It isn’t a barbecue in our house without some Creamy Broccoli Salad! Is broccoli salad a favorite in your home? If you’re not familiar with Creamy Broccoli Salad, it’s a slightly, sweet, tangy, creamy and perfectly crunchy, chopped salad filled with bright, Summer flavors.
Let’s step back a bit, traditional creamy broccoli salad is made with mayonnaise, bacon and a few other ingredients that have no place in a nutritious salad in my humble opinion. I mean, where is the salad line drawn? Is it still a salad if there’s a heap of mayonnaise, butter and gummy bears in it? Okay, I’m exaggerating a tad but I like my salads healthy and will save the less than healthy servings for my huge sweet tooth and love of desserts!
It’s always cool being in a relationship with somebody from another country and culture, when J and I first started going out, things I grew up loving were totally new to him and some staples in his diet were completely new to me. When we moved in together, the first few months, I cooked staples for us that were such an integral part of my childhood (like Mac & Cheese, chocolate chip cookies and basically anything made with peanut butter – who knew Peanut Butter is such an American/Canada phenomenon?!?).
And now, I’ve finally made J my favorite Creamy Broccoli Salad, albeit a bit healthier and more vegan than the one I grew up on. 😉
J was a bit skeptical when he came in the kitchen and saw me chopping up red onions, avocado and a mountain of broccoli. The skepticism increasingly grew as I started throwing raisins into our salad and then a heap of sunflower seeds, ha!
And then I served the salad and we all had THREE servings. The entire Creamy Broccoli Salad disappeared within a couple of hours of making it. #YesPlease #BringOnTheBroccoli
Can we all agree it’s a good sign when your loved ones want extra helpings of salad? That’s what I call veggies done right! 😉
- 2 heads broccoli, chopped (9 cups broccoli florets)
- 1 avocado, chopped
- ¾ cup red onion, chopped
- ¾ cup raisins
- ½ cup roasted sunflower seeds (unsalted)
- 1 avocado
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup water
- ½ tsp dijon mustard
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp coconut or cane sugar
- 2 - 3 splashes hot sauce (to taste)
- Parsley
- Sunflower Seeds
- Prepare the vegetables: Chop broccoli into bite size pieces, finely chop the avocado and red onion. Add the chopped broccoli, red onion and avocado along with the raisins and sunflower seeds to a large bowl.
- Make the dressing: Add all of the ingredients for the dressing (avocado through to hot sauce to a blender). Blend until smooth and creamy (it will take a couple minutes for the sunflower seeds to dissolve and the dressing to become completely creamy).
- Toss it all together: Toss the dressing with the broccoli mixture until all the broccoli is completely coated with the creamy dressing. Cover and seal tightly in the fridge until ready to serve. Tastes even better after marinating in the fridge for a few hours. Garnish with parsley and additional sunflower seeds.
2) Double this dressing for an extra creamy salad!
If you try this Vegan Healthy Creamy Broccoli Salad, it makes my day seeing your delicious #CearasKitchen creations. Share your photos with me on Instagram @CearasKitchen (and remember to tag #CearasKitchen so I don’t miss it!) or share it on my Ceara’s Kitchen Facebook page.
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Pretty! This was an incredibly wonderful post. Thank you for supplying these details.
Amazing!! I have to admit that I usually have to increase condiment and spice ratios on recipes to increase flavor but I followed your recipe exactly and it was perfect! I added a couple tbsp. of veganaise to make my dressing stretch a little further and it was quite delicious. This will be a recipe I come back to for years to come. Thank you!!
Thank you for your lovely comment, Erin. I am the same way and usually have to up the condiments and spices in recipes. So happy you enjoyed the salad!
This looks delicios. But I’m curious. The photo has cilantro in it – not parsley (not even flat leaf parsley). Do you sometimes use cilantro and, if so, do you change any of the other ingredients?
I jjust made this recipe and it is so good. I had some leftover shredded cabbage so I added that as well and I just love all the colors and the tangy flavor of the creamy dressing. Awesome recipe!
Thank you for the lovely feedback, Sammi! Love the addition of shredded cabbage – YUM!
I loved this salad as a kid! I can’t wait to try the veganized version!
Yay!!! One of my fave childhood salads too! Enjoy 🙂
Ahhhh I was just thinking about creating a broccoli salad – thanks for the inspiration of using avocado and seeds.. I just discovered your blog and subscribed to stay in touch. 🙂 Lisa
So happy you discovered the blog and thank you for subscribing 🙂 Lovely to “meet” you!
What a beautiful salad Ceara! I absolutely LOVE broccoli and love the sound of that awesome dressing. I make dressings a lot with avocado and they are so creamy and delicious! I love that you added sunflower seeds and I can see why everybody gobbled this salad up so incredibly fast, I would too!! Love, love that there is chopped avocado AND avocado dressing, YUM!
Thanks so much, Brandi! I feel like if we looked in each other’s cupboards we’d fine very similar items in our pantries – we have such similar tastes! I was oggling over your sunflower seed ranch dressing that goes with your potato salad the other day – YUM!!
This salad is gorgeous, Ceara! I can’t get enough of broccoli these days and it looks perfect with the avocado and yummy sunflower seeds! Love the sound of the creamy avocado Dijon dressing too!
<3 Thank you Kelly! I am obsessed with broccoli these days too!! Yay for broccoli fans!
That dressing sounds amazing! I’m not a fan of heavy dressings but this seems like it’s just right, and I love the splash of hot sauce.
Haha! I grew up in Wisconsin and it was perfectly acceptable to call Jell-o, mini marshmallows, and canned fruit a salad. I can proudly say that I have never touched the stuff, even before I became health conscious that kind of thing grossed me out. 🙂
Thanks, Linda!! 🙂 I hear you on not liking dressings that are overly heavy – the added water and lemon really balance this dressing out! I love it on other salads too!
And that’s hilarious! I grew up around jello and marshmallow salads too – I want to know WHO first named these gelatinous salads, “salad”. Too funny!!
Hi Ceara! I sort of fell off the health band wagon this week so hopefully this salad with put me back where I need to be. Broccoli is calling my name these days. And I adore any salad with sunflower seeds. Just don’t get mad when I throw in the salted ones instead of the unsalted ones….haha. Have a great rest of the week and weekend!
I hear you, Laura! Broccoli and greens always seem to call my name when I eat too many sweets! 😉 Have a wonderful week and weekend as well!! Thank you for the kind words as always!
Oh this salad is so pretty, Ceara! I’ve never seen a broccoli one quite like this before. I love the dressing and the fact that there’s a little crunch in this salad. What a perfect green dish!
Thank you so much, Gayle! The crunch and the textures of this salad really bring it to the next level 🙂 Have a wonderful week!
Ceara! this broccoli salad looks so tasty! this is a perfect side dish or even a light light lunch! 😉 YUM
Yes, this broccoli salad makes the best lunch!! 🙂 Thank you!
you had me at vegan & creamy. This looks SO amazing Ceara!
Thank you so much my friend!
You don’t know how much I love broccoli and I’m an avocado addict, too. Your salad sounds delicious, love every ingredient. This salad is just amazing, the addition of a avocado dressing just marvelous! Your pictures are beautiful, so I can literally feel the crunch of the sunflower seeds! 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words, Florian!! It sounds like we have very similar taste buds! 🙂 Avocado + Broccoli = my life 😉 😀
YUM! I LOVE broccoli salad! I love that you added avocado in the salad and in the dressing. Must try!
Yay!! Thanks so much Jenn 🙂
Oh yeah, I’m all about broccoli salad! I’ve not tried it with an avo dressing, but it sounds so good and creamy. And the sunflower seeds are the best in a broccoli salad! Good thing J is open to trying new recipes. Rob isn’t always so open… but he has come a looong way since his Texas meat and potato days!
Happy to hear you are all about the broccoli salad too! I’ve been in love with broccoli salad as long as I can remember 😉 And that’s wonderful about Rob – J and I have both come along way since our ways when we first met too in France 🙂 It’s crazy how our tastes and preferences change over time!
I LOVE this salad <3 It is great to find veggie dishes that I actually crave and can't stop eating, because veggies are often a should eat not a want to eat ;D haha I really love slices of apple in my broccoli salad too, but no reason why I couldn't add them in!
Thank you, Natalie!! Broccoli + Apples sounds like a wonderful combination!! 🙂
This looks perfect for a BBQ. I love that it has sunflower seeds on it too.
Thanks Dannii!! This is SUCH a great BBQ side 🙂