Broccoli Crunch Salad with Parsley Dressing ~ Macheesmo

This year is the year of crunchy salads. That doesn’t mean you need a lot of fancy ingredients to make a great salad, but let’s just stop at the soggy salad and drab topper for our salads. This broccoli crunch salad has few ingredients, but the flavors and, more importantly, the textures are A+ delicious.

Broccoli is the star of the show in the crunchy broccoli salad. The salad is probably at least 50% broccoli and that’s fine because if you chop it up fine and use the broccoli stalks and fronds, it’s SO much better than you might think when you think of broccoli.

This broccoli salad recipe will quickly jump to the top of your favorite salad recipes. Trust me!

Ingredients in Broccoli Crunch Salad

This is a pretty basic ingredient list and as you’ll see below, there are plenty of substitutions.

• Broccoli! This one isn’t exactly optional. They want fresh broccoli florets and the broccoli stalks!
• Celery. Another great crunchy vegetable that’s easy to chop and add to the salad.
• apples. Green apples are best, but any apple is fine. Peel the apple and mix with a little lemon juice to keep it from turning brown.
• Spring onions. Not exactly crunchy, but they add a subtle onion flavor to the salad.
• Roasted Peanuts. These give the salad a salty crunch.
• feta cheese. To counteract the crunch, creamy cheese will help mix everything together.
• parsley dressing. I made a new dressing for this version, but you can use any flavorful, slightly sweet dressing like this Jalapeno Ranch Dressing or this Creamy Pecorino Dressing would be great.

How to cut broccoli

This may seem obvious, but it’s probably the most important part of this recipe.

For the broccoli stalks, peel the tough outer skin off the stalk, then dice the stalk into about 1/4-inch cubes.

You can make a mistake here with the flowers. You don’t want whole florets in the salad that are too big, but you also don’t want them diced so small that the broccoli leaves fall apart. For a small or medium bloom I cut them into four pieces and for a larger bloom I cut them into sixths or eighths.

The broccoli mixture should be bite-sized but not completely pulverized.

Prepare the lemon parsley dressing

This is a wonderful dressing that goes well with any green salad. It’s light, slightly sweet and tangy. I made it in a food processor by tossing in a large handful of parsley (you can even use some of the smaller stalks) and garlic with lemon juice, salt, cumin and olive oil.

Process this well until combined and taste. Adjust it to your liking and store in the fridge until you need it!

Make this Broccoli Crunch Salad

This is a very easy salad to make and the instructions are pretty straightforward. You don’t have to cook anything, but take your time to dice the ingredients. Everything should be about the same size. Your celery chunks, apple chunks, chopped broccoli chunks, and peanuts should all be similar in size and not too big.

In a large bowl, layer with feta cheese and spring onions and drizzle with dressing when serving. I would not predress this salad.

What to serve with this Broccoli Crunch Salad

This salad goes with so many main dishes. I would serve it alongside a good pasta dish like this Artichoke Pasta Dish or something savory like Turkey Manicotti!

It would also be nice to serve this with savory proteins like this Grilled Lamb Shank or my Easy Roasted Pork Chop Recipe!

replacement and ideas

Lots of substitutions and options for this broccoli crunch salad!

• Add other crunchy vegetables to the mix, like shredded carrots or cabbage, or shredded red onions.
• Add other sweet elements to the salad with dried fruits like dried cranberries or cherries.
• Instead of peanuts, try sunflower seeds, toasted almonds, or pine nuts.

My Broccoli Chopped Salad Recipe

Here are a few other great recipes to try!