This crunchy and creamy Amish Broccoli Salad is super easy to make and comes together in under 10 minutes. It’s a great make-ahead salad that is perfect to make for get-togethers, potlucks, and picnics.
If you are someone who loves to binge on a delicious salad, then try some of my other favorites too – Broccoli Apple Salad, Cranberry Chicken Salad, Watermelon Feta Salad, Traditional Greek Salad, Amish Potato Salad, and Cucumber Avocado Salad.
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About This Recipe
Amish Broccoli Salad is a creamy summer salad, where broccoli and cauliflower florets are coated with a creamy dressing of mayonnaise and sour cream. It is crunchy, easy, low carb, and customizable.
This salad can be made ahead of time as it holds well for hours. It is great to serve for potlucks, get-togethers, picnics, or as a side dish for your barbecue and weekend brunches.
The recipe can be easily doubled or tripled and the leftovers refrigerate very well for 3-4 days.
Ingredients
For the Salad: To make the salad, you will need bacon, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, cranberries, toasted walnuts, sharp cheddar cheese, and onions.
Bacon is cooked until crisp. Crispy bacon adds a lovely crunchy bite and a delicious flavor to the salad.
Broccoli and cauliflower are cut into bite-sized florets. I like to blanch them but feel free to use them raw. Use fresh broccoli and cauliflower, not frozen.
You can cube the cheese but I like it shredded as it blends well with the dressing. You can replace cranberries with raisins or craisins.
For Dressing: For the dressing, you will need mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, powdered sugar, and salt.
Use low carb powdered sugar if making it KETO.
How to Make Amish Broccoli Salad
Dice 4 oz bacon into 1-inch pieces and add it to a pan. Cook on medium heat until crisp (5-6 minutes). Keep flipping while cooking. Drain on a plate. Use the leftover bacon fat to fry sandwiches or burgers.
While the bacon is frying, prepare the vegetables.
Cut 5 oz cauliflower and 8 oz broccoli into small bite-sized florets. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add the broccoli and cauliflower to the pot and cook for just 1 minute. Drain the broccoli and cauliflower and transfer them to a bowl filled with ice cold water to stop cooking. Drain after a minute and set aside.
Dice ½ red bell pepper into ½ inch cubes.
Mix together cooked and cooled broccoli and cauliflower florets, chopped red bell pepper, ¼ cup dried cranberries, ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts, 2 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and ¼ cup chopped onion in a large mixing bowl.
Stir together ½ cup mayonnaise, ½ cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoon powdered sugar and salt to taste in another medium bowl.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.
Chill the salad for at least an hour to let the veggies soak up the dressing before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yogurt – Make the salad healthier by replacing mayonnaise with Greek yogurt. You can also use a combination of mayo and yogurt.
Seeds and Nuts – Apart from toasted walnuts, you can add pine nuts, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds.
Cheese – You can substitute sharp cheddar cheese with parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, or blue cheese. Feta and goat’s cheese will also be great.
Sesame Oil – Add a little sesame oil to the dressing. It gives a very pleasant flavor to the salad.
Variety of cauliflower – You can use different varieties of cauliflower and add some colors to the salad.
Avocado Mayo – To make this salad paleo, blend together avocado, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, water, and olive oil. Use it for the dressing in place of regular mayo.
Grapes – Add halved red or green grapes. They pair well with other ingredients of this salad.
It keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. Make sure you store it in a clean and dry air-tight container. Toss it well before serving again.
No, I do not suggest freezing it as the veggies will become soggy and teh dressing will separate when thawed.
Serving Suggestions
This salad is servec chilled but in winters you can pop it in teh microwave for 30 seconds and serve at room temperature.
Amish broccoli salad makes for a delicious light meal on it’s own. Serve it with a soup on the side to make it even more filling.
You can also eat it as a snack whenever the hunger strikes.
This salad is perfect for potlucks, get-togethers, picnics, weekend brunch, or even barbecues.
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Recipe Card
Amish Broccoli Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 ounces bacon (cut into 1-inch pieces)
- 8 ounces broccoli (cut into bite sized florets)
- 5 ounces cauliflower (cut into bite sized florets)
- ½ red bell pepper (diced into 1-inch cubes)
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
- ¼ cup chopped onion
For the Dressing:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (use low carb powdered sugar if following a low carb (keto) diet.)
- salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Cook bacon on medium heat until crisp (5-6 minutes). Keep flipping while cooking. Drain on a plate.
- Heat a large pot of water on high heat and bring it to a boil. Add the broccoli and cauliflower to the pot and cook for 1 minute. Transfer the florets to a bowl filled with ice cold water. Let them sit for a minute, then drain and set aside.
- Add the broccoli and cauliflower florets, red bell pepper, cranberries, toasted walnuts, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and chopped onion to a large mixing bowl.
- Stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, powdered sugar, and salt in another medium size bowl.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.
- Chill the salad for at least an hour before serving.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!