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Classic Broccoli Bacon Salad with Raisins and Cheddar Cheese is an easy and simple side dish that everybody will love! It's a perfect recipe for parties, picnics, potlucks, and barbecues!
This broccoli bacon salad is a perfect combination of everything: sweet and savory flavors, crunchy veggies, and comfort food. The salad is made with fresh broccoli and has a good amount of fiber.
If you like bacon, you'll love this refreshing salad. This recipe a great way to consume bacon in a healthier way, with some veggies. If you want to have more broccoli in your diet or just happen to have too much broccoli in your refrigerator, this is a delicious way to use it up and free up some space in your fridge!
Cooking Tips
- Use 1 head of broccoli. Trim the leaves off. Optionally, you can quickly blanch the broccoli by dipping it into the pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes. Then, chop the broccoli into small bites.
- In this recipe, I use a block of sharp Cheddar cheese, not the shredded kind. Chop up the Cheddar cheese into small cubes. It makes a nice presentation.
- Pre-cook the bacon in the oven, drain the fat, and chop it up into small bites.
- I use both dried cranberries and raisins in this broccoli salad because raisins are usually too sweet for me, so I like to add some dried cranberries that have more tartness to them.
- If you want to reduce the amount of mayo in the dressing, substitute half of mayo with sour cream. Or, for the leaner version of this salad dressing, use Greek yogurt to replace half of the mayo.
This broccoli salad with raisins and bacon is perfect for any time of the year: winter or summer, spring or fall. So easy to make - the recipe uses the most basic ingredients found in any pantry!
You can add lots of salad dressing (all of what's indicated in the recipe below) or you can add just half - let your taste dictate whether you want the salad to be more or less creamy.
Other delicious broccoli salad recipes
- Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad
- Broccoli, Cashew, Apple and Pear Salad
- Broccoli Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Broccoli Bacon Salad with Raisins and Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients
Broccoli Salad
- 1 head broccoli , with leaves trimmed off
- 8 slices bacon , cooked, crumbled
- ½ cup red onion , chopped
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- 8 ounces sharp Cheddar , cut into very small chunks
Creamy Salad Dressing:
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
How to make broccoli salad
- Wash the broccoli head. Cut the broccoli head into flowerets and small bite-size pieces. Wash them thoroughly again. Dry on paper towels.
- Add clean and dry broccoli pieces into a large mixing bowl. Add crumbled bacon, chopped onions, raisins, cranberries and sliced Cheddar cheese.
How to make creamy salad dressing
- In a separate small mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, white vinegar, and sugar and whisk until well-combined. Add the desired amount of this salad dressing to the salad and toss to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
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.
All the colors in this look so pretty! I love different salads to keep dinner exciting!
This looks fabulous Julia! Broccoli salad is one of my favorites. Love the sweetness of the dried cranberries and the saltiness of the bacon!
What an amazing combination of flavors and gorgeous vibrant photos!
excellent combo of ingredients Julia!
This is a beautiful salad and it sounds just scrumptious. I love all the vibrant color!
LOVE this salad, Julia! We have it often at our house as it's a family favorite. We just use dried cranberries (Craisins) instead of raisins. Pinned last night and pinning again! Thanks for sharing and have a fabulous Friday and weekend!
I haven't made broccoli salad since last easter! And now you have me craving it - this looks delicious!
Wow - what a beautiful salad - gorgeous colors and textures! We eat broccoli every night in our house - this would be a wonderful new way to inhale it!
We eat broccoli all the time (once a week, at least) so I'm always looking for new recipes This is terrific! Tons of flavor, and such a riot of colors. Really good stuff -- thanks.
What a beautiful and colourful salad! I love broccoli, it has to be one of my favourite vegetables. Love this raw salad.
Such an irresistible salad! It hits all the right notes with crunchy broccoli, scrumptious bacon and sweet raisins.
This salad is so inventive! It's like a favorite side dish lightened up! Can't wait to try this out - any way to fool myself into eating more broccoli is fine by me!
A colourful and beautiful salad, Julia.
I like those cheddar cheese chunks...and everything else! Beautiful salad! 🙂 ela
What a great guilt free way to eat bacon! 🙂 It looks so beautiful and I can imagine the flavours in this salad would be just amazement!!