Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Recipes

My Favorite Broccoli Salad

May 27, 2013

Heyo, e'rbody! It being Memorial Day, we're spending time as a family and enjoying the freedoms others have fought for. We feel so blessed to live where we do, and pray we don't take it for granted.

We hope you're able to spend some time with family and friends, and maybe get together for a little barbecue or something. Hug your loved ones tight, and make them this stellar broccoli salad, which you can be sure we'll be making for ourselves. It's one of our favorites, and has inspired me to dedicate all 3 of my posts this week to awesome summer salads. Happy Memorial Day!

Here's what you need:

2 crowns of fresh broccoli, cut into small floweretts
1/2 small purple onion - chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (sharp cheddar suggested)
6 strips bacon - cooked until crispy and chopped
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins

Dressing:
3/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

So easy. Put the broccoli, onion, cheese, bacon, sunflower seeds, and raisins in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the dressing ingredients together. Pour the dressing on and stir everything up. That's it. Boom:

Couple things to note, only mix the dressing in about 10 minutes before serving. If you're preparing the salad ahead of time to take to a barbecue, keep the bacon and dressing out of everything else, and just toss it all together a little before it's time to eat. Also, I suggest using freshly-grated cheddar cheese as opposed to pre-grated. But, sometimes the convenience outweighs that little extra bit of quality, so cater to your needs.

This version may seem just like every other version out there. And as far as the ingredients go, yeah, it's pretty typical. But it's not just about what's in a salad - it's also about quantities. We put less purple onion in this version, and the dressing is a little more lemony (which we dig). If you try this and don't care for it, think about why you don't care for it and make adjustments. If the dressing has too much lemon, add mayo until it tastes good to you, then add only as much as you need to the salad (adding more mayo gives you more dressing, which may overwhelm the salad. Something to watch out for).

Cheers, all. Happy Memorial Day and a special thanks to all who are serving our country; in whatever capacity.



Ps. Enjoy free shipping on all Etsy orders through May 28th. Just use promo code MEMORIAL at checkout.

filed under: 
— Hide Comments
+ ShowComments
What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Sounds delicious, but I have a silly question... is your broccoli cooked or raw? I'd be tempted to steam until it's somewhat cooked but has a bite, then chill it down before using, but I'm not sure if that would gel with the rest of the ingredients.

    1. Great question. If you do any cooking with this at all, you'll only want to blanch the broccoli. Essentially, you dip the broccoli in boiling water only for about 15-20 seconds, at most. Then you quickly take the broccoli out and drop it in ice water. This is what they call "shocking" a vegetable. It immediately halts the cooking process and, if you're cooking something green like beens, broccoli, asparagus etc, they will turn vibrant green and stay that way. If you do it that way, the other ingredients would still work. The key is to make sure the broccoli stays crunchy and is cold. Cooking for longer than 15-20 seconds it will get mushy.

  2. Love broccoli salad! I use turkey bacon instead of real bacon, which also has a nice flavor and saves a bit on the calories.

  3. I have a recipe from my mother in law that is the same thing and I love it....I always try and chill mine overnight to its nice and crispy cold when you eat it

    1. Hi Kezia! You are correct- the dressing has a lot of sugar in it. We've also made it with Xylitol instead of sugar. Xylitol is a natural sweetener that is really low on the glycemic index. It behaves a lot like sugar in baking and cooking, though it takes a bit more to dissolve it. If you use xylitol, maybe try mixing half of it with the lemon juice and stir it until it dissolves pretty good. That should help.

What We're

Loving

Right Now

What We're

Loving

Right Now

Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop
Shop All

Love Stories

Love Where You Live

In an industry that often feels designed to make you discontent, we want this to be place you come for inspiration, ideas, and encouragement to make the space you're already in feel like home.
Read All Posts
let's break this thing up

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

01

Portfolio

Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here.
read more
02

Projects

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen.
read more
03

Design

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.
read more
hello world!

looking for inspiration?

Lifestyle

Your Fall Home Maintenance Checklist

This post is sponsored by Neighborly, Your Hub for Home Services The beginning of the year we're always thinking "spring cleaning." But in fall, I like to cover our bases on home maintenance before we have guests or face colder weather. I usually like to split the tasks between things we tackle ourselves and things we […]
The Marcum family dressed as characters from the classic edition of Clue: The Game.
Entertaining

Our Halloween Family Costumes 2024: I'll Give You One Clue

It was Professor Plum, with the knife, in the Conservatory. Happy Halloween from Clue characters: 1986 edition! Shop Costume Inspiration Over the years, we've dressed as everything from dolls and monsters to Peter Pan, E.T. characters, and The Wizard of Oz. But in the last several years, one of our kids has usually chosen our costumes. If you look back, you […]
Wayfair Holiday Christmas collage round up
Decor

The Best Holiday Finds at Wayfair

This post is sponsored by Wayfair We bought this gorgeous, extremely realistic tree from Wayfair in 2019. It may be my best Christmas find ever because it has moved across the country with us, and it's the first thing we decorate every year (and that last thing we put away when the season is over). […]
product lines

Meet the New Chris Loves Julia x Loloi Pillows for Fall 2024

With the Chris Loves Julia x Loloi Rugs launch this season, we just had to add some new pillows too! For this collection, like all of our lines, we designed the pillows colorwise and pattern-wise to all work together. But there are some fun surprises too (including new floor pillows and a brand-new ruffle pillow […]
Learn With Us
Want to do what we do? Get the tools, mentorship, and training to be a Good Influencer professionally.
Learn More
Looking for Something?

SEARCH THE BLOG

We've been doing this since 2009 and we've posted a whopping 24145+ blog posts and counting. You might need a little help searching, huh?

Can We Send You Our Love Letter?

Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!

hello world!
Follow Along on Instagram
Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations
© 2024 Chris Loves Julia, LLC
PRIVACY POLICYTERMS & CONDITIONSAFFILIATE DISCLAIMERSITE CREDITCOMMUNITY GUIDELINES