Broccoli and Bacon Salad

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The classic Broccoli and Bacon Salad is a favorite for the family dinner table all around the world. It’s a tasty and beautiful looking side that can be enjoyed as part of a big feast (think Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner), or as a light, healthy dinner for any day of the week. You can add all kinds of wonderful ingredients to complement a Broccoli and Bacon Salad. For our recipe we’re using an unbelievably tasty combination of dried Cranberries, Almonds and Red Onion. All that is topped off with a zesty Lemon and Yoghurt dressing which adds a brilliant flavor to this amazing salad!

The flavor combinations of this Salad create perfect balance

We talk a lot about this idea of ‘balance’ when cooking. Simply put, achieving a well-balanced dish just means that there are complimenting ingredients in the dish that enhance the overall flavor profile of the dish, without it becoming overbearing on one particular flavor

For example, a very common ‘balance’ in cooking is having sour and acidic elements to compliment rich, fatty flavors. The richness and fattiness in our Broccoli and Bacon Salad come in the form of Bacon, Cranberries and Mayonnaise. We balanced out those rich flavors with the sourness of Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest. This achieves harmony in the dish, allowing you to enjoy every bite without feeling overwhelmed

Well-constructed recipes always achieve some level of balance. Even sweet desserts can often have a bitter or sour element to deliver that balance. If you truly want to enjoy the concept of ‘balance’ in a recipe I highly recommend you try this Broccoli Salad, as it is a fantastic example of this!

Many Broccoli Salad recipes have you eat the Broccoli raw, but not this one

I don’t know about you, but there’s just something weird about eating Broccoli raw. I know you can, and many enjoy it. However, for our Broccoli Salad with Bacon we prefer to have the Broccoli cooked. The texture becomes a lot more enjoyable in our opinion compared to eating it raw. The flowery parts of the Broccoli pieces tend to remain intact with the stems when cooked, so you don’t have a pool of flowers at the bottom of the bowl once you’ve finished

A big factor in the enjoyment of a Broccoli Salad is the crisp texture. Therefore, you want to only just cook the Broccoli. Overcooked Broccoli ends up becoming mushy and it’s flavor goes bitter. Just cooked Broccoli however is a marvel to enjoy eating

For this recipe we blanch the Broccoli

For our Broccoli and Bacon Salad, we recommend simply blanching the Broccoli. Blanching is a form of cooking where the vegetables are only just cooked, and then the cooking process is immediately stopped to prevent the vegetables to continue cooking, usually by hitting it with ice-water

You can either steam or boil the Broccoli. We recommend boiling, only because it’s easier to do. Simply fill up a saucepan that’s large enough to hold the Broccoli with water and bring it to a boil. Carefully drop the Broccoli in, then cover and cook for 1 – 2 minutes maximum. No more than that!

You’ll notice the Broccoli will turn to a brilliant bright green color. The color looks spectacular and is exactly what we want to achieve for this dish. At this point, strain the Broccoli immediately through a sieve and then place the pieces straight into Ice Water. The easiest way to prepare ice water is to simply add a bunch of ice blocks to a large bowl. This will stop the Broccoli cooking, keeping it lovely and crunchy while retaining its beautiful appearance

If you don’t have a fancy refrigerator that churns out ice blocks or haven’t prepared any ice trays prior then you can simply run the Broccoli under cold water until it cools. Both techniques work great, however running water can sometimes break up the flowers in the Broccoli pieces

We recommend not being too generous with your dressing

The idea of making a massive amount of dressing is so tempting, we get it. However, we highly recommend you to follow the quantities outlined in the recipe below. The dressing in this Broccoli Salad is very intense, so you don’t need a lot of it to pack a massive amount of flavor

The dressing is very simple to prepare, but each element in the dish packs in so much flavor. It is a combination of Mayonnaise, Garlic, Lemon Juice, Lemon Zest, and Salt. Mix all these ingredients together then give it a taste. You may think it’s way too sour but stick with it! The sourness of this dressing is perfect to complement the fattiness of the Bacon and Cranberries in the salad

When we created this dish we used Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise. This was just a personal preference, so you can use regular Mayo if you like. Kewpie Mayonnaise has a much more intense, sweet flavor than regular Mayo

Greek Yoghurt can be substituted for Mayonnaise

If you’re not big on Mayonnaise, or perhaps have an egg allergy then a great alternative is Greek Yoghurt. The Yoghurt will not have as intense a flavor as the Mayo, so you can try adding a little bit more than the quantities in the recipe below. As always, we recommend tasting as you go for the best result

Finish off the Broccoli and Bacon Salad with tasty toppings

Once you’ve made your dressing and the Broccoli has cooled, throw it all into a salad bowl and it’s almost ready to be served. The last thing to do is add in the toppings

Salads are great because they are so versatile. You can honestly add whatever toppings you like to this salad, and we just know they’ll come out great. For our recipe we’ve added Red Onions, Almonds, and dried Cranberries. The Onions and Almonds add great texture to the salad as well as being super-tasty

Dried Cranberries are a classic ingredient in the dish, and one we highly recommend. They are sweet and slightly bitter, and their dark cherry-red color looks so striking in the bowl. You can get dried cranberries all-year around too, so no need to wait until fall to enjoy this delicious Salad

If you like you can swap out the ingredients with suitable alternatives. Other dried fruits such as Raisins or Dates will work well in the Salad. You can swap out the Almonds for any other kind of nut. Walnuts, Peanuts, or Pecans will taste great too

Broccoli and Bacon Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• Florets of 1 head of Broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 6 Bacon Rashers
• ¼ Red Onion, finely diced
• ½ cup of dried Cranberries
• ½ cup Almonds, roughly chopped
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Zest of ½ a Lemon
• 2 Garlic Cloves, finely diced
• 2 tbsp. Mayonnaise
• Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and once hot, add the Bacon. Cook until crispy, about 5 minutes
2. Bring a medium sized saucepan filled with water to a boil over the stove then add the Broccoli pieces. Cover, and cook for 2 minutes until the Broccoli has turned bright green
3. Immediately strain the Broccoli and then place in a bowl filled with ice water to stop the cooking process (you can also just run it under cold water continuously)
4. Add the Lemon Juice, Lemon Zest, Mayonnaise, Garlic Cloves, and 1 tsp. of Salt in a small bowl and mix well, then set aside
5. Place the remaining ingredients in a large Salad bowl for serving. Drizzle over the dressing and mix through so all the ingredients are coated and serve
   
   

Recipe Notes

• You can replace the Mayonnaise with Greek Yoghurt if you prefer
• This dish is best served cold, or at room temperature. Just makes sure your Broccoli has cooled before adding it to the Salad with the remaining ingredients
  
  

That’s our recipe to create an amazing Broccoli and Bacon Salad that looks and tastes great. This Salad is perfect to enjoy as a fresh side dish for a big feast, or simply as a hearty lunch or light dinner any time of the year

If you enjoyed this recipe then we’ve got loads more like it on our website. Here are a few recipes that we just know you’ll love as much as this Broccoli Salad:

• Garlic Lemon Broccoli with Chili
• White Wine Braised Leeks
• Roasted Mushrooms with Garlic Butter
• Chinese Garlic Broccoli with Chili

Happy Cooking!