Healthy broccoli salad with raisins and sunflower seeds tossed with a homemade honey mustard dressing (no mayo!). Makes a perfect easy and healthy side dish for potlucks, picnics, and BBQs. Paleo, gluten free, and dairy free.
Day 5 of ETGveggies and we are ending strong with this healthy broccoli salad! Made with simple ingredients like broccoli, raisins, red onion, and sunflower seeds and mixed together with a homemade honey mustard dressing, you can’t go wrong!
This easy broccoli salad is legit so simple to make and with summer just around the corner, is perfect for potluck, BBQs, and picnics. The honey mustard dressing will totally have people eating more broccoli than they want to admit – I know I did haha.
And did you know broccoli is pretty much a nutritional powerhouse. Packed with fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, antioxidants, and even protein! Yep, one cup has almost 3 grams of protein!
So what’s not to like about this salad!?
One of your last objections about eating more veggies is simply not liking them. I touched on this yesterday about adding veggies into smoothies with an easy sweet potato smoothie, but let’s face it, we can’t blend up all our veggies into delicious drinks.
Sooner or later we need to face the facts that we need to eat some vegetables whether we like it or not. A really tasty and easy way to help eat some veggies is topping them with delicious sauces or dressings. You know when you were younger and the only way you ate veggies was dipped in ranch? Yeah, not like that, but kind of.
Add some Sauce to your Veggies
Sauces are one of my favorite ways to spice up meals. They make my food world go round by adding variety and flavor. It’s so easy to use protein/veggies over again when you have fun and different sauces to change up the tastes. This healthy broccoli salad does just that. It’s all tossed with a healthy honey mustard dressing that is to die for!
One thing to look out for when adding sauces to meals is the quality of ingredients. I’ll all about making them at home so you can control what goes into them. But sometimes it isn’t always possible. When buying store bought dressings or sauces, look for ones made with healthy fats from avocado or olive oil, that don’t have added sugar, and no preservatives or artificial flavors.
How to make Healthy Broccoli Salad
Broccoli salad is easy to make and makes for a healthy appetizer or side dish. It’s absolutely perfect to make for a summer picnic, potluck, or BBQ and sure to be a crowd pleaser. I mean who doesn’t like honey mustard?! Bonus that it’s loaded with veggies and healthy fats and can be made in under 10 minutes! Here is what you need:
- broccoli
- raisins
- red onion
- sunflower seeds
- honey mustard dressing (more on that below)
To make it, first whisk together the ingredients for the honey mustard. Set them aside while you cut up the broccoli and red onion. Next, add the broccoli, red onion, raisins, and sunflower seeds to a large bowl. Pour over the dressing and mix to combine – I like putting a lid on a bowl and shaking it up. Place in the fridge to chill or eat right away!
No Mayo Broccoli Salad Dressing
If there is one thing I know if in life, it is honey mustard. I kid you not. It was my absolute favorite dressing growing up and I ate a lot of it. Not just any honey mustard though, I was super particular about it. Just ask my mom – I made her buy bottles and bottles of different brands until I found some I really liked. What moms do for their kids ha 😆
Looking back, those honey mustards were full of a crap ton of weird ingredients. And little did I know it is so easy to make at home. Here is what you need for a homemade healthy honey mustard:
- avocado oil
- dijon mustard
- honey
- apple cider vinegar
- salt
Simply whisk it all and combine for a thick and creamy dressing or dip that you can use for so much more than this broccoli salad!
Tips for Broccoli Raisin Salad
Here are a few tips to help make the best broccoli salad!
- Cut the broccoli into small pieces. This way it will absorb the dressing better and it’s easier to eat.
- Make it the night before. The longer it sits, the more the dressing is absorbed in to the ingredients. The broccoli gets a little more tender and the raisins get a little more juicer!
It lasts in the fridge for up to 5 days so feel free to make it in advance or for meal prep to have on hand during the week!
More Easy Vegetable Recipes
Tomato Jicama Salad with Mangos & Jalapeños
Crispy Roasted Breakfast Potatoes
Healthy Broccoli Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
ingredients
Healthy Broccoli Salad
- 8 cup brococli florets, roughly choppped (about 2 heads/550 grams)
- 1/2 cup diced red onion (65 grams)
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- red pepper flakes, to taste
- salt and pepper, to taste
Honey Mustard Dressing
- 1/2 cup avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- salt, to taste
instructions
- Make the honey mustard. In a jar or measuring cup, add the avocado oil, djion, apple cider vinegar, honey, and salt and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Make the broccoli salad. In a large bowl, add the broccoli, red onion, raisins, sunflower seeds, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Pour over the honey mustard dressing and mix to combine. I like to use a containter that has a lid so I can shake it up. Place in the fridge to let the flavors come together or eat right away.
nutrition
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Caitlin says
I don’t know if I’ll ever make mayo based broccoli salad again. Currently counting macros and found this as an alternative to my normal Mayo based version but now it will be my go to!!
It’s also great for meal prep because it seems to just get better as it sits!
Kelly says
Yay for honey mustard! So glad you liked it, Caitlin! Thanks for trying!
Nicole says
This was so good!!! I kind of made the mistake of making it a few hours before dinner so that the broccoli would sit in the dressing for a bit. I almost ate it all before dinner! So easy and so delicious.
Kelly says
Haha! I do the same thing when making it lol! Glad you liked it Nicole and thanks for trying!