Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apples, Pears, and Cranberries

Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apples, Pears, and Cranberries is tossed with the most delicious homemade creamy salad dressing. This is an easy and healthy recipe packed with fruits and veggies.

The salad has an amazing texture thanks to the crunchy cashews, fresh vegetables, and fruits! The easy creamy salad dressing is made with mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), honey, and lemon juice! If you love broccoli salad, be sure to check out these 2 delicious salads: broccoli bacon salad and creamy broccoli and cauliflower salad.

This broccoli cashew salad is a healthy recipe that you can make any time of the year, but especially during the winter season to get a boost of antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber!  It's easy-to-make, and it keeps well refrigerated. A great choice for family weeknight dinners, barbecues, potlucks, and parties!

Salad dressing

Whenever I make a broccoli salad, I love combining mayo and sour cream together for a creamy salad dressing and it's a lovely flavor combination! If you don't like sour cream (or don't have it), feel free to use kefir or Greek yogurt in place of sour cream for an equally good flavor! I also add lemon juice, honey, and salt. Make sure to soften the honey (by heating it up gently) before adding it to other salad dressing ingredients, to make sure it blends in smoothly.

How to make broccoli cashew salad

Broccoli salad is all about chopping up the fresh veggies and fruits and then combining them in a large bowl with a salad dressing.  That's it!

1. Cut broccoli into small, bite-sized pieces.
2. Chop up a cored apple, cored pear, red onion.
3. In a large bowl, combine chopped up broccoli, apples, pear, red onions, cranberries, and cashews.
4. In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), lemon juice, honey, and salt.  Tip: honey should be soft and runny.  Warm it up if needed, so that it mixes easily.
5. Add in the dressing and stir everything together.

Variations and substitutions

• Cauliflower. If you want to mix things up, use an equal amount of cauliflower to replace the half amount of broccoli.
• Nuts. Many types of nuts will work here. Use pecans, peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, or pistachios instead of cashews.
• Dried fruit. Dried cranberries work great in this recipe, and so do dried cherries, raisins, or dried blueberries.
• Fresh Fruit.  The mix of fresh apples and pears works beautifully here, but you can go just with apples or just with pears.
• Salad dressing.  For the salad dressing, combine together mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, honey, and salt.   You can lighten up the dressing by replacing some of the mayo or sour cream with kefir or Greek yogurt.

Other Broccoli Salad Recipes to Try

• Broccoli Bacon Salad
• Creamy Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad
• Creamy Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad with Corn and Bacon
• Broccoli Bacon Salad with Pecans, Cranberries, Raisins
• Broccoli Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

4.72 from 734 votes

Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apples and Pears

Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apple, Pear, and Cranberries. The homemade dressing is made with mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), honey, and lemon juice! Easy and delicious broccoli salad - perfect for home dinners, potlucks, barbecues, and parties!

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings 8 servings

Calories per serving 338 kcal

Author: Julia

Ingredients

Salad:

• 5 cups broccoli florets chopped into small bites
• 1 apple cored and diced
• 1 pear (firm, not soft), cored and diced
• ¼ cup red onion diced
• 1 cup cashews toasted or roasted
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Creamy Salad Dressing:

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup sour cream or kefir or Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup honey softened or warmed up
• ¼ teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

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Instructions 

• In a large bowl, combine together chopped broccoli, diced apple, diced pear, diced red onion, cashews (toasted or roasted) and dried cranberries.
• In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), lemon juice, honey, and salt. Note that honey should be soft and runny, warm it up if needed, so that it mixes easily. Whisk the ingredients until well combined and smooth. Add salt if needed.
• Add the dressing to the broccoli salad and stir everything together.

Notes

• How to roast raw cashews. I used raw cashews for this recipe, and I toasted them in the oven. Roast raw cashews in the preheated oven at 350 F on a rimmed baking sheet for 10 minutes or longer. Unlike other nuts, cashews can take more than 10 minutes to get roasted. They should change color and turn rich golden brown. Depending on your oven and your oven settings, that can take between 10 and 15 minutes (or even up to 20 minutes in some ovens). Move them around once or twice so that they roast evenly on all sides. You can also purchase pre-roasted cashews - they do not need roasting.
• Pears. Choose pears that are firmer in texture and to the touch. Otherwise, they might get mushy in this salad. I used firm pears without any soft spots or visible bruising on the skin. The same applies to apples. 

Nutrition

Nutrition Information

Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apples and Pears

Amount per Serving

Calories

338

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

21

g

32

%

Saturated Fat

 

5

g

31

%

Trans Fat

 

1

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

8

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

7

g

Cholesterol

 

13

mg

4

%

Sodium

 

195

mg

8

%

Potassium

 

382

mg

11

%

Carbohydrates

 

38

g

13

%

Fiber

 

4

g

17

%

Sugar

 

26

g

29

%

Protein

 

5

g

10

%

Vitamin A

 

471

IU

9

%

Vitamin C

 

55

mg

67

%

Calcium

 

57

mg

6

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition Disclaimer:

The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Keyword broccoli cashew salad, broccoli salad