Salad

22 Superpowered Broccoli Salad Recipes

By Jess

Dive into one of these broccoli salads and you’ll be fueling yourself with important vitamins and minerals from broccoli, including lots of Vitamin C. Each one takes a different approach and arrives at a delicious and nutritious salad.

Get a full day’s worth of Vitamin C from a nice big bowl of broccoli salad. Each recipe adds in supporting ingredients that add to the nutrition and make it an even healthier choice.


1. Shaved Broccoli Salad
Shaving broccoli gives it a whole new texture and this salad is like nothing you’ve seen before. With ribbons of broccoli stalks you’ll be getting just as much nutrition as you do from the florets, even more so in several key areas.

The broccoli is joined by carrots, mushrooms, and red onions, and retains a light crisp flavor throughout. Now you can buy fresh broccoli and not waste the healthy stalks. It comes with its own homemade dressing made with poppy seeds.

thai broccoli salad
Photo: GI365

2. Thai Style Broccoli Salad
Making your broccoli salad in Thai fashion is a great way to introduce new flavors and make it more interesting. The use of chili paste is what gives this a Thai flavor, and the additional ingredients all do well when kissed with the dressing. There’s also some mango which helps give it a southeast Asian feel, and the soft texture of mango is a nice contrast to the crunchy broccoli. It turns out to be a tasty dish that looks great too.

3. Creamy Broccoli Salad
Those new to the Paleo diet might think it’s hard to make a creamy dish without any dairy, but when you’re using the right ingredients it’s easy. Here they’re using a homemade Paleo mayo to provide the creaminess, and they provide a separate recipe for it so you’ll want to save that to your bookmarked recipes folder. There are plenty of tastes and textures to enjoy in this salad, including crunchy walnuts, crisp red apples, and chewy raisins.

4. Paleo Broccoli Salad
Making a Paleo broccoli salad shouldn’t be too hard, since broccoli is an approved vegetable on the Paleo diet. It’s just a matter of making sure the accompanying ingredients are also good to go. Here they’ve added cashews for a bit of a crunch, and bacon for a savory flavor that you just don’t get from other meats. This creates a nice mix of flavors that go well with each other, and the dressing, made from coconut milk and apple cider vinegar, finishes it off nicely.

5. Date and Chorizo Broccoli Salad
One way to jazz up your broccoli salad is to add a delicious meat like chorizo to it. It’s right in line with the Paleo way of eating, and can make a meal out of broccoli salad instead of just a side. This is another broccoli salad that uses a Paleo friendly mayo as the base of the sauce. It’s good to make big batches of Paleo mayo because you can use it in so many different recipes, or just as a condiment.

6. Broccoli Salad with Sweet Potato and Greens
Two superfoods combine in this broccoli salad with the addition of sweet potatoes. They do a good job of rounding each other out nutritionally. They’re both high in fiber, and broccoli provides a big boost of Vitamin C with sweet potatoes providing Vitamin A in the form of beta-Carotene. It’s nice that they’re serving this alongside a ramekin of pesto, as this give it an added kick of flavor and really sets the tone for the salad itself.

7. Broccoli Salad Comfort Food
Start with bacon and everything else follows. This broccoli salad recipe takes full advantage of the fact that bacon is allowed on Paleo. Three strips make it into the recipe, and there’s even bacon drippings added to the mayo so there’s a savory bacon flavor infused throughout. This really is comfort food Paleo style, and there’s sure to be no leftovers when you serve this up. The broccoli stays raw and tastes great along with the other ingredients.

bacon broccoli salad recipe
Photo: Cook Eat Paleo

8. Paleo Broccoli Salad with Bacon
Fresh and vibrant broccoli is the order of the day for this salad, which comes with its fair share of bacon. They have you cook up the bacon nice and crisp, something that will appeal to those of us that don’t like chewy bacon. They provide their version of a tasty Paleo mayo and keep your taste buds guessing what’s next with a lineup that includes both walnuts and raisins. Apple cider vinegar gives it a tartness, and there isn’t really a dressing aside from the mayo vinegar mix.

9. Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad
Get your honey mustard fix with this broccoli salad. There’s a big reason why you’ll want to avoid honey mustard from the bottle or at restaurants. It’s loaded with unknown ingredients but one that it’s sure to have is plenty of sugar, maybe even high fructose corn syrup. In this recipe there’s whole grain mustard used, as well as raw honey, so the flavor is coming from real, wholesome ingredients and doesn’t rely on artificial flavors and refined sugars.

10. Bacon-y Broccoli Salad
Bring on the bacon with this broccoli salad. Bacon has a nice way of making a broccoli salad taste like more than just another salad. It has protein that makes the salad more satisfying, and it’s just enough to take ordinary ingredients and make something special. There’s balsamic vinegar for a tanginess, and they recommend using a homemade mayonnaise. There’s little chance you’ll be able to find a Paleo-friendly mayo, and it’s just so easy to make your own.

11. Roasted Broccoli Tuna Salad
Tuna really helps make this broccoli salad a full meal, and hence a really easy lunch when you’re on the go. It’s so easy to put everything together, and the added protein will sustain you right until dinner. Avocado also helps sustain you with its healthy fat and fiber, and on top of that will load you up with potassium, much like a banana. Almonds do their part by adding protein, fiber, and additional healthy fat, so you’ll have no need for a late afternoon snack.

12. Broccoli Almond and Apple Salad
Almonds and apples make great additions to a broccoli salad. The almonds provide healthy fat and a good dose of protein along with the fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants that broccoli is known for. Add in the goodness of apples and you have quite the salad. There are a few more tasty ingredients tucked into this salad which are sure to make you love it. There’s crispy bacon and a tasty vinaigrette made with dijon mustard and avocado oil.

mango salad
Photo: Paleo Porn

13. Broccoli Mango Salad
There’s much to enjoy in this broccoli salad, but perhaps the contrast between the crunchy broccoli and the soft mango steals the show. Purple cabbage adds visual appeal, and along with the yellow mango makes this a stunning salad. On top of that it’s another cruciferous vegetable that like broccoli provides anti-cancer benefits. One big reason to give this salad a try the next time you want to jazz up your broccoli a bit and try something new.

14. Asian Broccoli Salad
Give your broccoli salad a taste of Asian cuisine with just a few tweaks. Coconut aminos make a great substitute for soy sauce since soy and soy products are not allowed on Paleo. The soy sauce flavor immediately gives it an Asian flavor and the broccoli florets do a good job of soaking it up. The choice of ingredients really help to accentuate the broccoli, with celery, scallions, and cashews working to give this lots of flavor and nutrition.

15. Broccoli and Kale Salad
It may not seem like it at first glance, but broccoli and kale come from the same family of vegetables known as cruciferous vegetables. These veggies continually make health news because they so powerfully ward off cancer and have even shown promise in stopping its spread once it appears. That means you’re getting a double dose of the important antioxidant these vegetables contain, all in a fresh and tasty salad. There’s even blueberries added for even more antioxidants.

16. Broccoli Salad with Carrot, Cranberries, and Bacon
Fall in love with this tasty yet quaint broccoli salad that has all of the ingredients needed for deliciousness. There’s of course lots of broccoli for the base, but she’s also mixed in carrots and cranberries to give it a bit of a tartness. Then there’s bacon, everybody’s favorite treat on Paleo. It makes this salad taste great, but on most diet plans you’d never see anything like this. The presentation on this salad makes it a great choice for potlucks and get togethers.

17. Bacon Grape Broccoli Salad
The grapes in this broccoli salad borrow a bit from a chicken salad and do a great job of adding natural sweetness to a vegetable that gets a bad rap for being not so tasty. To work alongside the sweetness of the grape is savory bacon. There’s ten slices used to serve six people, so everybody’s getting more than a full slice of bacon in each serving. Check out their recipe for Paleo mayonnaise and you’ll have a great way to enhance sandwiches and more while staying true to Paleo eating.

creamy paleo broccoli salad
Photo: Jess Lane Wellness

18. Creamy Broccoli Salad Recipe
It often gets overlooked that vegetables make up a big part of the Paleo diet. That’s why it’s a great idea to learn how to make broccoli salad in several different ways, since broccoli is one of the best vegetables you can eat. What’s fun about this salad is they use different ingredients than other salad, items like goji berries and pumpkin seeds. There are also some great spices like turmeric and paprika that will keep you coming back bite after bite.

19. Mexican Broccoli Salad
Adding Mexican flavor to your broccoli salad is a great idea, and Kari has done a great job of it here. There’s tomatoes in it, but the real flavor comes from a jalapeno in the dressing. This gives it just enough heat so that you know you’re eating something spicy, but not so much that it’s overwhelming or that you can’t taste the other ingredients. Cilantro and avocado combine to finish the deal, and you’ll love how everything comes together in this one.

20. Broccoli Cashew Raisin Salad
Cashews and raisins provide a nice texture contrast, with the buttery crunch of cashews going against the sweet chewiness of the raisins. Add in broccoli and you’ve got quite the trio. But Jan didn’t stop there and added in thick cut bacon so you’ll taste savory meatiness along with the crunch and the chew. She includes her aptly named Better Than Miracle Whip recipe that gives this salad just what it needed to be a winner all around.

21. Baby Broccoli Salad
Baby broccoli, as the name implies, is just cute and fun to look at. It’s also tasty to eat, and makes a great choice for a broccoli salad. Added to the broccoli is mayo, pecans, and raisins, and we’ve seen this a few times with a nut and a dried fruit being used to make the broccoli taste better and give it additional textures. Pecans make a great choice because they’re enormously healthy and totally in line with the Paleo diet approved foods list.

22. Creamy Broccoli Radish Salad
Don’t forget radishes in your Paleo cooking. They’re definitely the sort of thing that our Paleo ancestors would have found on one of their gathering sessions. They provide important nutrients and are easy to prepare. In this recipe they are one of just a few ingredients designed to help out broccoli in the flavor department. There’s also some raisins and pumpkin seeds to complete the picture. Homemade mayo provides the creaminess. This is a great side dish for any meat main entree.

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  1. Thank you so much for including me in this list! All of the salads look fantastic!

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