The Best Broccoli Salad Recipe

Since broccoli is on sale this week, I thought I’d share my best recipe for broccoli salad that I take to many, many family functions. I get requests all the time. Such as: be sure to bring that broccoli salad to your Father’s Day picnic. Or they ask me for the recipe for broccoli salad from people who attend the function. Therefore, I can wholeheartedly recommend it and it is my pleasure to share it with you.

Gretchen’s Broccoli Salad

1 pound bacon, fried, crispy and drained
3 bunches of broccoli, finely chopped
1/2 cup raisins or crasins
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or you can use pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds)
1 medium red onion
1/2 cup Hellman’s Mayo
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
1/4 cup Bragg’s apple cider vinegar

Mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar and set aside. Let them mix for 20 to 30 minutes.

Mix in the broccoli, grapes, sunflower seeds, and onion. Then pour the above mixture over it and then top with the fried bacon.

Mix everything together and refrigerate overnight. In fact, you can make it the same day as long as you have at least 5 hours to marinate the flavors together. This is not a low calorie or low cholesterol dish. But it is very filling and satisfying. It will keep you away from the dessert table because you will be very satisfied.

If desired, you can substitute 1/4 cup raw sugar for the agave nectar. Or you can use a substitute for powdered sugar like splenda or stevia. I use the rule of thumb: 3 packs and then I test … to see where I like it. Otherwise, you can overpower the sweet taste with an artificial substitution. Some people feel like the recipe changes and swear they can tell the difference, but I can’t. But maybe I’m used to it too.

Another way to cut calories in this recipe is to use turkey bacon instead of real bacon. It has about half the calories. But honestly, I don’t care about the taste of it. You just have to choose your battles, so to speak. I prefer to cut the amount of bacon in half, to half a pound (8 ounces) of regular bacon and get the real flavor.

You can also use Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise in place of the regular mayonnaise. Again, cut the calories in half. You will have to be careful of the watery consistency if you decide to do that. So be careful and mix frequently if you use a light version of mayonnaise.

Enjoy.

I want to share my best broccoli salad recipe that I take to many, many family functions. I get requests all the time.