Easy Broccoli Salad

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Easy Broccoli Salad is filled with fresh broccoli, crunchy bacon bits and sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and a simple homemade dressing.

This salad is perfect any time of the year for almost any occasion!

Easy broccoli salad with bacon bits in a white bowl.

A favorite salad

This is one of my most requested recipes from family and friends. A friend first introduced it to me years ago. I've been making it ever since, and it's my husband's favorite salad.

I make it for family dinners, camping trips, parties, and weddings. My niece requested it on her wedding dinner buffet (we catered the wedding and served more than 100 people). Recently, I made it for a large family gathering of about 50 people. This is one of those salads that's easy to make for 8 people but manageable for 100 people. I'm sharing my basic recipe below and all my tips for making this for a crowd.

Why you'll love broccoli salad

Fresh and Crunchy Texture: Broccoli salad combines the crisp crunch of fresh broccoli with sunflower seeds, crispy bacon, and dried cranberries making each bite satisfying and flavorful.
A Perfect Balance of Flavors: Combining fresh broccoli, savory bacon, and a tangy, slightly sweet dressing creates a delicious mix of flavors that keeps every bite exciting.
Nutritious and Wholesome: Packed with vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants, broccoli salad is a healthy side dish that’s as nourishing as it is delicious, perfect for meals or potlucks.

Ingredients for broccoli salad

Ingredients for making a salad with broccoli.

Fresh Broccoli - You'll need two heads of broccoli. The total weight will be between 1 ½ - 2 pounds before you've trimmed them.
Bacon - I prefer to cook my bacon for this recipe, but you could also use packaged bacon bits. I use four strips of thick bacon.
Sunflower Seeds - Use roasted and salted sunflower seeds.
Dried Cranberries - Adds the perfect sweet and tart flavor.
Red Onions - You could also use a white onion or a sweet onion if you prefer.
Mayonnaise - Base for the dressing. Use your favorite mayo.
Apple Cider Vinegar - Or use white wine vinegar.
Sugar - Helps balance the flavor of the dressing.

Steps to make broccoli salad

Chopping broccoli into bite-sized pieces.

Chop broccoli into bite-sized pieces.

Mix dressing together by combining mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.

A glass bowl filled with broccoli, bacon, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries.

Place broccoli, onions, bacon, sunflower seeds, and cranberries in a large mixing bowl.

Dressing poured over the top of broccoli salad.

Add dressing to salad and gently fold everything together so it is well mixed.

Broccoli topped with a dressing and bacon bits.

Top with additional bacon bits and sunflower seeds.

Recipe tips

Cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces.
If you prefer a sweeter dressing, add an additional tablespoon of sugar to the dressing.
Save a small amount of sunflower seeds and bacon bits to add to the top of the salad as a garnish.
I prefer to make and serve this salad on the same day.
If making more than 2-3 hours ahead of time, add the sunflower seeds and bacon just before serving. This helps maintain their crunch.
Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

♨️ How to mellow a strong onion

To reduce the sharpness of red onion, soak the chopped pieces in cold water for 10 minutes. This simple step helps mellow its strong, pungent flavor.

To make for 100 people

Broccoli salad is a great salad to serve for a crowd. You can easily double, quadruple, or multiply this recipe to any size you need. When making for a large crowd, there are a few tips I follow.

Plan ahead. Write out the amounts you'll need for each ingredient and make a grocery list.
Prep everything at least one day ahead of time and store in separate containers.
The broccoli should only be washed and cut one day ahead of time. Any earlier and the cut stems may begin to darken.
- I used 20-25 pounds of broccoli. When it was all cut up it filled a seven-gallon container. I included more of the stem pieces than I normally would. This helped stretch the broccoli. For the stems, I cut the dried cut end off the bottom and discarded it. Then I diced the softer parts of the stem.
Make certain you have a large enough container to hold the broccoli and a container to mix everything together.
When adding the dressing, don't add it all at once. Add it in small batches then mix. There's a chance you won't need to use all of the dressing.
Try to keep the proportions about the same. But don't worry if you end up with a bit more bacon or a bit less sunflower seeds. I just added them in.
To save space when transporting, place the fully mixed salad in large zip-top bags and then lay flat in a cooler. The salad can be dumped straight out of the bag into your serving bowl.