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Broccoli, pecans, cranberries, carrots and apples come together to make an amazing salad with delicious flavors and textures. The creamy dressing on top makes this salad absolutely incredible!
Broccoli is amazing in salads, it adds crunch, nutrition and flavor. Some of the best salads with broccoli in them include Broccoli Cauliflower, Greek Broccoli Pasta and this incredible Bacon Ranch Pasta salad.
Easy Broccoli Apple Salad
Broccoli in salads is my favorite. I especially love this Broccoli Cashew Salad that is on the blog. But this Broccoli Apple Salad became an instant favorite! As I was eating it, I just couldn’t get enough! I knew this salad would be amazing but I wasn’t expecting it to become a new favorite! SO many delicious new textures and flavors in this salad. The broccoli, carrots, and red onion, was followed by the sweetness of the apples and dried cranberries. The pecans added another yummy flavor and crunch. The creamy dressing on top was THEE best. It completed this fresh and delicious salad perfectly. I know that if you make this salad, it will become an instant favorite as well!
At first you might think that broccoli and apples don’t go together, but they do, trust me. This is truly one of the best salads out there. It’s healthy, full of flavor and the dressing is even light. I traded out some of the mayonnaise for greek yogurt, giving you a boost of calcium, protein and cutting the fat. All without compromising on taste and tang. It’s going to be a new go to salad for sure!
Ingredients for Broccoli and Apple Salad
Full of fresh crunchy ingredients, this salad is truly satisfying and filling. You are going to love all the vegetables and the tangy dressing.
- Fresh Broccoli Florets: About 2 medium heads
- Shredded Carrots: You can sometimes find pre shredded carrots in the produce section
- Red Onion: Adds a bit of spice and tons of flavor.
- Apples: 2 large apples will work, pick sweet ones not tart or sour. I used Gala
- Pecans: Coarsely chopped
- Dried Cranberries: Perfect bit sweetness and tartness
Creamy Dressing Ingredients
- Light Mayonnaise: Creates the base of the dressing
- Low Fat Greek Yogurt: Gives it more creaminess and a nice bit of tang
- Lemon Juice: Adds a bit of tartness, and helps keep the apples fresh looking
- Sugar: Balances out the tart with a bit of sweet
- Salt and Pepper: Add more or less as desired.
How to Make Broccoli Salad with Apples
Chopping all the ingredients for this insanely delicious broccoli apple salad is the longest part of throwing this together. But it is so worth it. Add the flavors meld so perfectly together, it’s so good!
- Combine: In a large bowl combine broccoli, carrots, red onion, apples, pecans, and dried cranberries
- To make the dressing: Whisk together mayonnaise, greek yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Add: the dressing to the salad and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.
Why This Recipe Needs to be Made Today!
Besides being extremely delicious this broccoli apple salad has so many pros to it, you will truly want to keep this recipe close by.
- Nutritious: Packed with vegetables and fruit and even nuts, this broccoli salad is an immune boosting, fiber enhancing delicious dish. This salad is high in vitamin C, K and A plus it’s high in fiber. Pecans add protein and a healthy fat. Even though you have mayonnaise in the dressing, it’s such a big salad that the amount you’ll actually ingest is just little. Unless you eat the whole thing, which I wouldn’t blame you. It’s extremely diet friendly.
- Make Ahead: This broccoli apple salad actually tastes better if it sits for at least an hour. The flavors and the dressing all meld together in the most fantastic way. This non lettuce salad is full of hearty ingredients so this will stand up to being made ahead of time beautifully. It’s a great choice for packing in lunches, taking to potlucks, and having as leftovers. Make it ahead of time and free up time for making other dishes before dinner.
- Colorful: It’s been said we should eat the rainbow! Well, this broccoli apple salad is definitely a rainbow of colors! It’s as fun to look at as it is too eat! Not only isn’t appealing to the eyes, but to the tastebuds too! It’ll be a salad that gets eaten first at your next picnic
- Hearty and Satisfying: This salad is packed with nutritious ingredients that will not only taste good, but fill you up. The crunchiness satisfies your desire to chew and the high fiber will fill up your tummy!
Tips and Variations for Creamy Broccoli Apple Salad
This salad is delicious as a side dish for beef, fried chicken or even salmon. Or make it a highlight in a light meal served with a refreshing fruit salad and some breadsticks. Yummy!
- Make it Easy: You can make the prep for this salad even easier by buying pre shredded carrots, and pre cut broccoli florets.
- Substitute Dried Cranberries: Use raisins, golden raisins, or dried cherries instead of the cranberries if you wish.
- Nuts: Try using walnuts or cashews instead of pecans. Also try toasting them in a pan on the stovetop till fragrant and slightly browned for added flavor.
- Cheese: For a twist add blue cheese to the broccoli apple salad which adds incredible flavor.
- Apples: I used gala apples in this recipe. You want an apple on the sweeter side. Try Fuji or Braeburn as well for excellent results.
How to Store Apple Broccoli Salad
Broccoli Apple Salad keeps great for up to 3 days before it will start to really get soggy. It’ll still be good for another 2-3 days after, but the quality of the vegetables and fruit will decrease rapidly. If you plan to eat it all week long, try dividing the salad in half and only add dressing to the half you are eating up first. It will help keep the sogginess at bay.
More Broccoli Loving Recipes To Try
Broccoli is good for you, we all know that! I love it, but not everyone does. Sometimes we have to drown it in amazing cheese sauce or ranch dressing to get our kids or loved ones to eat it. Well, these recipes are tried and true and absolute favorites! So if you’re trying to get more good for you broccoli in your family’s diet, try one or all of these recipes! You won’t regret it!
- The Best Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Garlic Beef and Broccoli Noodles
- Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice
- 20 Min Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein
- Three Cheese Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
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Broccoli Apple Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh broccoli florets (about 2 medium heads)
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 2 large apples finely chopped (I used gala apples)
- 1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Creamy dressing ingredients:
- 1/2 cup lite mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup low fat greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine broccoli, carrots, red onion, apples, pecans, and dried cranberries.
- Whisk together mayonnaise, greek yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Add the dressing to the salad and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you cut the Broccoli into strips like the carrots, dice the apples smaller and use honey instead of sugar and add any flavor Bacon crumbles, (we like Turkey), this makes the ultimate Broccoli slaw! My family refuses to eat the normal coleslaw!! It’s a BBQ must side dish!!! Enjoy!!
It’s a keeper! Used Smokehouse almonds and twice as many craisins; didn’t have time to make the dressing so used Llitehouse Cole Slaw (very close to what my granma use to make) excellent! Will be doing this one over and over.
Second time making this. So delicious! Made exactly written. I find it’s best made ahead of time or even the night before, for the dressing to all blend together. For those asking if the apples turn brown- not to worry. The lemon juice in the dressing does the trick. I was surprised to find that day 3, when we finished it off, the apples were still fresh and did not turn brown!
So yummy I make this all the time now. Thank you for the great recipe
oh and I also added sharp cheddar to the salad and also put less than a teaspoon of sugar in my dressing and it worked fine. I also used a bit of orange juice to keep the apple from turning and it worked fine…
I LOVE this salad…I used sweet Vidalia onion and it worked fine. I also tweaked the dressing a little: I used just a little over half the mayo, sour cream instead of the greek yogurt (which I don’t always have), added some Mrs Dash original seasoning, did apple cider vinegar and just a streak of Dijon mustard and the salt, pepper. Turned out tangy and great! Raves at supper with friends (-:
I have made this recipe twice in the past couple of weeks… It is amazing. We all loved it. It’s healthy and so easy to make. Thanks for posting 🙂
This salad is one of our favorites! We make it without yogurt as we have a family member with dairy allergies, and it is wonderful! It pretty much goes with everything, or stands alone especially if I add some roasted chicken!
Whenever I come across a salad such as this, I would definitely try it! Being a diabetic, and because it’s only my husband and I, I just make adjustments. For example, instead of sugar, I use Truvia. I’d do half raisins and half of the dry cranberries. I’d probably half this recipe, too. My husband LOVES broccoli, me not so much. I’d use half broccoli with cauliflower. I’d also try this at other times with different nuts and different vegetables. It helps keep life an adventure! : D
I’d love to make this but not sure if I will like raw broccoli,how about if I blanche it first just to soften it a tiny bit?
I tried this recipe last night and it was out of this world! I did put the broccoli in boiling water for about 10 seconds and then promptly in an ice bath just to soften it a bit and bring out the color. That worked wonderfully. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly as written.
I read other comments and wanted to make this as close to the original recipe but still have it be a lunch/meal and not a side salad. SO I added a cup of finely shredded cheddar, 1/2 cup cooked chopped bacon ( I used pre cooked/chopped Oscar Mayer bacon pieces) and I doubled the dressing. OMG soooo good! Will definitely keep this recipe handy for summer potlucks and BBQ’s!!!
Don’t the broccoli need to be cooked? Or steamed?
Thanks in advance.
No, it is served raw like other broccoli salads.
Need to know the neutritional values. I am a diabetic and have to count Carbs!!!
Go back to the beginning of the comments and start scrolling forward. She has the values posted!
I can’t find the nutritional values anywhere. Please provide if anyone has them. Tks!
I am in the process of adding in nutritional information at this time. In the mean time you can use myfitnesspal.com.
I was really surprised at finding this recipe. My father would make this when I was growing up because we always had these ingredients. I m 76 year old and have been making this salad at least once a week, have had to cut it down in size because there are only two of us. But it is still a good salad. Try it with cooked chicken or cubed ham for a complete meal.
I made this a few days ago. I don’t like yogurt and didn’t like it right away. But after chilling overnight? OMG I couldn’t get enough of it!! I couldn’t taste the yogurt and all of the flavors just melded beautifully. Will try with pineapple and maybe grapes next time. Thanks for posting!
Hello,
I love this salade, however I would like an replacement for the lemon juice as to i am allergic to citrus !
Thanks,
Val
Verjiuce perhaps. or whote wine vinegar?