Even the pickiest eater will enjoy dinner when you give the traditional comfort dish a modern twist! For a less hot variation, leave the hot peppers out! Prepare enough for leftovers or freeze them for a quick dinner another night!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds fresh broccoli
- 3 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 pinch salt and ground black pepper, or to taste
- ⅓ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Trim bottoms of broccoli stems and cut off broccoli heads; cut the broccoli heads into quarters. Peel broccoli stems and cut into quarters crosswise.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook broccoli until tender when cut with a paring knife but still slightly firm, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Transfer broccoli to a large bowl filled with cold water and chill to stop the cooking process. Drain well. Arrange broccoli in a colander with the florets facing down towards the holes of the colander and allow broccoli to drip for at least 30 minutes.
- Whisk together garlic, lemon juice, rice vinegar, Dijon mustard, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper together in a large serving bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while whisking rapidly until the dressing is thick and creamy. Adjust salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to taste.
- Toss broccoli with the dressing; let stand 5 to 10 minutes to marinate, then toss again. Can be refrigerated up to an hour if you want to serve the salad cold.
Reviews
Great recipe! Making it again today 🙂
This recipe was excellent! Even a vegetable hater would love it. I made it with one head of broccoli without the stems and the regular amount of sauce. About 2 large servings plus a little for the dog who also loved it. I served it with roast rosemary chicken and roast sweet potatoes.
This recipe is just so good! I’ve made it several times in the past month. It is just that good. The first time I made it exactly as the recipe indicates and it was delicious, but I wasn’t loving the red pepper flakes. So now I skip that part and it is still very flavorful.
This is amazing!
Made it luke warm instead of a cold salad. Was good but think next time will increase spices and decrease olive oil. Good flavor all in all though.
This is NOT what I think of as a “broccoli salad.” It made a tasty warm side dish though. We tried it ‘cool’ and microwaved it to heat it back up; we much preferred it warm. To make the dressing, we whirled everything in the food processor and only used enough olive oil to make it ‘creamy’. I think 1/3C of oil would be too much.
I needed a make-ahead vegetable for a pot luck. This was easy and portable. I added some steamed baby carrots for color. This was gobbled up!
i really liked how this came out.. based on other reviews i quartered the oil and steamed my broccoli (for about 12 min’s) instead of blanching it.. i also used cayenne instead of the red pepper flakes (old habits die hard).. very tasty.. ty for the recipe
It was delicious!
Just wasn’t a fan. It sounded good–didn’t care for the vinegar taste. I won’t be keeping it.
Quick and delicious. I followed everything exactly the first time. As far as taste, texture and calories, I didn’t mind the amount of olive oil called for, but I do agree with everyone that it can be reduced, especially if you’re in diet mode. Jillian gave us a great suggestion to try fresh green beans or brussel sprouts & Nana Deb added cauliflower. Their ideas inspired me to go crazy with it and try a medley – smaller cuts of broccoli, cauliflower, quartered brussel sprouts, green beans, carrots, button mushrooms and fresh chopped parsley. My crew thought it was tasty. I’ve also made the dressing as a salmon marinade with addition of dried dill & tarragon (I loved it but got mixed reviews from the crew). I’m taking the medley version to a bbq tomorrow so I thought I’d share my thoughts and let all of you know how much I appreciate and inspired by your ideas. To quote Chef John “AND AS ALWAYS…ENJOY!”
This was somewhat bland so I added sliced red onion which helped some, but not enough.
YES and I love it. It is an excellent source of fiber and calcium. I tweaked it only slightly and added a touch of sugar or stevia and reduced the olive oil in half. I am going to make it again and add equal amounts of cauliflower. SKAY
Not a favorite for us.
This had a good flavor, but I thought the olive oil was too much so I cut it back. That helped make it not so greasy. I need to learn how to mash garlic into a paste.. My dressing was pretty chunky! :). But I did like the flavor overall and will make this again. Thanks.
This was pretty good broccoli. A nice change from our usual boiled and buttered fare. I served it chilled.
Yummy and simple. Reduced oil by half based on previous reviews, and I definitely recommend it. Only used 2 cloves of garlic because the kiddos complain that garlic is “too spicy” but I’ll use all 3 cloves next time.
We love broccoli, but I think family was tired of the usual sauteed broccoli with garlic. This salad has the perfect tang and family appreciated a new recipe. Thank you, Chef John.
I have always made it a habit to read over the reviews when attempting a new dish, however, I must had been in a hurry to get this on the table and completely forget to read one single review. Needless to say it was quite oily and the flavor was lost. I tried adding more of the other ingredients and I added way too much lemon, that of course was my fault. I’m sure I will get a chance to try it again because I like other ways to eat broccoli other than just steamed.
I loved this, but only found I needed 1 tbsp of oil. 1/3 cup is far too much
Made this night before last, and it was great. Even the leftovers which I had last night were still firm and delicious. Next time, I think I’ll add some crispy bacon and sprinkle of parmigiana cheese on top.