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This creamy Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad is a healthy version of an old faithful church cookbook recipe I grew up on. It’s easy to make, the dressing can be prepped in advance, and it’s perfect for church potlucks or family gatherings! THM S, low carb, sugar free.
You can pin this recipe here.
Updated Goodness
Ryan was hungry for broccoli salad recently so I made the one from Necessary Food and thought it tasted a little bland. Just being honest. 😛 The original was posted in 2015, 6 years ago, and my cooking skills have improved since then (I hope!) so as I revisit old recipes I often add tweaks and am starting to share those here on the blog as I quest for continual improvement and quality control. (Alliteration much?)
So I amped up the flavor, added some notes and helpful info to the recipe, took new pictures, and provided nutritional info for those of you who need that.
This recipe was updated on April 21, 2021. You can find the original recipe on page 145 of Necessary Food, my first cookbook. If you have NF, you might want to pencil in the recipe changes from this post.
Great Additions
Chopped red onion, chopped pecans, roasted sunflower seeds, chopped hardboiled eggs, red wine vinegar or lemon juice in place of part or all of the ACV – these would all be great tweaks! Change things around as desired and leave the bacon out or sub with turkey bacon if you have dietary restrictions/preferences.
Broccoli salad is one of Ryan’s favorite foods and he had no complaints about this one, although he did say, “If we were having some friends over you could put in some shreds of sharp cheddar.” So feel free to add some shredded cheese if you like…haha.
Unsweetened dried cranberries
I wanted something to mimic the raisins sometimes found in broccoli salad. Unsweetened dried cranberries can be hard to find, but you can purchase them online, at health food stores, or make your own. You can also just omit them if you prefer, or if you’re desperate and don’t mind something that’s not quite THM, soak the lower sugar Craisins in hot water to remove as much sugar as possible, then drain well before using….
The beautiful white serving dish you see in these pictures is a special keepsake from Ryan’s grandma, who passed away in the summer of 2020. She had an extensive collection of dishes and marked one for each of her grandchildren.
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for helpful info and answers to frequently asked questions!
You may also enjoy:
OTHER SALADS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
- Bacon & Cheddar Cauliflower Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad (also pg 143 Necessary Food)
- Creamy Coleslaw (pg 142 Necessary Food)
- Italian Cucumber Salad (pg 144 Necessary Food)
- Special Occasion Salad (pg 147 Necessary Food)
- Seven Layer Salad (pg 149 Necessary Food)
- Festive Broccoli Salad (pg 221 Convenient Food)
- Ranch Cucumber Salad (pg 222 Convenient Food)
- Three Bean Salad (pg 223 Convenient Food)
- Pasta Salad (pg 225 Convenient Food)
Bacon & Cheddar Cauliflower Salad
This recipe was updated on April 21, 2021. You can find the original recipe (published to the blog on November 25, 2015) on page 145 of Necessary Food, my first cookbook. If you have NF, you might want to pencil in the recipe changes from this post.
Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 16
Description
This creamy Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad is a healthy version of an old faithful church cookbook recipe I grew up on. It’s easy to make, the dressing can be prepped in advance, and it’s perfect for church potlucks or family gatherings! THM S, low carb, sugar free.
Broccoli salad is one of Ryan’s favorite foods and he had no complaints about this one, although he did say, “If we were having some friends over you could put in some shreds of sharp cheddar.” So feel free to add some shredded cheese if you like…haha.
The dressing can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, but wait to mix up the salad until soon before serving.
Not feeding a crowd? Just make a partial batch OR just assemble what you need for one meal. (It’s best fresh – leftovers will soften in the fridge but are still good the next day.)
Ingredients
DRESSING:
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons THM Super Sweet Blend (to taste)
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
SALAD:
- 10–12 cups chopped broccoli and cauliflower*
- ½ – 1 cup unsweetened dried cranberries
- 1 2.5-ounce package bacon bits or ½ cup cooked and crumbled bacon (feel free to add more!)
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
Instructions
*NOTE: You can also make this with just broccoli (as I did when I took these pictures). I chopped up broccoli florets by hand to the size I wanted them, then put the stems into my Tupperware Smooth Chopper to chop them pretty small and added those too so as not to waste them. It worked great!
DRESSING: You can prepare the dressing ahead of time. Whisk the ingredients together, then taste and adjust the sweetener and vinegar as desired. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
ASSEMBLY: Not long before serving, mix together the chopped broccoli/cauliflower, cranberries, bacon, onion, and dressing (to the desired wetness – you may not need it all). Feel free to add more chopped broccoli/cauliflower to stretch the salad and dressing if you don’t mind a drier salad. This dressing is plenty for the amount of broccoli/cauliflower listed.
This broccoli & cauliflower salad is like coleslaw in that it’s best the day of assembly but still good the next day – just not as fresh and crunchy,
Notes
You can add 1/8 to ¼ cup of mustard to the dressing and thin it out a little to make a honey mustard salad dressing! You might want to add a little extra sweetener as well.
Use reduced fat sour cream in place of some of the mayo for a lower calorie salad if you like! (not dairy free, obviously)
Additions: Chopped red onion, chopped pecans, roasted sunflower seeds, chopped hardboiled eggs, red wine vinegar or lemon juice in place of part or all of the ACV – these would all be great tweaks! Change things around as desired and leave the bacon out or sub with turkey bacon if you have dietary restrictions/preferences.
Sweetener: Feel free to use your favorite low glycemic sweetener to taste in place of the THM Super Sweet Blend.
Unsweetened dried cranberries: I wanted something to mimic the raisins sometimes found in broccoli salad. Unsweetened dried cranberries can be hard to find (and expensive), but you can purchase them online, at health food stores, or make your own. You can also just omit them if you prefer, or if you’re desperate and don’t mind something that’s not quite THM, soak the lower sugar Craisins in hot water to remove as much sugar as possible, then drain well before using….
Allergy info: Gluten free, dairy free, and nut free as written (use non-contaminated ingredients)
This recipe was updated on April 21, 2021. You can find the original recipe (published to the blog on November 25, 2015) on page 145 of Necessary Food, my first cookbook. If you have NF, you might want to pencil in the recipe changes from this post.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Category: Salads
- Method: Stir
- Cuisine: THM S, low carb, sugar free
Keywords: trim healthy mama, thm, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, low carb broccoli recipes, low carb cauliflower recipes
I’ve been MIA for a few years and getting ready to jump back in. I’ve seen a few posts that you are updating some Necessary Foods recipes. Do you have a dedicated post for these updates in one spot so I can update my book?
You can find a list of all the tweaks at the bottom of this page. 🙂 https://www.briana-thomas.com/cookbook-resources/
This sounds delicious. I will make it soon but have a question about the dried cranberries. Are we allowed these now THM recipes? Thanks!!
Unsweetened dried cranberries have always been on plan. 🙂 You can make them yourself or find them at health food stores. Most storebought Craisins have quite a bit of sugar in them, so those are off plan (although I’ve soaked them in warm water before to remove most of the sugar and used them in recipes as a personal choice).
Dear Brianna,
I hope you can get some strawberries from south Louisiana-near Baton Rouge. They are sooo good. I live near Tyler, Texas and enjoy reading your blog. We have been to Lancaster Co several times and to Holmes Co at least a dozen times. The places you mention are familiar to me. We were there in October and brought a bushel of apples back from Hillcrest Orchards in Walnut Creek. Hope you can enjoy your time of living in this part of the country. You might want to look into adapting Cajun and Creole recipes. I would highly recommend a trip to Natchitoches, LA So much history and charm there. ,
Hi there! Thanks for the travel suggestion; we’ll have to look up Natchitoches!
Briana I’m out of Gentle Sweet. Have you made this with super sweet?
I haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. 🙂 I suggest powdering the Sweet Blend first to make sure it dissolves properly (and of course you’ll only need to use half as much).
Any tips on what to look for in a good mayonnaise?
Look for something with minimal fillers and added sugar. 🙂 if you’re dedicated in the kitchen, you could always try to make your own as well. I haven’t done it yet, but I’d like to try sometime!
If you have a good blender, mayonnaise isn’t scary! It’s only hard if you have to blend it by hand, dripping the oil in one droplet at a time. With a good blender, you don’t even have to pre-blend the other ingredients before you add the oil – throw them all in and hit the button.
There’s a good recipe in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook (it’s also online, if you search for Nourishing Traditions mayonnaise), but it does require the eggs to be at room temperature. (Put your cold eggs in a bowl of warm water and they’ll heat up very quickly.) There’s also an easy recipe in the Against All Grain book “Meals Made Simple” that I like. It has a couple different ingredients, but is still oh so easy.
One of the nice things about making your own mayo, is that, usually speaking, if you want to go on and make a ranch dressing, you can just add the rest of the ingredients to your already dirty from making mayo, still has the mayo in it, blender. Let’s hear it for fewer dirty dishes! 😀
This is one of our favorite salads. We like ours with shredded cheddar in place of the cranberries. Yum.