Husband: “This cannot be healthy.”
Daughter: “It is helfee, Daddy!”
Husband: “It tastes too good.”
Munch, munch, munch.
Now, I take exception to the idea that junk food tastes better than real, nutrient dense food. But the fact of the matter is that my husband’s palate was trained on McDonald’s and he may never fully recover from that. That’s why I considered it a near-miracle when both he and Katie devoured a raw broccoli slaw delivered by my friend Whittney after Micah was born. It’s too good to keep a secret, so whip up a batch and enjoy!
Whittney’s Broccoli Salad Recipe
Equipment
- medium bowl
- large bowl
- mixing spoon
Ingredients
- 6 cups small broccoli florets
- 1 cup red seedless grapes
- 1 cup red onion (finely chopped)
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ¾ cup crisp bacon (crumbled into pieced — pastured if possible)
- 1 cup mayo (We love our homemade recipe. The trick to getting it thick is to pour the oil in super slow.)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (raw if possible)
- 2 tbsp raw honey
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix mayonnaise, cheddar, honey and lemon juice in a medium bowl
- Place broccoli, grapes and onion in a large bowl.
- Pour in dressing and mix thoroughly.
- Sprinkle bacon and sunflower seeds over the top and serve.
Nutrition
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Joanna Moore
sounds yummy! will definitely have to try it out =)
Whittney
As you know, teen years spent working in fast food with Route 44 Cokes for breakfast have damaged my palate too. But I’m trying! I have learned that I like pretty much anything with bacon on it. I wouldn’t even look at asparagus until I got the crazy idea to add bacon bits and sliced almonds on top. Love it now. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Glad you’re sweet family enjoyed this as much as I do!
Heather
Butter is my bacon. Add butter to anything and I will eat it!
jeff goldbum
i’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is not a “healthy” snack, mayonnaise, cheese and bacon? yes broccoli is good for you, and sunflower seeds do have a small amount of omega 3 fat, but those are all completely countered by the other very high fat ingredients… red onion has very little nutritional value and grapes are mostly sugar… though there are more vitamins in this than a big mac, i doubt the fat content is much better
Heather
I couldn’t disagree more! I make my own mayo with wholesome fats (olive oil and pastured eggs) and the cheese is of the highest quality (raw from grassfed cows). Saturated fats are essential for brain function (http://www.spacedoc.net/saturated_fat_is_good_for_you_1) and more. Pastured bacon contains vitamin d3, which is different than d2 because it is more easily absorbed. D3 prevents rickets. I could go on, but I have to go feed my kiddos ; – )
Momof2Groks
Lolling that some random fat-a-phobe is trying to school *you* on what is healthy. Hey Jeff- the low-fat theory of healthy eating is going the way of the dinosaurs, so get on board the real food train. If you make your own mayo as you suggested, this recipe is full of the healthy unrefined fats our body needs. Coconut oil is full of saturated fat and is a wonderfood. I eat it off a spoon. Pastured bacon and raw cheese are real foods. A Big mac is your comparison? How many ingredients in that bun alone? Where does the meat come from? Processed cheese too? Look at the broccoli salad recipe again. Notice how all of the ingredients are real whole foods that you can immediately recognize? Now look at a Big Mac’s ingredients:
Mmmm, science lab!
You can eat your Big Mac if you want, I will stick to real foods, though I may lightly steam the broccoli…
Heather
I eat coconut oil off a spoon, too. And butter 🙂
Priscilla
This is years later, I know, but this is hilarious! Poor guy must feel like he just dropped in from outer space! As I did, when I first started this real food journey, I might add.
Rose
this actually looks delicious! i will definately be trying this out!!
Hannah Tallo
That looks so good! We will be trying this!
Cindy Haggerton
We had it for lunch yesterday. So yummy 🙂 I used turkey bacon (baked in the oven).
dianthe
finally made this the other day – we LOVED it!! i made a few changes – Greek yogurt instead of mayo, pecans instead of sunflower seeds and i left out the bacon (because i didn’t have time to cook it) – DELICIOUS!!
Alexis
The Coconut Mama has a good coconut oil mayonnaise. In the comments section someone mentioned doing half coconut and half olive oil so I’m gonna try making the mayonnaise that way. I personally have never been a mayonnaise person but dont mind it in things such as this recipe (which I plan on making next week sometime – cant wait b/c it sounds delicious)!
Heather
I’m glad to know about the coconut mayo. Thanks, Alexis!
Whittney Bevington Hoyler via Facebook
So glad you love it!
Shannon Brown via Facebook
i love this salad! 🙂 i make it a lot!! 🙂
Kate Borman Cole via Facebook
I had to scale back the mayo. You?
Mommypotamus via Facebook
@Kate We use homemade mayo, which I think has a lighter flavor and is more creamy, so it works well. Sometimes we scale back the cheese, though. Just depends how much broccoli I have on hand, I guess.
Dianthe White Hall via Facebook
i LOVE this!!! ans so does Sydney!!
Mommypotamus via Facebook
@Dianthe I didn’t realize so many people had tried this recipe. Yay!
Dianthe White Hall via Facebook
i tried it because Sydney loves raw broccoli but me, not so much – i substitute greek yogurt for the mayo and it’s delicious!
MATHEW CANTER
It looks really yummy,I sure will try at home.
Vanessa Stegner
Bought veganaise so I can make this!
Shannon Brown
it is soooo delicious!!! 🙂 i make it a lot more than i should!! 🙂 🙂
Daniel
Okay…. that’s IT!!!! i need some of this slaw again STAT!!!
to go travel
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say excellent blog!
Matthew C.
This does look very delicious. One thing that has worked for me over the years to get my vegetable servings per day is a Vita Mix. I would be lost without it. I can make soup, smoothies, and even ice cream with it. This is where you throw in all the veggies and you lose the flavor of them by adding fruit. Ive never added bacon though 🙂
Joanna Moore
what kind of cheese do you substitute on gaps? i’d like to make this again but the mozzarella isn’t legal.
Heather
Cheddar works really well!
Amy B
This was a scrumptious dish that everyone loved–we gobbled it right up. Thanks for sharing!
Heather
Woohoo, glad you liked it!
Nikki
Thank you, this was fantastic.
Heather
Glad you liked it, Nikki!
Linda
Love the recipe. I used baconaisse made from 1/2 olive and 1/2 bacon drippings from pastured pork bacon…and it makes it especially yummy.
Britny
Thank you for sharing this! My family loved it! Wasn’t too sure how my husband was going to react, but he loved it and both our girls too (2 & 4)! This will definitely be added in our dinner rotation!
caitlin
made this last night and we loved it – I substituted the mayo for plain greek yogurt and instead of grapes (couldnt find organic) used apples and raisons. very tasty and went great with our bbq chicken.
Ann F
Love this, Heather!! We will have this on our table this year 🙂
Ann F
For Thanksgiving!
Jessica
Can I use something besides mayo? Homemade or not I can’t do it…can’t stand the taste, smell, etc. what about Greek yogurt? I’ve been searching for a Good chicken salad recipe maybe my kids will try but I won’t eat anything with mayo in it…therefore I never have it and my kids have never had it..
Thanks!!
Jessica
I meant slaw recipe! Got chicken salad on the brain!
Heather
Not sure how yogurt would work. Doesn’t sound good to me, but I love mayo so what do I know??? 🙂
Jessica
I was thinking the same thing..i may have experiment
Becky
The is by far the best version of broccoli slaw I’ve ever had! Thanks for sharing it, Heather.
Jody
Curious if you have the nutritional counts oer serving for this recipe? We make it a lot and I love it but was curious on the Carb count mainly for my grandson who is type 1 Diabetic. Not sure he would eat it, but just in case? Thanks for this great site! Love your recipes. 🙂
Heather
I don’t, sorry Jody!
Michelle
Hi Heather! This looks super yummy! Three questions: best red wine vinegar sub for this recipe? Can this be made a day ahead, or is it best same day? Will frozen defrosted brocolli instead of fresh or ahould I lightly steam it and cool? My pregnant brain bought frozen instead of fresh brocolli. 🙂 Thank you!!!
Heather
Apple cider vinegar, yes it can be made ahead, and I’m not sure about the frozen broccoli unfortunatel 🙂
Michelle
Thanks Heather! I’m simply defrosting the broccoli, I’ll let you know how it turns out. 🙂
julie
How do I print your recipes?
Shalimar
Making this again! We love it!! But didn’t you used to have red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice? I don’t remember the lemon juice or am I mixing this up with another recipe?? Thanks for the great recipes!!
Wifeoftaxman
I feel like these flavors didn’t blend together well but some in my family really liked it so I gave it 3 stars. If it were only me I would have given it a 1. I made it as written except I substituted Greek yogurt instead of mayo and green grapes instead of red. Also this makes a lot of salad so definitely could half this recipe unless you want to eat this for days.
Lynn
That’s funny. Greek yogurt and mayo taste completely different. No wonder you didn’t like it. I’ve tried this recipe for the past two years and everyone loves it. But we didn’t modify the recipe, so there you go.