Keto Broccoli Salad

By FoodfaithfitnessMay 29, 2024Jump to Recipe

Put a new spin on “eating your greens” by putting this Keto Broccoli Salad onto your plate!

Table of Contents

A delicious, colorful salad is one of the cornerstones of any good diet! Making sure you get all of those nutritious vegetables in one bowl can mean anything from zucchini noodle pasta salad (complete with berry antioxidants!) to classic orzo salad. You might look at a salad and determine that the only thing that makes a good salad, then, must be that it is nutritious—but that’s just not true!

Judge a salad by its fundamentals: Greenness, Sweetness, Crunchiness, Creaminess, and Dressing.

Greenness refers to the color and nutritional value of the salad, found in the greenest of bases from lettuce to spinach, from arugula to kale! Darker greens are typically more bitter, but they’re better for you!

Sweetness refers to the natural sweetness of the salad’s ingredients! That’s fresh berries and/or tomatoes, nuts, and even dried fruits like those in summer salads!

Crunchiness refers to the tactility of the mouthfeel! You want crunchy greens and, sometimes, an added bite! That can come from nuts or croutons, quinoa, or red onion!

Creaminess refers to the necessary counterbalance to crunchiness! Be it in the form of shredded and grated cheeses, or the addition of hard-boiled eggs or meats, something soft, smooth, and savory is needed to balance that crunchiness!

Dressings, perhaps obviously, refers to the vinaigrettes and oils used to decorate and complement your salads.

Our keto broccoli salad provides the best of all of the fundamental traits of a satisfying salad. Today’s recipe is full of nutritious greens, slightly sweetened by all-natural sugar substitutes, chock-full of crunchy nuts, bacon, and sunflower seeds, smoothed by creamy cheddar, and finished with a dollop of mayo and a drizzle of vinaigrette! Tasty, healthy, and all you could ever ask of a salad!

Is Keto Broccoli Salad Healthy?

Our keto broccoli salad is delicious and good for you, with the vitamins and minerals in broccoli (like vitamin A and calcium) along with nourishing nutrition from bright red onions and probiotics in vinegar.

This salad features bacon, cheddar, and sour cream, making it a prime protein source (especially as far as salads are concerned). If you want a vegan keto broccoli salad, you’ll need to swap out a few things. An alternative to bacon that I almost always suggest is classic bacon bits! Most commercial bacon bits are made from soy, making them perfect vegan substitutes. Be sure, though, to inspect the ingredients list first. And if they violate your vegan diet, use tempeh.

Vegan cheese is in almost any grocery store you can find today, just look for something with the same sharpness as classic cheddar cheese (and shred it yourself if possible!). Sour cream is hard to replicate in vegan dishes. Some suggest using silken tofu for the protein and flexibility! That silky white soybean curd almost has the same consistency as sour cream, too! Mayonnaise contains eggs, and while you could buy vegannaise as a substitute, the mayo in this recipe serves as oil and binder to complement our selection of vinegar. Try mustard seed! It’s a vegan alternative perfect for salads!

So, all Scrumptious Salads Satisfy These Standards?

Every good salad features an ingredient that satisfies at least one of the fundamentals listed above. A fantastic chef’s salad, for instance, will use lettuce, cherry tomatoes, croutons, egg, and serve it alongside a house dressing! Simple options like Caesar salads will use the same foundational flavors (in the form of darker greens, lemon juice, croutons, Parmesan, and Dijon) to achieve elegant eats! Summer salads are perhaps the most obvious rule-following salads on the market, with colorful leafy greens, sweet berries and/or raisins, optionally candied nuts, blue cheese crumbles, and vinaigrette finishes!

Not all salads match up to our satisfying standards, but all satisfying salads match all five fundamental factors to bring you to delicious (and nutritious) bliss!

INGREDIENTS

6 slices bacon
4 cups broccoli florets, diced into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup nuts of choice, chopped
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon powdered erythritol or keto-friendly sweetener

INSTRUCTIONS

Crisp

Cook and prepare bacon.

Whisk

Combine dressing ingredients.

Toss

Mix salad components with dressing.

Chill

Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Devour!

FAQs & Tips

How do I prep and store this salad?

Because broccoli floret salad is served chilled, making it ahead of time and storing it in the fridge for later is almost essential to its optimal presentation! Make sure your storage container is covered (so that your keto broccoli salad doesn’t pick up any unwanted flavors or aromas from its fridge neighbors) and serve freshly chilled!

I’m not a fan of broccoli, does the “greenness” of my salad have to be literally green?

Not at all! Broccoli and cauliflower have similar nutrition compositions and cauliflower typically doesn’t have the same bitterness associated with darker greens! If cauliflower appeals to you more than our suggested (or any other typical) greens, by all means, use it!

Can this be made into a classic pasta salad?

Yes! Broccoli stands in as a green alternative to most pasta salad bases for keto versions of those recipes, so pasta can serve as a fine alternative for broccoli, too! You’ll want to ensure that your chosen pasta has a ridged shape to really catch your dressings—we’re talking rotini, farfalle, and gemelli pasta!

Serving Suggestions

Though this keto broccoli salad is fundamentally satisfying all on its own, it also serves as a delicious side for other keto favorites! Serve it alongside—or even top it with—keto chicken tenders from the air fryer! Salads can get messy (it’s part of their charm!) so perhaps it will pair nicely with a sloppy joe (also keto!). If you’re scrapped for ideas to make a creative keto couple, try any one of our 20 easy keto dinners!

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