Vegan Broccoli Salad

This vegan fruity broccoli salad is a perfect side dish for your quick dinner. Vegan Broccoli salad is not only easy and quick to prepare but is loaded with vitamins, minerals. And hence a perfectly healthy salad.

This broccoli salad is not only vegan, gluten-free but also healthy as well. In fact, salads are healthy but again since this salad has no mayo and no fat, this is healthier than other mayo-based salads. The fruity vegan broccoli salad is tangy, sweet with crunchy bites. Perfect to serve in any potluck, get-together party, dinner party, etc.

Even if you don’t like raw broccoli salad, must try this vegan broccoli salad once. You will love it too. This salad is made with light salad dressing and you will not regret it if you are on a low-fat diet.

I never liked to eat raw veggies before. I don’t like actually and never tried before raw broccoli. But this fruity broccoli salad tastes so good when it absorbs the favors. Now I love this simple broccoli salad and I make that once a week. I loved it. It never felt like eating a raw vegetable. And once it soaks up the flavor of the vinaigrette, it’s like only crunchy flavourful bites what I eat.

However, you can also add creamy cashew dressing to your broccoli salad

Broccoli – Nutrition & Health Benefits

Broccoli is a superfood for a good number of reasons. This vegetable is a low-carb and low-calorie vegetable. It belongs to the cruciferous family just like cauliflower, kale, etc. And no doubt this is equally healthy like other members of the cruciferous family.

Broccoli is a storehouse of many vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. This versatile vegetable can be added in cooked or raw form for a healthy diet. Also, read my collection of healthy broccoli recipes (Vegan/vegetarian) on the blog.

This is also a rich source of antioxidants and antioxidants help in reducing the damage caused by free radicals and improves our immunity against many chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, renal diseases, etc. (Source)

Health benefits of broccoli:

• Protects healthy cells from free radicals and reduces the chances of many chronic diseases.

• Helps in blood sugar control and improves diabetic condition.

• High fiber helps in the proper excretion of bad cholesterol thus keeping the heart healthy and prevents cardiac diseases.

• High fiber keeps the digestive system and the gut clean, healthy with proper bowel movement and excretion of fat.

• This also helps in less absorption of fat and helps in weight loss. Also reduces constipation.

• May have a protective effect on brain tissues and supports healthy brain function.

Why this vegan broccoli salad is so good?

And more than anything, this has my favorite broccoli and no mayo, no cream, no fat. So a healthy salad or side dish for your dinner. I will tell you why you will love my fruity vegan broccoli salad.

• Great side dish

• Has goodness of fruits also

• Easy to make

• Quick 10 minutes dish

• Perfect combination of flavors

• Vegan, gluten-free, soy-free

• No mayo, no cream, no nuts, no fat

• Customize to WFPB easily

• Simple salad dressing

All the reason makes me prepare this at least once every week. You can try this simple fruity vegan broccoli salad with simple salad dressing.

Some delicious broccoli recipes:

• Broccoli tater tots

• Broccoli cheddar soup

• Buffalo broccoli

• Oven-roasted broccoli

• Broccoli mushroom soup

You can read here the other vegan broccoli recipes.

Can I refrigerate this vegan broccoli salad?

Absolutely yes. This tastes even better when we leave it for some hours as the flavors get really soaked up by the veggies and fruits. This salad goes best for 4 – 5 days in the refrigerator.

How to cut broccoli for this raw broccoli salad?

Since this broccoli salad has raw broccoli, the best way to chop the broccoli into smaller chunks. Larger bites also may not absorb the flavors of dressing properly and will have a chewy texture. It may not be a pleasant experience.

Cut the hard end of the stalk. Divide the broccoli head into bite-sized florets with stalks. Again from the florets cut out the tender stalks. Now cut the tender stalks into juliennes or small pieces. Now again the florets into small chunks by a sharp chef’s knife.

Vegan Broccoli Salad

This is an easy broccoli salad with a combination of some sweet tangy fruits and simple red wine vinaigrette.

Ingredients-

Broccoli + apple + red pepper + tangerine/ mandarin/ orange + red onion

Broccoli – 1 raw broccoli head. If you don’t like raw broccoli, microwave it for 2 minutes or in the instant pot (instant pot broccoli).

Apple – Add a variety of apple like red, green apples to have a vibrant color and the crunchy bites to the salad.

Red pepper – Red pepper adds a crunchy bite to the salad. Add any pepper to the salad.

Orange – Add any kind of orange for a sweet, tangy flavor to the salad.

Onion – Red onions finely chopped.

For vinaigrette :

Red wine vinegar + maple syrup + extra virgin olive oil + Dijon mustard + garlic powder + dried oregano + salt + pepper

You can replace red wine vinegar with apple cider vinegar also.

To make this WFPB, remove olive oil and add 2 tbsp orange juice (fresh)

Instructions: –

Chop the broccoli, onion, apple, red pepper into fine pieces. Transfer them to a mixing bowl. Remove the seeds of oranges.

Now take a jar and mix the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Close the lid and shake well to mix the ingredients nicely.

Now pour the salad dressing into the broccoli and fruit mix bowl. Give them a nice toss. Let the salad rest for 15- 30 minutes before serving so that all flavors will mix up nicely. However, you can serve it immediately as well.

Can I make ahead the salad?

Absolutely you can prep the ingredients and refrigerate them in an air-tight box. Similarly, the vinaigrette stays good for 5 -6 days when stored properly in the refrigerator. Keep it in a glass bottle or jar closed with a lid. Remove and mix both just before 30 – 60 minutes before serving. It will allow to soak up the flavors nicely but won’t make the veggies soggy.

How to store the leftover salad?

If you have added the dressing and a lot of leftover in hand, you still can store it for 1 – 2 days in the refrigerator. But don’t expect any crunchiness from the salad. But at the same time, the salad will be totally flavor-infused and juicy texture. To add crunch you can add freshly chopped onions, fresh apple chunks, or any other fresh fruits instantly.

Can I make this salad creamy yet vegan?

Yes, you can add vegan cashew cream dressing to the salad in place of vinaigrette. The flavor will be totally different. You can also add avocado cilantro dressing also in this salad to make it complete WFPB.

Recipe Card for Vegan Broccoli Salad

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