Vegan Broccoli Salad

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

Broccoli salad is a classic side dish that’s perfect for sharing. Whether it’s a BBQ, potluck or family get-together, this vegan broccoli salad is sure to be a crowd-pleaser!

This recipe is super easy to make with no cooking required and is sweet, creamy, tangy, and crunchy for a delicious combination of flavours and texture.

The raw broccoli softens up once it’s marinated in the creamy dressing, so there’s no need to cook it, making this a low-fuss recipe.

To make the traditional broccoli salad recipe vegan, this version is made without bacon or cheese and uses vegan mayo with just a few other everyday ingredients.

Whether you make it for meal prep, in advance for your next gathering or for a healthy addition to a weeknight meal, you’ll love this simple but tasty vegan twist on classic broccoli salad.

Recipe Highlights

• Vegetarian, vegan (dairy-free and egg-free), nut-free and gluten-free.
• Super easy to make with just a few ingredients!
• Can be made with tofu for an oil-free and low-fat alternative to mayo.
• Amazing for potlucks, BBQs and picnics.
• Even better when made in advance.
• It’s always a hit!
• It’s versatile and a great way to use up extra fruits and veggies.

Ingredients & Substitutions

A complete list of ingredients with amounts and full instructions is located in the printable recipe card below. This section covers ingredient and substitution considerations.

• Broccoli: You’ll need fresh, crisp broccoli. No need to cook it!
• Shallot: Shallot or red onion both work great or you can do a mixture of the two.
• Sunflower Seeds: Use sunflower seeds, chopped raw, slivered or dry-roasted almonds. Other nuts and seeds that work well are pecans, walnuts or pepitas.
• Cranberries: Use dried cranberries or raisins. I like the tanginess of cranberries but raisins are delicious too. Dried cherries are good too!
• Mayonnaise: Use your favourite vegan mayonnaise. This can be substituted with soft tofu, plain dairy-free yogurt, tahini or homemade cashew-based mayo.
• Vinegar: You can use white vinegar, white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• Maple Syrup: This can be substituted with another liquid sweetener like honey or agave syrup. If you don’t have a liquid sweetener available, you can use light brown sugar or cane sugar.
• Garlic: You can use 2 cloves of garlic or substitute 1 tsp ground garlic powder.

How to Make Broccoli Salad

Step 1: Assemble the salad.

Chop the broccoli into florets and give it a good wash. Shake it well or use a salad spinner to remove any excess water.

Add the chopped broccoli to a large bowl with the cranberries, sunflower seeds and red onion or shallot.

Quick Tip: Cut the broccoli into bite-sized florets so it’s easy to eat. It’s also important to dry the broccoli so the dressing doesn’t get watered down.

It doesn’t have to be completely dry, just make sure you shake or spin to remove excess moisture. You can also pat it down with a dishcloth.

After chilling the salad, serve and enjoy!

Broccoli Salad No Mayo

There are a few options for making broccoli salad without mayo. The original version of this recipe was made with soft tofu as follows:

• 300 g package of soft tofu
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 T white wine vinegar
• 2 T maple syrup or sweetened to taste with stevia for sugar-free dressing
• pinch of salt

To make this version, blend everything until smooth. You could also use cashew butter, plain yogurt, soaked raw cashews or tahini.

To use cashews, soak 2/3 cup raw cashews in just boiled water for 30 minutes. After soaking, drain well then blend with 1/2 cup of water until completely smooth and creamy. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients and blend to combine.

Variations & Additions

• Use this tahini maple dressing instead of the mayo dressing.
• Broccoli Salad with Grapes: Omit or reduce the cranberries to 1/2 cup and add up to 1 cup of seedless halved red grapes.
• Broccoli Apple Salad: Omit or reduce the cranberries to 1/2 cup and add 1 large or 2 small crunchy diced apples. You can also use apples and grapes by doing 1/2 cup of each.
• Broccoli Carrot Salad: Add up to 1 cup of grated or matchstick carrots.
• Sunflower seeds can be replaced with walnuts, almonds, pecans or pepitas.
• You can use packaged broccoli slaw instead of broccoli for convenience. You can also use half broccoli slaw and half broccoli florets.
• Use salted and roasted nuts or seeds for more crunch and flavour.
• Chickpeas make a good addition. Add up to 2 cups drained and rinsed or roasted chickpeas.
• Add crumbled tempeh bacon or serve with a sprinkle of coconut bacon on top. I wouldn’t suggest putting the coconut bacon in the salad because it will get soggy. Sun-dried tomatoes could also work as a tangy replacement for bacon or if there’re store-bought vegan bacon bits you like, you can use that.

Storing

• The salad is best if it marinates for at least 1 hour so this is a great salad to make ahead.
• Make it up to 24 hours before serving.
• Leftovers store well in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
• This salad is not suitable for freezing.
• The broccoli can be chopped a day ahead of time and stored in the fridge.