This Broccoli Crunch Salad is my favorite salad to make for the summer. It's complete with fresh broccoli, sweet dried cranberries, and a creamy dressing that is made with whole foods plant-based ingredients. This salad is perfect for healthy meal prepping or as a healthy side dish for summer!
After seeing how delicious sunflower seed butter tastes in savory recipes like my Sunflower Seed Risotto and Nut-Free Vegan Mac And Cheese, I knew it was time to create a healthy salad recipe featuring my favorite seed butter.
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Jump to:
- Broccoli Crunch Salad Ingredients:
- How To Make This Crunchy Broccoli Salad:
- Substitutions:
- Broccoli Crunch Salad Variations:
- What You Will Need To Make This Broccoli Salad Recipe:
- How To Store This Broccoli Crunch Salad:
- Top Tip:
- Frequently Asked Questions:
- Related Healthy Vegan Salads:
- Chopped Broccoli Crunch Salad
- Food Safety:
- More Vegan Recipes With Broccoli:
Broccoli Crunch Salad Ingredients:
This Easy Broccoli Crunch Salad is one of my favorite raw vegan salad recipes because it is sweet, savory, crunchy, and healthy all at the same time. It only requires a handful of easy-to-find ingredients, and doesn't require much prep!
Broccoli Mixture:
- Fresh Broccoli - You can use pre-cut or whole broccoli crowns and chop them into small pieces yourself. If raw broccoli hurts your stomach, you can lightly steam the broccoli florets. This will make the broccoli easier to digest, and it won't hurt your stomach as much.
- Red Onion - Any onion will work perfectly. If you don't love raw onions, you can use pickled red onions.
- Carrots - You can buy pre-shredded carrots, or you can shred them yourself for a finer shred.
- Dried Cranberries - I recommend using dried cranberries that are naturally sweetened. I have linked my go-to naturally sweetened cranberries.
- Sunflower Seeds - You can either use raw sunflower seeds, or roasted and salted sunflower seeds for an extra crunchy texture.
Salad Dressing Ingredients:
- SunButter Organic Sunflower Seed Butter - SunButter is one of my favorite ingredients to use when making homemade salad dressing. It's incredibly smooth and creamy, nutty in flavor, and it's allergen friendly, so everyone can enjoy it! Sunbutter can be found at your local grocery store or online.
- Apple Cider Vinegar - This is great for balancing out raw red onions.
- Maple Syrup - This is one of my favorite plant-based sweeteners to add to dressings. It adds just the right amount of sweetness and deep maple flavor.
- Sea Salt - If you choose to use raw sunflower seeds I recommend adding a bit of sea salt to the dressing to help tie all the flavors together.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How To Make This Crunchy Broccoli Salad:
This broccoli salad recipe is the perfect easy raw vegan recipe to make because it's made with simple ingredients that you can find at your local grocery store, and it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare.
1. Begin chopping the raw broccoli florets into small pieces. Shred the carrots, and thinly slice the red onion and combine them in a bowl with the apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
2. Add the SunButter, maple syrup, water, and sea salt together in a small bowl.
3. Mix the dressing together until silky smooth. You may need to add a little extra water to achieve the perfect creaminess.
4. Add all the vegetables together in a large bowl. Add the 2 tablespoon of the apple cider vinegar mixture as well. Pour the salad dressing on top and toss.
Hint: The longer the onions sit, the better (if you're not a pan of raw onions). You can also cook them with 3 tablespoon of ACV and Ā¼ cup water for about 5 minutes to quick-pickle them.
Substitutions:
There are so many easy substitutions that can be made to this delicious salad to fit any dietary need.
- Mayonaise - You can substitute 1 cup mayonnaise for the SunButter if you can't get your hands on SunButter. Make sure to use vegan mayonnaise (vegannaise) to keep this broccoli crunch salad vegan.
- Pumpkin Seeds - You can either add pumpkin seeds on top of the sunflower kernels for an extra crunch and extra nutrients, or you can replace them with pumpkin seeds.
- Red Cabbage - If raw broccoli hurts your stomach, you can replace it with red cabbage, this will keep this salad crunchy and raw vegan. Make sure to cut the cabbage into small pieces.
Broccoli Crunch Salad Variations:
This raw broccoli salad is amazing as is, however, if you are ever looking to mix it up, there are a couple of easy variations you can try to mix it up!
- Cheesy - You can a handful of vegan cheddar cheese to incorporate different flavors into this broccoli crunch salad.
- Slaw - Use broccoli stems to reduce food waste. Simply shred them into a slaw and incorporate them into the salad.
- Red Wine Vinegar - If you're not a fan of apple cider vinegar, you can use red wine vinegar instead. This will incorporate different flavors into this salad.
What You Will Need To Make This Broccoli Salad Recipe:
This easy broccoli salad is the ultimate quick and easy meal that anyone can make because it requires minimal equipment to make. All you will need is:
- āChefs Knife - Any chef's knife will work. You can also buy pre-chopped broccoli and avoid this step altogether.
- Food Grater - Just like the chef's knife, if you buy pre-shredded carrots, you can skip this step.
- Salad Bowl - You will need a large serving bowl to toss the salad together.
As always you can find all my go-to equipment on my Amazon storefront or my affiliate page.
How To Store This Broccoli Crunch Salad:
This crunchy broccoli salad is one of my favorite raw vegan salads to make and enjoy the next day because I believe the leftovers taste even better than the freshly made salad. This is because red onion becomes less bitter, and fresh broccoli isn't as harsh on the stomach.
If you're planning to meal prep this raw broccoli salad, I recommended storing it in an airtight container. This is the perfect way to store this salad, because it won't dry out, and the salad ingredients will absorb the flavors of the salad dressing. If stored properly, this salad can last for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Top Tip:
Use a very large mixing bowl when tossing this salad. It takes a while to toss, therefore I recommended having room to toss it.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Broccoli can quickly become soggy in the refrigerator. If you want to keep your broccoli perfectly crisp, I recommend storing it in the crisper, or on a shelf near the back of the fridge. This will help to keep the broccoli perfectly crisp.
It's important to make sure the broccoli is not full of moisture before adding it to this crunchy broccoli salad. I recommend using paper towels to remove any excess moisture before adding it to the salad.
Related Healthy Vegan Salads:
Looking for other healthy vegan salad recipes like this? Try these:
If you try this Broccoli Crunch Salad recipe, Iād really love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Iād also really appreciate a recipe card rating! Thank you for supporting The All Natural Vegan!
Chopped Broccoli Crunch Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Broccoli Crunch Salad:
- 3-5 crowns broccoli
- Ā½ red onion
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 medium carrots
- Ā½ cup dried cranberries
- ā cup raw sunflower seeds
For The Sunflower Seed Dressing:
- Ā½ cup sunbutter organic sunflower seed butter
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- ā cup water
Instructions
- Begin chopping the raw broccoli florets into small pieces. Shred the carrots, and thinly slice the red onion and combine them in a bowl with the apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
- Add the SunButter, maple syrup, water, and sea salt together in a small bowl.
- Mix the dressing together until silky smooth. You may need to add a little extra water to achieve the perfect creaminess.
- Add all the vegetables together in a large bowl. Add the 2 tablespoon of theĀ apple cider vinegar mixtureĀ as well. Pour the salad dressing on top and toss.
Video
@theallnaturalvegan NEW! šChopped Broccoli Crunch Salad š Happy Tuesday friends! Iāve got the perfect quick, easy, and healthy summer salad for you guys today! This broccoli crunch salad only makes 10 minutes to make and has the most flavorful salad dressing thanks to @sunbutter organic sunflower seed butter. I love using their products to make healthy whole foods salad dressing because their sunflower seed butter is perfectly smooth with the perfect nutty flavor that is completely nut-free! This recipe is: oil-free, gluten-free, vegan, and refined sugar-free! You can find the full recipe and more about SunButter on my website: theallnaturalvegan.com, or search broccoli crunch salad the all natural vegan on google and itāll pop right up! Enjoy š #vegansalad #salad #healthysalad #healthysalads #saladrecipes #saladsofinstagram #broccolisalad #plantbasedrecipes #healthylunch #lunchideas #nutfree #nutfreevegan #sunbutter #oilfreevegan @sunbutter
ā¬ original sound - Katie
Food Safety:
It's important to always practice good food safety habits in the kitchen.
- Wash hands before handling food.
- Keep hands a safe distance away from food graters.
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
More Vegan Recipes With Broccoli:
Love broccoli? Try some of my other delicious recipes with broccoli:
nancy
I really enjoyed the sunbutter salad dressing with the crunch raw brocollis. thanks for this summery recipe!
Erin
This chopped broccoli crunch salad is so quick and easy to make, and full of flavor ... thanks for the great recipe!
Andrea White
loved the crunchy texture that this salad had to offer. so good!
Choclette
This is such a delicious salad and the perfect spring transition from winter comfort foods to summer salads. Love the crunch and creaminess from the seed butter.
Anna
I love how fresh and crispy this broccoli salad turned out.
Addition of cranberries was a great idea and I loved the dressing too.
Sam
This salad is delicious! Fresh, easy to make, and tastes awesome. Thanks for the recipe!
Giangi Townsend
Super delicious salad. We could not stop eating it and we are making it again this weekend how good it is.
Thank you for sharing it.
andy
this salad was incredible! love all of the textures and how nutritious all-around it was! so so good!