Armed with an industrial sized bag of broccoli florets from my local whole sale club and tired of steamed broccoli I present Chilled Broccoli Salad!
The idea is inspired by the buffet style broccoli salads you may see at a party or event. Except I skipped the mayo, limited the cheese and bacon, replaced the sugar with Stevia and added some carrots for color. I LOVED the results and I kind of wish I made more, so feel free to double!
I can't lie, I made this for myself and I ate the whole batch slowly throughout the morning! It's GONE!
Ingredients
- 3 cups raw broccoli florets (273g)
- ½ cup of carrots grated/shredded
- ¼ cup diced sweet or red onion
- 2 tablespoon real bacon bits (14g)
- 1 oz fancy shredded cheddar cheese or a Mexican cheese blend
- ½ cup non-fat unflavored yogurt (114g)
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½-1 teaspoon powdered Stevia extract (based on taste – used for sweetening)
Instructions
If you like, blanch the broccoli. Bring a pot of water to a boil, drop in the broccoli then remove after a minute and place in a large bowl of ice cold water.
Place the broccoli, carrots, onion, bacon bits, and cheese in to a medium-large bowl.
In a smaller bowl whisk the yogurt, vinegars and stevia to make the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture. Stir to coat and refrigerate for a at least 10 minutes.
Serve!
📖 Recipe
Chilled Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups raw broccoli florets 273g
- ½ cup of carrots grated/shredded
- ¼ cup diced sweet or red onion
- 2 tablespoon real bacon bits 14g
- 1 oz fancy shredded cheddar cheese or a Mexican cheese blend
- ½ cup non-fat unflavored yogurt 114g
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½-1 teaspoon powdered Stevia extract based on taste – used for sweetening
Instructions
- If you like, blanch the broccoli. Bring a pot of water to a boil, drop in the broccoli then remove after a minute and place in a large bowl of ice cold water.3 cups raw broccoli florets
- Place the broccoli, carrots, onion, bacon bits, and cheese in to a medium-large bowl.½ cup of carrots grated/shredded, ¼ cup diced sweet or red onion, 2 tablespoon real bacon bits, 1 oz fancy shredded cheddar cheese or a Mexican cheese blend
- In a smaller bowl whisk the yogurt, vinegars and stevia to make the dressing.½ cup non-fat unflavored yogurt, 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, ½-1 teaspoon powdered Stevia extract
- Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture. Stir to coat and refrigerate for a at least 10 minutes.
Rebekah
Yummmm. I blanched the florets for 30 seconds, omitted the bacon and cheese, and used full-fat yogurt. I also cut the vinegar in half because my husband isn't such a big fan. 🙂 Since I had no stevia I used a tablespoon of honey, and I felt that it needed a good 1/4 teaspoon of salt. So yes, I made some tweaks-- but it was delicious!
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
I have a recipe similar to this that I use cauliflower instead of carrots and sour cream instead of yogurt and I LOVE it! I love adding just a touch of bacon to it! Thanks!
Becci
Holy moley, I am sooo excited to have lunch tomarow! I just made this and had a quick taste - it was fantastic, I may eat the whole thing!
Becci
roni
Hi Coleen!
Glad you like it! :~) It's so much fun archiving recipes, isn't it!
Thanks for commenting!
-Roni
Coleen
Wow, this is a great blog! Likely to be one of my faves!! I too have been posting meals and recipes as wellas the pictures of the end result. Just so people can see what I am eating. I will be adding this one to my blog roll for sure!!!
Thanks!!
roni
Carolyn - I have some in the GLB store under baking products..
https://greenlitebites.com/the-glb-store/
I bought mine at Trader Joe's and I've even seen it at Walmart. It's not with the sweeteners it's normally with the organic stuff or supplements.
Hope that helps!
Carolyn Brooks
Where can you find stevia?
Shannan
I used to make the regular version of this salad, and everyone loved it, but it was pretty fattening. I think I'll give this one a try. Can you find stevia in the same section as the splenda, or is it only in specialty stores? Maybe I'll look online.
Oh, and with the regular version, since it sat in the fridge for hours before serving and got soggy anyway, I'd use the frozen broccoli florets (well-drained). Would that work with this recipe, or should it be fresh broccoli? Thanks for posting this!
roni
Becci - Of course! I'm just too lazy to buy it now that I figured out the bacon bits trick! LOL
roni
Lacey - Great idea! I was going to do raisins but I didn't have any!
Becci
Ohhh, this sounds so good!
Lacey, I love the idea of craisins.
Roni, would turkey bacon work?
Can't wait to try this one on my co-workers at the next potluck 🙂
roni
kyree90 - Sure! Splenda would be fine but you'd have to increase the amount a bit. Stevia is super sweet.
Rachel
This looks SO good!!!!
Mrs. Jelly Belly
This has always been one of my favorite salads. I love your version and can't wait to give it a try. Oh, and by the way, I would have eaten the whole thing myself as well. 🙂
Thanks!
kyree90
Sounds delicious. Think I'll make some after my next trip to the grocery store. (I need to buy some bacon bits first.)
Would it be OK to use Splenda instead of Stevia? I have that on hand already.
Lacey
This looks so good Roni, I can't wait to try it. I think i'll add some craisins too for a little bit of sweet and chew, I love them in salads.
erin
I'm a big fan of stevia - it's nice to see it used in recipes instead of splenda or other not so good artificial sweeteners.