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Holiday Broccoli Salad

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Classic broccoli salad bursting with fresh seasonal ingredients for a holiday flare. 

Holiday Broccoli Salad

 

How to Make Holiday Broccoli Salad

If you haven’t even made broccoli salad before, you might have a few questions about this recipe.  Some of the most common question we get are:

Do you have to cook the broccoli for broccoli salad?

Typically raw broccoli is used in broccoli salad.  BUT – because broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, it can taste kind of bitter, especially to kids.  If your kids aren’t used to eating raw broccoli, it might be a good idea to blanch the broccoli just for 2 minutes or quickly steam it.  It will soften the florets just slightly and take the bitter edge off.

How do you cut the broccoli for broccoli salad?

Bite size pieces are the preferred size for broccoli salad.  The stalk of broccoli can be kind of tough to chew through and so we like to cut it off as much as we can for this recipe.

How do you make broccoli salad creamy?

Our broccoli salad recipe calls for a homemade dressing that is slightly sweet and slightly tart made with Greek yogurt, mayo, apple cider vinegar and honey.  It is super delicious and is what really makes this salad!

What are the ingredients for broccoli salad?

Typical ingredients for broccoli salad include: broccoli, red onion, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and sometimes bacon.  We wanted our broccoli salad to have a holiday flare and so we used pomegranate aerials in place of dried cranberries.  It definitely makes it more fresh and delicious, but you can always substitute the dried cranberries if you don’t have pomegranates available.

Can you make broccoli salad ahead of time?

Yes!  Because broccoli holds up so well, this is a great salad to make ahead of time.  Depending on when you plan on serving the salad, you can leave the ingredients in the salad and the dressing separate until a few hours before you plan on serving it.  We do like to add the dressing a few hours before anyway to let the flavors marinate a bit.

Holiday Broccoli Salad
Holiday Broccoli Salad
Holiday Broccoli Salad

How to Get Kids to Eat Broccoli

Broccoli is one of those vegetables like Brussels sprouts that can get a bad wrap with kids.  With most vegetables, the way you cook and serve them is incredibly important as to how well your kids will receive them.  If you take raw broccoli and boil the heck out of it, it won’t taste good!  Appearance, texture, and flavor are all super important when serving veggies to kids.  If you have tried serving steamed broccoli to your kids (even if it is perfectly cooked) and they don’t like it that way, our suggestion is instead of serving steamed broccoli to them 10 more times, try another way of preparing it!  We have SO many different recipes with broccoli as the star that you should have plenty of ideas to try.  Keep reading to see some of our other favorite broccoli recipes.

Holiday Broccoli Salad

Our Favorite Broccoli Recipes for Kids

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3.5 from 55 votes

Holiday Broccoli Salad

Classic broccoli salad bursting with fresh seasonal ingredients for a holiday flare. 
Prep Time15 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4
Calories: 158kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup yogurt, plain
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise, light
  • 1/4 cup vinegar, cider
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 4 cup broccoli, florets
  • 3 tbsp chopped onion, red
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
  • 3 tablespoon sunflower seeds

Instructions

  • Whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, vinegar, and honey.
  • Cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces; finely dice the red onion.
  • Add dressing to broccoli, then fold in pomegranate arils. Top with sunflower seeds before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 158kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 127mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 11g
Keyword : Holiday Broccoli Salad

www.superhealthykids.com

Holiday Broccoli Salad

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

Learn More about Natalie

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6 Comments

You should note in the ingredient list to use Greek yogurt. I used our plain European style kind and it made the dressing totally liquid. But I’m the questions you note that you use Greek. Yummy though!

5 stars
There’s a sound scientific reason some people don’t like broccoli. About 75 percent of people have a gene that allows them to taste a chemical in broccoli and it’s relatives that makes it taste bitter.

3 stars
Maybe it’s a brand thing or maybe it’s bc we used the end of a bottle of vinegar and a fresh 1 to get the 1/4 cup but ours tasted VERY vinegary to the point a bite made coughing happen and it was a bit watery . I ended up adding more mayo and greek yogurt and honey, all the while being afraid I was going to end up wasting all these Ingredients. My suggestion is to add the vinegar, a little bit at a time to taste or add slightly more than a 4th cup of mayo and yogurt and slightly less apple cider vinegar.

Thanks for sharing your feedback! Sorry you had trouble with your vinegar.. adding and tasting as you go is a great idea. 🙂