Home Recipes Broccoli Crunch Salad with Parsley Dressing ~ Macheesmo

Broccoli Crunch Salad with Parsley Dressing ~ Macheesmo

January 5, 2023

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This year is the year of crunchy salads. That’s not to say you need a lot of fancy ingredients to make a great salad, but let’s just stop with the soggy lettuce and goofy salad claws. This Broccoli Crunch Salad has only a few ingredients but the flavors and more importantly, the textures are A+ delicious.

The 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 when you chop it thinly and use the broccoli stems and meatballs, it’s a lot better than you might think of when you think of broccoli.

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

Ingredients in Broccoli Crunch Salad

This is a pretty simple ingredient list and as you will see below there are lots of substitutions available.

broccoli! It’s not exactly optional. You will want fresh broccoli florets and the broccoli stems!
celery. Another great, crunchy vegetable that’s easy to chop and add to a salad.
apples. Green apples are best but any apple will do. Peel the apple and toss it with a little lemon juice to prevent browning.
Green onions. Not exactly crunchy, but they give some mild onion flavor to the salad.
Roasted peanuts. These add a salty crunch to the salad.
Feta cheese. To counter all the crunch, cream cheese helps blend everything together.
Petrocia sauce. I made a new sauce for this version, but you can use any flavorful, slightly sweet sauce like this Jalapeno Ranch Sauce or this Creamy Pecorino Sauce would be great.

How to chop broccoli

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

For the broccoli stems, peel the tough outer skin from the stem and then cut the stem into about 1/4-inch cubes.

For the flowers, this is where you can go wrong. You don’t want whole florets in the salad that are too big, but you also don’t want it cut into such small cubes that the broccoli parts fall apart. For a small or medium flower, I cut it into quarters and for a larger flower I will cut it into sixths or eighths.

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

Preparation of lemon parsley sauce

This is a wonderful dressing that will go well with any green salad. It is bright, slightly sweet and spicy. I made it in a food processor by processing 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 it well until it comes together and taste. Adjust to your taste and keep it in the fridge until you need it!

Making this Broccoli Crunch Salad

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

Layer everything in a large bowl with the feta cheese and green onions and then drizzle sauce over it when serving. I would not pre-dress this salad.

What to serve with this Broccoli Crunch Salad

This salad goes well with so many main dishes. I would serve it alongside a good pasta dish like this artichoke pasta dish or something heartier like turkey manicotti!

It would also be nice to serve it with hearty proteins like a grilled leg of lamb or my easy pork chops recipe!

Exchanges and ideas

Lots of substitutions and options for this Broccoli Crunch Salad!

Add other crunchy vegetables to the mix such as shredded carrots or cabbage or sliced red onion.
Add more sweet elements to the salad with dried fruits such as dried cranberries or cherries.
Instead of peanuts, try sunflower seeds, roasted almonds or pine nuts.

Recipe for my chopped broccoli salad