Who is ready for an easy Broccoli Salad packed with fresh and yummy ingredients? Our broccoli salad is served with homemade pickled onion and cucumber, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, rocket, cilantro, and avocado.
Summer is coming fast and this year, spring is bringing us some pretty good weather. Salad season has officially started at home! We are going through some major renovations at our new place building a brand new kitchen. Salads like our Thai Noodle Salad or a lovely and refreshing Pico de Gallo are such a good option when you don't have much time or a proper place to cook.
This fresh broccoli salad with pickled onion is our new addition for the season. Astra got inspired into making this recipe on his recent trip to Italy. He came back home and told me that we needed to try combining steamed broccoli with pickled veggies and other fresh ingredients to prepare a salad. The result was absolutely amazing.
If you are looking for a fresh and healthy main dish or even for a side salad to serve with your favourite meals, look no more, we've got you sorted! This recipe is perfect to bring to a BBQ or a picnic as well.
Broccoli Salad Ingredients
We are big fans of Broccoli at home. Our toddler Luca loves it and we often prepare different recipes including this green veggie. For more ideas on how to include broccoli on your diet, check our Winter Broccoli Salad or our Vegan Pesto with Broccoli and Avocado.
To prepare this recipe, you'll only need simple ingredients and some homemade pickled onion and cucumber.
- Broccoli. For this salad, we steam the broccoli for 3-4 minutes and leave it to cool before adding it into the salad bowl. We recommend using fresh broccoli.
- Pickled red onion and cucumber. My favourite part of this salad. Tangy, slightly sweet and crunchy pickled onion and cucumber.
- Mozzarella. We add mozzarella for protein and to bring some creaminess into the salad. For a vegan option, you can use smoked tofu.
- Cherry Tomatoes. Who doesn't love sweet and yummy cherry tomatoes on salads? These are one of our favourite ingredients for salads.
- Avocado. Ripe but still firm avocado works best for this recipe.
- Rocket leaves. Add some rocket or any other type of fresh leaves to give your broccoli salad the perfect balance.
- Cilantro. If you still don't know us, we love cilantro and it's something that we normally have at home. We add cilantro to every meal we possibly can!
- Olive oil and salt. This salad doesn't need a fancy salad dressing. The pickled veggies already give the salad the taste you are looking for. Simply adding some extra virgin olive oil and salt should be more than enough!
How to prepare Homemade Pickled Onion and Cucumber
If you follow Cookie and Kate instructions, pickled vegetables are super easy to prepare at home with simple ingredients. As well, pickled vegetables are healthier than cooked as they preserve their antioxidant power. For this salad, we chose red onion and cucumber. The color and taste that pickled red onion adds to our Broccoli salad are so unique that we definitely recommend you trying it.
The best part is that your pickled veggies will be ready to be eaten after cooling for at least 30 minutes.
First, thinly slice the red onion and cucumber and place them into a jar. Make sure the jar is perfectly clean.
To prepare these pickled delights, you'll need a small saucepan. Combine water, vinegar, salt, and sweetener and bring the mixture to simmer. Straight after, transfer the mixture into the jar pouring it over the sliced red onion and cucumbers. The mixture should cover all the sliced onions and cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
If you want to make this step even simpler, you can get already made pickled onions.
What Pairs With Broccoli Salad?
This fresh and simple recipe can be paired with a wide variety of your favorite dishes. For us, some amazing combinations are serving this broccoli salad with a Falafel Mezze Platter, a delicious Vegan Nut Roast, or with our yummy Cherry Tomato and Basil Quiche.
Our Broccoli Salad can be served as a main dish, an appetizer or a side dish. A perfect option to bring to a BBQ, a picnic, or to add a healthy twist to your pizza or take out night.
If you have any leftovers, we recommend keeping them in an air-tight container inside the fridge. Eat in 1-2 days maximum.
Fresh Broccoli Salad with Pickled Onion
Ingredients
- 1 small broccoli
- 100 g mozzarella
- 200 g cherry tomatoes
- 1 avocado
- 1 handful rocket
- 1 handful cilantro
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- 1 red onion
- ½ cucumber
- ¾ cup vinegar
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
Pickled onion and cucumber
- First, prepare your pickled veggies. Thinly slice the red onion and cucumber and place them into a jar making sure the jar is sterilized.
- Combine water, vinegar, salt, and sweetener into a small saucepan and bring the mixture to simmer. Straight after, transfer the mixture into the jar pouring it over the sliced red onion and cucumbers. The mixture should cover all the sliced onions and cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
Broccoli Salad
- Cut the broccoli into medium size florets. Fill a pan with water, bring it to a boil and steam the broccoli for 3-4 minutes. Use a steamer if available, if not, just boil the florets. Drain the water out and leave it to cool and transfer the florets into a big salad bowl.
- Using your hands, tear the mozzarella into smaller chunks and add into the bowl. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and add them into the salad bowl.
- Cut your avocado in half and using a spoon, scoop out both sides. Slice into thin pieces and transfer into the bowl.
- Add the rocket and the finely chopped cilantro.
- Add the olive oil and salt to taste.
- Top your salad with the homemade or already made pickled veggies. The more the merrier! Combine all the ingredients and your salad will be ready to be served.
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