What do you serve with broccoli salad?

The beauty of this salad is that it's filling enough to be enjoyed alone, but it works equally well with grilled chicken (try it with miso grilled chicken or sticky gochujang chicken ) or fish (this maple miso salmon would be lovely), as part of a salad spread or with fresh bread. I love serving it with this easy no knead chilli cheese focaccia for a delicious light meal.

Can I use a different cheese?

I know blue cheese isn't for everyone - this salad really isn't TOO blue-cheesy if you use a creamy blue, but if you really don't like it you can use feta or Boursin.

Is this salad vegetarian?

You can make a vegetarian version of the salad by skipping the bacon - just add another tablespoon of olive oil when you mix all the ingredients together.

Can I make this in advance?

This salad keeps really well so it's great for prepping ahead of time. It will keep well for 3 days in the fridge - I like to keep a little extra toasted almonds and sunflower seeds aside to top the salad when I serve if I'm prepping ahead. The ones mixed into the salad will start to soften the longer the salad is stored.

Grilled Broccoli Crunch Salad with Bacon

Description

Quick, easy and seriously tasty, this grilled broccoli crunch salad is loaded with SO much flavor. It’s mixed with crispy bacon, dried cranberries, almonds, and sunflower seeds for maximum crunch, and then creamy blue cheese melts straight in to make a quick cheat’s dressing.

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 head of broccoli
7oz/200g broccolini
6 slices streaky free-range bacon
1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 scallions (spring onions), sliced finely
3.5oz/100g creamy blue cheese (or use creamy feta)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt

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Instructions

Prepare the broccoli. Heat your oven to 430F/220C fan and line an oven tray with baking paper. Slice the broccolini and broccoli into small pieces. You can use the stems – trim off the tough bottom first. Toss the chopped broccoli and broccolini with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. I like to do this in the bowl I mix the salad in, to minimise dishes.
Grill the broccoli. Transfer the broccoli to the prepared oven tray, trying to place them on a single layer so that they cook evenly and don’t steam. Cook for around 10 minutes, until the broccoli looks nicely charred on top. Remove from the oven.
Cook the bacon. While the broccoli is in the oven, set a large frying pan over high heat, then add the bacon slices. Cook, for about 5 minutes, flipping the bacon a few times, until it looks super crispy and you have a lovely pool of bacon fat in the bottom of the pan. Remove from the pan and chop into little pieces, then add it, and the fat from the pan, into the large bowl you mixed the broccoli in earlier.
Assemble the salad. Add the grilled broccoli into the mixing bowl with the bacon, then add the chopped scallions, all but 1 tablespoon of the dried cranberries, toasted sunflower seeds and toasted almonds, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, the blue cheese and a good grind of black pepper. Toss the salad to combine everything – the blue cheese will break up and form a kind of creamy dressing. Scatter the set-aside dried cranberries, toasted almonds and sunflower seeds on top, then serve.

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES: Leave out the bacon for a vegetarian version, or you can use pancetta, ham, chorizo or ‘nduja. Swap the blue cheese for feta or Boursin, switch the dried cranberries for dried apricots, raisins, currants or sultanas or use cashews, walnuts, pecans, macadamias, pistachios or pumpkin seeds in place of the almonds and sunflower seeds.

PREP AHEAD: This salad is great for preparing ahead of time – it will last well for 3 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Keep aside some extra crunchy toasted almonds and sunflower seeds if you like, the ones mixed in with the salad will soften as they sit.

Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 10
Category: salads
Method: oven
Cuisine: american

Nutrition

Serving Size: 200g
Calories: 659
Sugar: 18g
Sodium: 1523.2mg
Fat: 49.5g
Saturated Fat: 12.8g
Unsaturated Fat: 33.2g
Trans Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 35.9g
Fiber: 9.9g
Protein: 26g
Cholesterol: 56.4mg