Jun 18
Healthy broccoli salad recipe made with simple ingredients like fresh blueberries, carrots, sweet dried apricots, toasted almonds and crunchy sunflower seeds. This easy, vegan and dairy free broccoli salad has no mayo, is tossed in a light tahini dressing, and is perfect for summer parties or meal prep!
Hi friends! Abra here writing to tell you about a brand new salad recipe that has Monique and I jumping for joy while singing to “Rollercoaster” by the Jonas Brothers.
Yes, it’s that good. Welcome to the BEST healthy broccoli salad recipe you’ll ever make. It’s crunchy, a lil’ sweet, a lil’ savory, and there’s no mayo involved. Coming from this mayo-loving Midwesterner (I see you judging) this dairy free version of broccoli salad is the real deal.
People always ask what we eat for lunch here at AK HQ. A lot of days are raid-the-fridge-for-leftovers days filled with hummus, veggies, Simple Mills crackers, maybe some peach crisp (heck yes), and on recipe testing days we fill up on Monique’s latest recipe creations like this gorgeous salad.
Broccoli salads have quickly become one of our favorite lunches to make because of the amazing textures and flavors we get to incorporate. They’re super fresh and actually keep you full with all of the fiber and the healthy fats added together. Plus, I secretly love chopping aaall of the veggies for these gorgeous salads.
What’s in this healthy broccoli salad recipe?
This healthy broccoli salad is loaded with fresh fruits and veggies that make it perfect for summer. It’s tossed in a super light, flavorful tahini dressing that you’ll literally want to drizzle on everything. Seriously, I add it to buddha bowls, quinoa salads, in wraps, and everything in between. Here are the main ingredients we’re working with:
- broccoli (of course)
- fresh blueberries
- carrots
- red onion
- fresh cilantro & parsley
- dried apricots
- sliced toasted almonds & roasted sunflower seeds
- natural, drippy tahini (we love this one!)
How to store broccoli salad:
The best part about this salad is that it gets even better over time as it marinates in the delicious tahini dressing. Store it in an airtight container (or a few meal prep containers like these) for up to 5 days and enjoy all week long! It’s wonderful for both parties and meal prep, and it’s great for making the night before.
A few tips for making this healthy broccoli salad:
1. Be sure to chop your broccoli and dice your red onion super finely so that you get bursts of flavor in every bite. Having everything finely chopped will also help the dressing to coat every piece.
2. The dressing can be adapted to be as sweet as you’d like. We recommend 1/2 tablespoon of maple syrup for this broccoli salad, but taste as you go and adjust as needed.
3. Feel free to add a boost of protein! Chickpeas would be great if you’d like to keep this salad vegetarian. Adding chicken would also be delicious, or maybe even crumble some crispy bacon? YUM.
More healthy summer salads to try:
Avocado Blueberry Quinoa Salad
Summer Strawberry Spinach Salad with Avocado
Vegan Curried Broccoli Chickpea Salad
Cashew Crunch Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad
See how to make this broccoli salad:
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- Serves: 4 servings
- Serving size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 329
- Fat: 18.5g
- Saturated fat: 2.1g
- Carbohydrates: 37.0g
- Sugar: 19.3g
- Fiber: 11.1g
- Protein: 11.7g
- For the salad:
- 5-6 cups fresh broccoli florets (from 1 head of broccoli), VERY finely chopped
- 1 ¼ cups fresh blueberries
- 1 cup shredded or matchstick cut carrots
- ½ cup chopped dried turkish apricots (look for no sulfur added) or sub dried cherries/cranberries
- 1/3 cup finely diced red onion
- ½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
- ½ cup toasted sliced almonds*
- ¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds
- For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoons drippy tahini
- ½ lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice)
- 2-3 tablespoons warm water, to thin dressing
- ½ tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- In a large bowl, add finely chopped broccoli, blueberries, carrots, diced apricots, red onion, cilantro, parsley, toasted almonds and sunflower seeds. Set aside.
- Make the dressing by whisking together the following ingredients in a small bowl: tahini, lemon juice, water, maple syrup, garlic and salt and pepper. Immediately drizzle over salad and toss to combine. Garnish with extra toasted almonds and cilantro. Serve immediately or place in the fridge for later. Salad will keep well up to 5 days and is great when made ahead of time.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by Eat Love Eats
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Is there any way of making this Whole 30 friendly by eliminating the maple syrup and adding something to sweeten the dressing…maybe coconut aminos?
coconut aminos really isn’t that sweet but you can certainly sub that for the soy sauce and leave the maple syrup out, or perhaps process dates instead? or use date syrup?
I’m sure it must be challenging to face pregnancy aversions and cravings when food is so central to one’s job! Abra, I’m glad Monique has you for a partner as she navigates this. 🙂
It’s definitely a new challenge! Abra’s taste-testing skills are being put to good use 🙂
Love this salad, except i’m Not sure we like the tahini flavor. Is something else I can use instead.
Perhaps try greek yogurt! I haven’t tried it though so can’t be much help in testing out different variations.
If I don’t have tahini I sub creamy almond butter.
Another winner!! Love it- can’t wait to pack it for lunch tomorrow!!
So happy to hear that! Perfect weekday lunch.
So good! Although, I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand for the salad part so I used what I had. Made a version with quinoa, blanched broccoli, pumpkin seeds, cashews, raisins and had everything for the dressing so I kept that the same 🙂 Can’t wait to have this for a quick lunch this week!
Sounds delicious! This one’s perfect for customizing. Glad you enjoyed!
When I hit ‘print’ a printable screen opens then a print dialog but only for a mere couple of seconds then it vanishes! Too fast for me to catch it! IPad, Safari. Help!
Hi Mary! We’re working on a fix for this – thanks for the heads up!