Bacon and Apple Broccoli Salad
Bacon and Apple Broccoli Salad is the perfect potluck or summer picnic side dish loaded with bacon, almonds, and sweet apples! You can prep this side dish salad with the homemade dressing in less than 20 minutes.
Finally we can talk about spring and summer salads! This Bacon and Apple Broccoli Salad is my go-to side dish when the warm weather hits. Doesn’t broccoli salad just scream “summer picnic”?
I can totally make a meal out of summer salads, anyone else? I have eaten my macaroni coleslaw salad for lunch on several occasions. It’s always nice to have a few go-to recipes in your back pocket for those summer picnic invites.
Having a good salad that won’t melt in the heat when sitting out for a bit is always a good idea. My recipe for Dad’s Potato Salad also holds up very well in the summer. This broccoli salad doesn’t get mushy when sitting out and tastes just as good right out of the fridge as it does at room temperature.
Much like my Creamy Cashew Chicken Rotini Salad, I actually have found that the longer this broccoli salad has to sit in the refrigerator, the better the flavors of the dressing and the onion really seem to shine. It also subdues the onion flavor a bit as red onion can tend to be very strong in cold salads sometimes!
A couple little tips:
I have heard over the years is if you want the broccoli to stay a vibrant green you can blanch it. You boil it and then transfer it to an ice water bath briefly before draining. My broccoli always seems to stay bright green so I haven’t done this, but it’s good to note.
Also, you can make it even easier and buy the already cooked bacon in the refrigerator section and crumble into pieces instead of cooking your own. If you are more of a ham or salami fan, try my Make-Ahead Eight Layer Salad.
Enjoy!
Check out my how-to video of me making the recipe for this Bacon and Apple Broccoli Salad!
- 2 large heads fresh broccoli
- 1 small red onion, diced
- ½ lb bacon
- ¾ cup craisins
- 1 red apple, cored and chopped (not peeled)
- ¾ cup sliced/slivered almonds
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- Cook bacon in a deep skillet over medium high heat until evenly brown. Place on a paper towel-lined plate to cool and them crumble.
- Cut the broccoli into bite-size pieces. Combine with the bacon, red onion, raisins, almonds, and apples and mix well.
- To prepare the dressing, whisk the mayonnaise, sugar, white wine vinegar, salt & pepper together until well incorporated.
- Stir into the salad, toss to combine, let chill and serve. Enjoy!
Bacon? Say no more! 🙂 Love the stuff, and love it in salads. This looks really good — thanks.
oh wow, you remind me this is summer salad I have on my age around :P.
Thank you for sharing a couple of little tips to the broccoli to stay a vibrant green by blanch it. I haven’t done this before but I have to try.
How can I get out the stuff of bacon salad? This is the best way to mix all of my favorite food as broccoli bacon on the fresh, favorable dish like salad. Thank you for sharing.
This looks so delicious and refreshing. Have you ever tried making it without the sugar completely? Or do you know what else might work? I don’t want to consume the added sugar and I also have diabetics in my family. Thanks!
I am also diabetic and skip gratuitous sugar in recipes. In this one I use Splenda. Equal substitution to sugar. This was delicious.
Delicious!