Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad with Craisins is the perfect spring or summer side salad that is easy to make. Using my favorite honey mustard and apple cider vinaigrette to make a sweet dressing. It adds a light taste to the bacon, cranberries, and red onions. We absolutely love this tangy, raw broccoli, salad.
gobbled this up so fast! My wife got mad because I didn't leave leftovers.
-Ethan
Why This Recipe is the Best
This side salad is quick and easy. All ingredients are easily chopped and tossed in a bowl. The vinaigrette uses simple ingredients and once mixed, you simply pour and mix over the top of your broccoli slaw. My favorite part is that this recipe doesn't use mayo!
Check out some of our other fresh side dishes like Chickpea Salad or Garden Veggie Pasta.
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Key Ingredients
This recipe uses fresh broccoli. Follow our list of ingredients for tips and tricks.
Broccoli Salad
- Broccoli-chopped. Make sure to use raw broccoli and not frozen or cooked broccoli.
- Red onion, chopped- I like using purple onions when I'm going to eat them raw. They have a great flavor. Our taste testers also preferred the red onion in this compared to other varieties.
- Bacon bits- For convenience I usually buy store-bought bacon bits but have also made homemade ones. For another bacon salad try this Cold Bacon Pasta Salad.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Broccoli Salad
Follow these step-by-step process photos for the best results. You'll love the tasty results.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the broccoli salad. Do not add ingredients for the honey mustard sweet vinaigrette at this time.
2. Mix the combined ingredients, broccoli, almonds, dried cranberries, red onion, and bacon bits.
3. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the ingredients for the honey mustard sweet vinaigrette.
4. Pour the homemade honey mustard dressing onto the broccoli slaw mixture. Toss until well mixed.
Hint: Make your sweet vinaigrette broccoli slaw 30-45 minutes before serving for best taste. It allows the ingredients and dressing to marinate.
Top Tips
Make this recipe on Sunday night for a meal prep meal or side during the week. It's quick to make and easy to take on the go or at home.
When I make this, I like to refrigerate for about an hour before serving. I feel like it gives the ingredients time to blend together well.
Recipe
Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad with Craisins
Equipment
Ingredients
Broccoli Salad
- 3 cups broccoli chopped (about 1 head of broccoli)
- 1 small red onion chopped, ⅓ cup
- ¼ cup bacon bits
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl add chopped broccoli, red onion, bacon bites, craisins, and slivered almonds. Mix well
- Pour prepared homemade Honey Mustard dressing over the top of the broccoli salad. Toss until broccoli salad and dressing are well mixed.
- Serve immediately or let set for 30-45 minutes before serving.
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- In a small bowl pour olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard and honey. Whisk together until smooth.
Notes
- You can substitute sliced almonds for pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
- Wait until serving to pour dressing over the salad to help keep the vegetables fresh.
- I love using bacon bits. It's one less step and makes things a little faster. Feel free to make your own bacon though if preferred.
- This salad stores well for 1-2 days after making.
- If not serving right away you can wait to put the vinaigrette on to help keep the broccoli salad fresh.
- Make this a meal prep meal or side.
Nutrition
Storing Broccoli Salad
Store prepared salad in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 days. There will be discoloration of the vegetables after the homemade dressing sits on the vegetables for a couple of hours.
You can also choose to store the salad and homemade dressing separately, in the refrigerator, until ready to serve.
These ingredients don't stand up well to freezing.
Pair this with a tasty grilled chicken and Corn Ribs (Corn riblets) or Grinder Salad Sandwich.
Substitutions and Variations
- Pumpkin Seeds - substitute slivered almonds for pumpkin seeds or pepitas.
- Sunflower Seeds -this recipe is without sunflower seeds, but you can use sunflower seeds instead of slivered almonds.
- Feta - add feta cheese to add a new a delicious taste
- No onions - not a fan of onions? Omit the onions and still have a delicious tasting salad.
- Kale - Add extra greens to this salad to up your nutrition game. Kale pairs with broccoli so well and is a great addition to this salad.
- Try this tasty Honey Mustard Dressing!
Karolyn Nelson says
yum yum yum! Great side salad with yummy flavor! the vinaigrette is delightful!
Cami wing says
Love finding recipes that don't use mayo. This was delicious!!
Ethan says
gobbled this up so fast! My wife got mad because I didn't leave leftovers
Tawnie Kroll says
The dressing is sooo delicious, love making this for meal prep. Thank you!
Jeanette says
5 stars!