Broccoli Salad with Bacon

This broccoli salad recipe with bacon has a delicious tangy dressing and is great for bringing to parties, potlucks, BBQ's and picnics.

There's nothing quite like a delicious broccoli salad. This broccoli salad with bacon and cheese is the perfect combination of flavors and textures.

You'll love the smoky flavor the bacon adds and the homemade dressing gives this broccoli salad a delightful tang.

Easy Broccoli Salad with Bacon

This will quickly become your favorite broccoli salad recipe and it's great for bringing to potlucks and a holiday dinner.

It's an easy broccoli salad recipe - even with whipping up a dressing to add everything to. The creamy dressing has just a few ingredients that you most likely already have in your pantry.

Do you Have to Cook Broccoli For Broccoli Salad?

Nope, you don't need to cook it. By leaving the fresh broccoli raw, you get firm broccoli that almost crunchy.

Can you Make Broccoli Salad with Frozen Broccoli?

So, if you want to use frozen broccoli then you'll want to blanch it before using it. Frozen broccoli won't have that same, firm texture that you get with raw broccoli.

More Easy Summer Salad Recipes:

Watermelon Salad with Feta
Broccoli Slaw
Classic Coleslaw
Creamy Cucumber Salad

Tips for the Making the Best Broccoli Salad Recipe

• Make sure to allow the broccoli salad some time for the dressing to soak in. It tastes better after it's had a chance to meld flavors and I'd suggest you refrigerating for at least an hour.
• When you chop your broccoli (or if you bought pre-chopped broccoli), make sure the broccoli is in bite sized pieces before adding in. Each piece will get coated with the dressing and it will make it easier to eat as well.

How to Customize Broccoli Salad

I love changing around recipes and this broccoli salad recipe is no different. Here are some tasty add-ins you can include if you like them:

• Nuts - add in some nuts if you like - pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds.
• Seeds - add in some seeds such as sunflower seeds or pepitas
• Cheese - this recipe calls for cheddar cheese, but you can easily swap it out for something else if you want something stronger such as goat cheese, pepper jack, or even something more mild like mozarella
• Dried fruit - we use dried cranberries in this, but you can easily change it up by using dried cherries or raisins.
• Swap out the white vinegar for apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar for a slightly different flavor
• If you are super short on time, you can easily cut down the time to make this by changing out the homemade dressing to a already prepared dressing, such as store-bought coleslaw dressing and the fresh broccoli heads for already cut such as broccoli slaw.

Leftovers

If you happen to have any broccoli salad leftover you can store it in an airtight container in your fridge for about 4-5 days.

Make Ahead

If you are wanting to make some broccoli salad ahead of time, you can definitely do so. You can make it the day before you want to serve it.

You can also store the dressing separately and then mix everything together before serving. If you do it this way.

What to Pair With

This easy broccoli salad makes an excellent side dish for many different recipes. Here are a few of our favorites to pair it with:

• Easter dinner - this broccoli salad is wonderful with ham and mashed potatoes
• BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs
• Fried Chicken
• Roasted turkey or chicken
• Pork ribs
• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Turkey sandwich

Ingredients for Broccoli Salad

• raw broccoli florets, about 2 ½ heads
• sharp cheddar cheese
• dried cranberries
• crumbled bacon
• red onion diced into small pieces

Broccoli Salad Dressing

• mayonnaise
• sour cream
• white vinegar
• granulated sugar
• salt
• ground pepper

How to Make Broccoli Salad

Step 1: In a large bowl combine broccoli florets, cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, crumbled bacon and red onion. Mix together well.

Step 2: In a small bowl mix the dressing.  Add mayo, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.  Whisk together well.

Step 3: Pour dressing over broccoli and mix until well combined.

Step 4: Refrigerate for 1 hour and then serve.  Keep refrigerated.

More Delicious Side Dishes

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More Delicious Recipes:

Classic Coleslaw
Crockpot Creamed Corn