon for a vegan meat substitute/alternative. I love these vegan bacon bits.
Add cheese: I love when I get to put cheese on a dish; especially when it can become a dish with bacon and cheese! Consider adding a handful of shredded cheddar cheese.
Dried fruit: Looking for other dried fruit options? Consider adding raisins or dried cherries. Sometimes I even like adding crisp apple slices in.
Nuts: instead of pine nuts, you could also use pistachios, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds.
More Salad Recipes
- Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Asian Cucumber Salad
- Tangy Citrus Avocado Salad
- Fall Harvest Salad With Champagne Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Tex-Mex Flank Steak Salad With Avocado Lime Dressing
More Side Dish Recipes
- Jalapeño Popper Dip
- Red Wine Mushrooms
- Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Spinach and Artichoke Dip Wonton Cups
- Mexican Street Corn Dip
- Roasted Yellow Squash
WANT TO TRY THIS CRANBERRY BACON BROCCOLI SALAD RECIPE?
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Cranberry Bacon Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 8 cups raw broccoli florets, cut into small and even pieces
- 1/2 cup diced red onions
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, dried cherries are great too!
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, or pine nuts
- 1/2 cup finely diced bacon, cooked
Dressing
- 1 cup light mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the broccoli florets, red onions, cranberries, sunflower seeds, and bacon and toss until evenly distributed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over broccoli mixture.
- Toss lightly until the broccoli is evenly coated.
- Serve immediately, garnished with extra onions, sunflower seeds, cranberries and bacon bits if desired.
Maybe I’m just not seeing it but where are the amounts of each ingredient?
FOUND IT!!!! never mind! Sorry I didn’t scroll down far enough.
Yay! Come back and let me know if you try it 🙂
Wonderful salad recipe, with the bacon and cranberry added it makes it so enjoyable! I used pine nuts instead of sunflower seeds as I had some left over from another recipe.
This is such a fun and fresh salad for summer! We made this for dinner tonight and it was the perfect side dish for our main meal!
I love love broccoli, but I guess I’m the only one in our family haha 🙂 I usually either roast or add the broccoli to pasta, what a great idea was to use it in salad. This was absolutely incredible and flavorful!
Always looking for new ways to use broccoli and a enjoying it in a salad was a new idea, Very tasty 🙂
Bacon is always a great ingredient for a salad! We love this combination, so yummy and delicious! Can’t wait to make this!