Broccoli-and-Bacon Salad

This is an AWESOME basic recipe if you’re looking for a good summer side dish to share. We use Craisins not raisins and skip the onion. We also add a lil ground black pepper. We love using a thick cut bacon. I do suggest making a lil extra dressing tho. Toss a little with the broccoli, chill for a few hours, and then just before serving add the bacon, cashews and cheese with a lil more dressing. The ingredients get soggy if tossed too early with the dressing. IN OUR OPINION that is.

For dietary reasons I used less bacon than suggested. I used craisons instead of raisons and used sliced almonds because I could not find cashew. PERFECT dressing.

I love this salad. I had to substitute the nuts out due to allergies but i did add 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese to it.

Easy, Delicious, best of all a healthy way to get the family to eat broccoli

I made this exactly according to the recipe (except that I used low fat mayo) and it was a smash hit. Absolutely delicious!

The only change I did was add the cashews just before serving.

I thought this was very good as written – and I don’t even like broccoli! It was a hit with the whole family. I chopped the broccoli into sections that were smaller so it would mix better with the other ingredients.

Amazing! A keeper in our family!!!! I used everything except golden raisins. I substituted with craisins.

Made this last night. It makes for a big crowd. Followed the recipe but I didn’t have a full cup of mayonnaise so it was a half cup of mayonnaise and a half cup of miracle whip. Also, did have the cashews on hand so I used slivered almonds. This was delicious!!!

Best Broccoli Salad! My husband loves it!! Every time I need to take a salad somewhere, this is the one he asks for!! It’s always a big hit!

I halved the recipe and used dried cranberries instead of raisins, I used no nuts, but if I did, would use pecans. This was a great addition to our Christmas dinner with ham.

I have been making this salad and variations of it for many years. I strongly advise anybody who is taking this salad to a picnic to either make their own mayonnaise without eggs, or, nowadays there is a commercially available egg-free version of mayo available at most grocery stores. It’s not hard to make your own, recipes are easy to find on this site and only take a minute or two. Mayo is wonderful but can go bad very quickly when left out at room temperature or on a buffet table. Better safe than sorry with a party full of sick guests. It’s a wonderful salad and so worth the extra work. You can’t stop eating it!

I have been making this salad and variations of it for many years. I strongly advise anybody who is taking this salad to a picnic to either make their own mayonnaise without eggs, or, nowadays there is a commercially available egg-free version of mayo available at most grocery stores. It’s not hard to make your own, recipes are easy to find on this site and only take a minute or two. Mayo is wonderful but can go bad very quickly when left out at room temperature or on a buffet table. Better safe than sorry with a party full of sick guests. It’s a wonderful salad and so worth the extra work. You can’t stop eating it!

Have been making a similar salad for years, and everyone loves it. Hint: Mix the dressing ahead of time, refrigerate for several hours or overnight, and add to the salad before serving. Much better, and it makes the broccoli look nice and shiny.

I’ve been making a salad similar to this for years. We all love it. I have never used raw onions because we don’t care for them. My recipe only calls for broccoli, golden raisins and salted sunflower seeds. I use white wine vinegar. I may try adding bacon the next time I make mine, as I have never tried that either. The mayo-vinegar combo is what makes the salad. I’m not rating it and changing it……just wanted you to know you can vary the ingredients and it is still great with this dressing.

Have made a version of this for years using pecans instead of cashews and celery instead of water chestnuts. Absolutely delicious!

I’ve been making this salad for quite some time now. This last time I only used 6 slices center cut bacon, replaced raisins & cashews with Craisins & walnuts. I also eliminated the water chestnuts. The salad turned out great.

I made this for Thanksgiving, but with all the other dishes and activity I forgot to get it out of the refrigerator!! That was probably a good thing though, because there may not have been enough left for the next day! We just loved this, and I would rather eat only this for dinner and let everyone else eat the rest! I tend to not measure when I cook so I didn’t follow amounts carefully except for the dressing, and substituted mild regular onion for the red. It was so good!! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!

My favorite broccoli salad ever.

My husband (won’t eat cooked broccoli) ate this up! I left out the water chestnuts (didn’t have in hand) and used chopped walnuts, made twice the amount of dressing base (like more sauce) and it was great! I’m making it again this week.

Was looking for a simple light salad to bring to a small party. I followed the instructions exactly; only made half the amount as there was only 4 of us. Everyone loved it!!!!