Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad with Craisins is the perfect spring or summer side salad that is easy to make and a healthier no-mayo broccoli salad. This honey mustard and apple cider vinaigrette makes a sweet dressing with no added sugar and adds a light taste to the bacon, cranberries, and red onions. We absolutely love this healthy, and tangy, raw broccoli salad with how versatile it can be by adding feta, kale, or sunflower seeds.
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 together, you simply pour and mix over the top of your broccoli slaw.
Make for any occasion or get together. We love having it as a side salad during Easter and into the summer months during cook out/bbq season.
Be sure to check out our other delicious side salads like Turkish Shepherd Salad, and our tasty Jennifer Aniston Salad, or our veggie and flavor packed Air Fryer Zucchini Fritters.
Pair this with a tasty grilled chicken and Corn Ribs (Corn riblets) for a complete summer meal.
Ingredients
Broccoli Salad
- Broccoli, chopped. Make sure to use raw broccoli and not frozen or cooked broccoli.
- Red onion, chopped
- Bacon bits
- Dried cranberries
- Sliced almonds
Light and Sweet Honey Mustard Dressing
- Olive oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Mustard
- Honey
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- 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.
5. Pour the Honey Mustard Vinegar dressing over the Broccoli mixture and toss until well mixed.
Serve immediately or let chill in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes.
Hint: make your sweet vinaigrette broccoli slaw 30-45 minutes before serving for best taste. It allows the ingredients and dressing to marinate.
Substitutions
- 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.
- Vegetarian - leave out the bacon bites from the salad to make it vegetarian style.
This version of broccoli salad is a cold broccoli slaw that is low in carbs and high in good fats to fit a keto friendly diet.
Variations
- 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.
- Bacon- While this recipe calls for bacon bits, feel free to make strips of bacon and cut them into small pieces for a big flavor burst.
- Kale - Add extra greens to this healthy salad to up your nutrition game. Kale pairs with broccoli so well and is a great addition to this salad.
Equipment
This healthier version of original broccoli salad is easy to make and requires very little equipment.
You will need a medium mixing bowl, a small bowl, a mixing spoon and a whisk.
Storage
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.
Top tip
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.
Recipe
Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad with Craisins
Equipment
- Cutting Board
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.
Karolyn Nelson
yum yum yum! Great side salad with yummy flavor! the vinaigrette is delightful!
Cami wing
Love finding recipes that don't use mayo. This was delicious!!
Ethan
gobbled this up so fast! My wife got mad because I didn't leave leftovers
Jeanette
Delicious! I love a good broccoli salad - this one does not disappoint, thank you!
Jeanette
5 stars!
Claudia Lamascolo
The flavors in this salad are so delicious we will be making them again it didn't last long!
Tawnie Kroll
The dressing is sooo delicious, love making this for meal prep. Thank you!
Nicole
YUM. We love a good broccoli salad with a sweet vinegar dressing and this one was amazing.