What do you serve with broccoli salad?

The beauty of this salad is that it it's filling enough to be enjoyed alone, but it works equally well with grilled chicken (try my miso grilled chicken or sticky gochujang chicken ) or fish (my maple miso salmon would be lovely), as part of a salad spread or with fresh bread. I love serving this with my 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 2 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 flavour. 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.

Remember, if you’re looking for US measurements, use the ‘Units’ section below and click on ‘US’.

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 head of broccoli
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, chopped
1 spring onion (scallions), sliced finely
100g creamy blue cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Grill the broccoli. Heat your oven to 220C/430F fan and line an oven tray with baking paper. Slice the broccolini and broccoli into small pieces. Use the stems – just trim off the bottom first. Toss the chopped broccoli and broccolini with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. I like to do this in the bowl I mix the salad in, to minimise dishes. Transfer to the prepared oven tray, trying to place them on a single layer so that they cook evenly and don’t steam. Grill for 8 minutes, until the broccoli is looking nicely charred on top. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
Cook the bacon. While the broccoli is in the oven, set a large frying pan over high heat, then add the chopped bacon. Cook, stirring for about 5 minutes, or until the bacon is looking super crispy and you have a lovely pool of bacon fat in the bottom of the pan. Transfer the cooked crispy bacon AND the fat 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 spring onions, all but 1 tablespoon of the dried cranberries, all but 1 tablespoon of the toasted sunflower seeds, all but 1 tablespoon of the toasted almonds, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, the blue cheese and a very good grind of black pepper. Toss the salad really well 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 right away.

Notes

Substitutions. 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 2 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: 5
Cook Time: 8
Category: salads
Method: oven
Cuisine: american

Keywords: broccoli salad, broccoli crunch salad, broccoli bacon salad