Southern Broccoli Salad

We make a version of this at the hotel I’ve been working for,however we soak the cranberries in Earl Grey black tea for about 10 minutes before draining well and adding…personally I don’t like EG but this gives it a lovely fresh taste!

This recipe is pretty much exactly how broccoli salad gets made in my region of the Carolinas, except I personally prefer pepita (pumpkin) seeds to the sunflowers, and also think the salad's texture is better served with cheddar that's cut in tiny cubes rather than shredded.

Yum. For anyone wondering about the amount of Mayo, I only used 2 heaping tablespoons and found it to be more than enough. Delicious.

My family doesn’t care for raisins, therefore I sun in dried cranberries!! It’s a New England thing!! Give it a try

For a veg version, I omitted the bacon and used chopped smoked almonds instead of sunflower seeds!

I enjoyed this salad! I steamed the broccoli in my instant pot for about a minute, then plunged the florets in ice water. I also cooked a whole package of bacon (about 10 ounces), & crumbled it all in. I used raw sunflower seeds & I liked the crunch. I didn’t add any sugar to the dressing as I avoid sugar, and it was sweet enough for me with the golden raisins. I let the salad sit for about 4 hours in the frig and I do think that helped the flavors. A nice salad for a holiday!

A staple at all of our family picnics (albeit in New England, not the South). No sunflower seeds, although I like the idea, but quite a bit more sugar in the dressing - which is why it’s known as “candied broccoli.”

Definitely cranberries and 4 T. of sugar and 4 T. of red wine vinegar and raw broccoli. The dressing breaks down the broccoli. We don't add any cheese. This salad improves with age.

As suggested in prior notes, I did not blanch the broccoli, used dried cranberries instead of raisins, used less mayonnaise than suggested, and cubed the cheddar cheese. I preferred the sunflower seeds over pumpkin seeds. In addition, I pickled the chopped red onions since I don’t care for raw onions and added an extra tablespoon of cider vinegar since after adding the sugar, the dressing tasted too sweet to me. The resulting salad was killer good.

The blanching is fine but an unnecessary step, really, as the vinegar will lightly cook the broccoli, and this will taste just as good without it and save a step (and a pot to wash!)

No real need to blanch the broccoli, but doing so makes it turn bright green and it keeps that color better while the salad chills and sits on a buffet table, especially if it’s very warm outside.

Grew up on this stuff so figured I'd try making it myself for the 4th. I ended up using only about half the cheese and a bit less mayo than it called for. Biggest mistake was blanching the broccoli and not letting it dry enough, which created a fairly watery salad situation. Next time, will skip blanching altogether, as I'm pretty sure my mom never did when she made it, and it was always just fine, especially if you let it sit for several hours.

Raisins are great in broccoli salad. It's the only way I eat it. YUM!

This was delicious and tasted much more fresh than the broccoli salad I buy at the deli. I made this intending to stretch it out for several meals as a side so left out the bacon, cheese, and sunflower seeds until just before serving our dinner portion. Family loved it!