Summer Fest is officially over and what a great way to end it with broccoli. The health benefits of broccoli are never-ending. Broccoli contains high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, folic acid, fiber and potassium. Broccoli aids in detoxification, has anti-inflammatory benefits and has anti-cancer nutrients. Broccoli is also easy to find and extremely versatile – I use it almost daily at my house.
Broccoli might be a dreaded addition to your meals at home, but is loved at mine. I have served it to my children since they could eat it and they love it. If your kids don’t like it I suggest continuing to put it on their plate and experiment with different recipes – I bet your children will love it eventually too. My daughter wouldn’t eat salad and I kept putting it on her plate and trying different dressings – she loves a homemade raspberry dressing I make. It took some time, but now she loves salad and asks for it daily. My 18 month old is starting to love salad too! Keep trying and don’t give up! =)
My mother-in-law serves a similar broccoli salad for guests and is one of my favorite things she makes. I decided to recreate a vegan version and cut down on the amount of mayo by blending an avocado to make the dressing. The avocado adds some good fats and so many nutritional benefits that mayo cannot offer – it was a good choice for this recipe. The recipe does contain a small amount of soy-free vegan mayo for the traditional flavor of the broccoli salad I love.
Next time, I would add fresh cut-up grapes instead of raisins and some cut-up apple to this salad. You an also substitute the sunflower seeds with your nut of choice – walnuts would be great – or leave the nuts out all together to decrease the fat or if you have an allergy. Also, I used Dr. F’s vinegar, but you can use all apple cider or if you think something else would work try that.
- 1 avocado
- 1 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp date syrup or pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp Dr. Fuhrman's Riesling Raisin Vinegar or other sweet vinegar
- ½ tsp minced garlic
- ½ cup unsweetened non dairy milk of choice
- 1 head broccoli, cut into bit-sized pieces
- ½ cup shredded carrot
- ½ cup red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- In a blender or food processor, add avocado, mayonnaise, date or maple syrup, lemon juice, vinegars, garlic, and non-dairy milk and blend until smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, carrots, red onion, raisins, and sunflower seeds. Add dressing to bowl and toss until well coated. Season with freshly ground black pepper and chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
My leftovers kept nicely in the fridge for two days so far, still munching on this delish dish! (after that you’re probably pushing it because of the avocado)
Enjoy!
Check out these other great recipes for Summer Fest featuring broccoli:
Lemon Broccoli
Purple Cook: Pickled
Broccoli Chips
Daily*Dishin: Quick
Broccoli and Toasted Walnut Saute
From My Corner of Saratoga: Broccoli
with Garlic-Lemon Vinaigrette
Cooking Channel: Broccoli
Stir-Fry
Virtually Homemade: Broccoli
Frittata
Zaika Zabardast: Char-Grilled Broccoli with Cherry Chilies and Garlic
Tadka
Glory Foods: Steamed
Broccoli-Vegetable Medley
Food2: Slammin’
Broccoli Soup
Easy Peasy Organic: A Hands-On
Approach to Eating Broccoli
FN Dish: Broccoli
and Cheddar, A Perfect Pair
*I received a free coupon from Earth Balance to try out their new Mindful Mayo in some of my recipes. =)
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I love broccoli salad, this looks soo good!!!
Thanks Jennie =)
xoxo
Oh Jennifer, Your salad looks absolutely wonderful. I will have to look for the Mindful Mayo at our locals. Big thanks for sharing this recipe…
Thanks Barbara =) I found Mindful Mayo at my local whole foods.
xoxo
Jen
That looks soo delicious and that too vegan. Sounds perfect. Would love to try it 🙂 Thanks.
Thanks Grishma! =)
That looks amazing. I used to love broccoli salad in my pregan days.
me too! that’s why I had to make this! =)
i love broccoli! wonderful salad recipe! i’ve never heard of the earth balance mayo before. do u like the taste? is it considered healthy?
Hi Junia,
I do like the taste! it just came out recently and it tastes just like real mayo when you get the craving! I’m feeling naughty so I’m going to make tempeh BLT’s this week. yum! it’s made wth canola oil, water, brown rice syrup, apple cider vinegar, mustard and lemon…it contains oil so it does have 9 grams of fat in 1 tbsp so use sparingly =) does that help?
I adore broccoli salad. I am not vegan, but this recipe sounds wonderful. Thanks!
Thanks Pam, if you give it a try let me know if you like it =)
xoxo
Jen
Oh this just looks so delicious!! I am a real broccoli salad fan and this looks like a real keeper of a recipe!!
This looks fantastic! I’m a huge fan of broccoli, and probably eat it just about every day. Although – I haven’t had broccoli salad in ages, and would love to try this recipe. 🙂
This is certainly very yummy and def worth a try! 🙂
xoxo
Jen
Yum! My son loves broccoli and we just got a bit more in our CSA – I’ll have to try this.
Did you ever try it Kathleen? Seems to be a big hit! 😉
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog.
Best regards Alex
Thanks for the nice compliment Alex 😉
I made this broccoli salad as part of our first vegan Thanksgiving meal, and it was absolutely wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for leaving this awesome feedback and sorry for my delayed response…took some time off blogging because of some personal issues…so now that I’m back and I’m updating recipes and looking for comments I never replied too!
xoxo
Jen
I made this tonight for dinner for my family who dis-likes the idea of vegan dishes. I didnt even tell them it was vegan and my husband, 3yr old and 1 yr old ate it all up. My brother in law even ate it and he HATES veggies… period. He said he really liked it which is a MAJOR compliment from him. So thanks for this, it will be added into the side dish rotation. (really how many times can one eat plain steamed broccoli in a month)
Hi Krisit =)
Thank you for leaving this wonderful comment…it made my day…I’m so glad your family enjoyed this, it’s a favorite over here too…you know you have a winning recipe when veggie haters like it AND eat it! I had someone love my portobello wellington and this person hates mushrooms, never touched them and couldn’t believe he was eating a mushroom and loving it..lol
=)
thanks again =)
Jen
What is with the two raisins in the ingredient list is it a typo?
Yes typo!! I fixed it thanks so much for letting me know, I transferred the recipe to a printable recipe the other day and I guess it got a little screwy 😉
Jen