This crunchy and creamy Amish Broccoli Salad is easy to make and comes together quickly. It’s a great make-ahead salad, perfect for get-togethers, potlucks, and picnics (gluten-free).
If you love to binge on a delicious salad, try some of my other favorites – Broccoli Apple Salad, Cranberry Chicken Salad, Watermelon Feta Salad, Traditional Greek Salad, Amish Potato Salad, and Cucumber Avocado Salad.
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About Amish Broccoli Salad
Amish Broccoli Salad is a creamy summer salad with broccoli and cauliflower florets coated with a creamy mayonnaise and sour cream dressing.
This easy recipe is a great way to include broccoli crowns in your diet.
For the uninitiated, Amish cuisine is a type of cuisine that is characterized by its simplicity, hearty flavors, and use of local ingredients. It is often based on recipes from Amish families and influenced by German and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking.
This Amish broccoli and cauliflower salad is crunchy, easy, low-carb, and customizable.
This salad can be made beforehand as it holds well for hours. It is excellent to serve for potlucks, get-togethers, picnics, or as a side dish for your barbecue and weekend brunches.
This Amish broccoli salad recipe can be easily doubled or tripled, and the leftovers refrigerate well for 3-4 days.
Ingredients
For The Salad
To make this creamy broccoli salad, you will need bacon, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, sharp cheddar cheese, and red onion.
Try to use fresh broccoli florets and cauliflower florets. The frozen ones don’t taste that great in this recipe.
Crispy bacon adds a lovely crunchy bite and a delicious flavor to the salad.
You can cube the cheese, but I like it shredded as it blends well with the dressing.
You can replace dried cranberries with golden raisins or craisins.
For The Dressing
You will need mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, powdered sugar, and salt to make the dressing for this easy Amish broccoli salad.
Use low-carb powdered sugar if making a KETO Amish broccoli cauliflower salad recipe.
How to Make Amish Broccoli Salad
Cook The Bacon
Cut 4 oz bacon into 1-inch pieces and add the pieces to a nonstick pan.
Cook on medium heat until crisp (5-6 minutes). Keep tossing them frequently while cooking.
Transfer the crispy bacon to a plate and reserve the bacon fat for the dressing.
Blanch The Broccoli And Cauliflower
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 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.
Make The Salad
Stir together
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- leftover bacon fat
in a medium bowl.
Mix
- cooked and cooled broccoli and cauliflower florets
- diced red bell pepper
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 2 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup chopped red onion
- crisp bacon
in a large mixing bowl.
Pour the creamy 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. Serve chilled.
Frequently Asked Questions
This salad is very customizable. Use the ingredients you like and skip the ones you don’t.
Make the salad with only broccoli or only cauliflower if you don’t like either of the two.
Yogurt – Make the salad healthier by replacing mayonnaise with Greek yogurt. You can also use a combination of mayo and yogurt. Mayonnaise can be replaced with sour cream or miracle whip as well.
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, cheddar, 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 delightful flavor to the salad.
Variety of cauliflower – You can use different types of cauliflower and add some colors to the salad.
Avocado Mayo – To make this salad paleo, blend avocado, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, water, and olive oil. Use it for dressing in place of regular mayo.
Grapes – Add halved red or green grapes. They pair well with other ingredients in this salad.
Macaroni – You can replace broccoli and cauliflower with cooked macaroni and make Amish macaroni salad.
It keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. Make sure you store it in a clean and dry airtight container. Toss it well before serving again.
No, I do not suggest freezing it, as the veggies will become soggy, and the dressing will separate when thawed.
Serving Suggestions
This delicious salad recipe is served chilled, but you can pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and serve it at room temperature in winter.
It also makes for a delicious light meal on its own. Serve it with soup on the side to make it even more filling.
It is also a perfect summer side dish for pasta or any other main course.
You can also eat it as a snack whenever hunger strikes.
This salad is perfect for potlucks, family gatherings, get-togethers, picnics, weekend brunch, or barbecues.
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Recipe Card
Creamy Amish Broccoli Salad Recipe w/ Bacon
Ingredients
For The Salad
- 4 ounces bacon
- 8 ounces broccoli
- 5 ounces cauliflower
- 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 onions
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.)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cook The Bacon
- Cut bacon into 1-inch pieces and add the pieces to a nonstick pan.
- Cook on medium heat until crisp (5-6 minutes). Keep tossing them frequently while cooking.
- Transfer the crispy bacon to a plate and reserve the bacon fat for the dressing.
Blanch The Broccoli And Cauliflower
- Cut cauliflower and 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 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.
Make The Salad
- Stir mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, powdered sugar, salt, and leftover bacon fat in a medium mixing bowl.
- Mix cooked and cooled broccoli and cauliflower florets, red bell pepper, cranberries, walnuts, cheddar cheese, onions, and crispy bacon in a large mixing 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. Serve chilled.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!