Super Clean Broccoli Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing Recipe - Pinch of Yum
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Super Clean Broccoli Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing

28 reviews / 4.7 average

Super clean broccoli salad CAN BE A REAL THING. No mayo, no bacon, and no missing flavor because this baby is packed with crunchy-creamy plant goodness! Featuring purple cabbage, broccoli, raisins, almonds, green onions, and a creamy vegan almond-miso-orange dressing.

Guys. It’s me and super clean broccoli salad here, and we are at your summertime service.

Crunchy, healthy, saucy, delicious things ahead.

Before we embrace the healthiness of this updated *super clean* broccoli salad, let’s give a little love to the good old fashioned broccoli salad.

Yes, BROCCOLI SALAD. This is the food of my upbringing. I’m talking about the variety of broccoli salad that is thick with a sweet mayo-based dressing and loaded with plenty of bacon and sunflower seeds and raisins – the one that is so retro and amazing in the way that only a mayo-and-bacon-based salad can be. And in summer? I mean, basically any pot-luck, graduation party, or picnic-esque functions in my beloved small town Minnesota? You know there’s gonnabe broccoli salad out there in the wild, and you know we’re all gonnabe lovin it.

HOW TO MAKE OUR CLEAN BROCCOLI SALAD:

Broccoli salad in a bowl with a fork.
Broccoli salad ingredients in a bowl.

My heart has nothing but love for the original broccoli salad. I’m not looking to replace it.

And to be honest, I’m not even expecting to win over the broccoli-salad-makers of small town Minnesota who kept my mayo salad quota full for most of my childhood. That’s okay. I won’t feel bad. There’s room for old and new at our table.

This can be its own thing, really, can’t it?

It’s a modern twist on the classic old school broccoli salad and it’s super healthy and plant based and colorful and, I mean, I might be a tiny bit biased, but it’s also REALLY DELICIOUS to the point where you are willing to look past the embarrassment of pulling it out of the fridge for a midnight snack in order to taste the creamy, cold, salty-sweet crunch of the broccoli, raisins, and almond orange dressing.

It’s the kind of food that gets me most excited in all the world. ♡ Healthy meets color, texture, flavor, and ease of preparation. Diving in NOW.

The sauce starts with almond butter and miso to give it a heavy, creamy-like texture and weight that will cling to the broccoli and get all up in between those little crunchy ingredients. Then we work that sauce with shallots, canola oil, and Simply Orange Low Acid.

Bottle of orange juice.

A few reasons we’re loving Simply Orange in general and for this recipe specifically.

  • This golden nectar of the gods is not sweetened. Just like it sounds – SIMPLY ORANGE.
  • It’s not from concentrate. It’s not frozen.
  • Our specific variety of the day – Simply Orange Low Acid – packs less of a bite and keeps things smooth and easy when either drinking it (ugh how good is a morning glass of real orange juice  // I LOVE IT) or when using it in a recipe where you don’t want things to be overly punchy. Case in point – our super clean broccoli salad of the moment.

So here goes. Throw the gang into the food processor and we’re off.

Broccoli salad dressing ingredients in a food processor.
Sauce in a food processor.

Super creamy, salty, delicious sauce that is mild and smooth in flavor – check.

Pour over super healthy ingredients like broccoli, almonds, cabbage, and raisins – check.

Toss together and find yourself at midnight eating the leftovers cold straight out of the fridge – CHECK.

Broccoli salad in a bowl with a fork.

Clean broccoli salad, I love you I love you I love you so much for summer.

 

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Clean Broccoli salad in a bowl with a fork.

Super Clean Broccoli Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing


Description

CLEAN Broccoli Salad – non-mayo-based vegan goodness! with purple cabbage, raisins, almonds, green onions, and almond butter dressing.


Ingredients

Scale

For the Salad:

  • 2 heads broccoli, cut into small florets
  • 2 cups chopped purple cabbage
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions

For the Miso Orange Dressing

  • 2/3 cup Simply Orange Low Acid
  • 2 tablespoons miso
  • 2 tablespoons almond butter
  • 1 shallot
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil

Instructions

  1. Toss all the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Pulse the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Pour over the salad ingredients and toss to combine.
  3. Serve immediately! Add more orange juice to add more moisture as needed.

Notes

Miso Substitute: We’ve subbed in soy sauce for the miso and it works great!

We’ve made this several times and we liked it with a handful of cooked quinoa thrown in for good measure as well as a little bit of crumbled bacon as a throwback to the original broccoli salad. 🙂

If you like salads with a lot of dressing, be sure to double up on the dressing for this one.

Also, if you don’t have access to miso, you could just use almond butter in place of the miso but be sure to compensate with additional salt to taste.

  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 5 mins
  • Category: Lunch
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: healthy broccoli salad, vegan broccoli salad, broccoli salad recipe

Thank you to Simply Orange for partnering with us for this post! For more Simply Orange recipes, be sure to follow them on Facebook.


One More Thing!

This recipe is part of our best healthy summer salads page. Check it out!

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139 Comments

  1. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Yum – Broccoli salad!! Going to be making this over the weekend in balmy, BBQ-worthy London as we settle in for the Euro 2016 football tournament. Having good weather and being able to BBQ in this town is a BIG deal. AND I love the new addition of of your other salad recipes right below. VERY handy. Woah! Broccoli salad?? How yum

  2. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Looks yummy! Healthy too;-). Why does one of the photos show green onions in the salad? Should I add those too?

  3. Pinch of Yum Logo

    I have never had REAL broccoli salad! GASP. Probably because I don’t want anything to do with things that have mayonnaise. But this version looks so YUMMMMM!

  4. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Yes! I just bought a costco sized bag of broccoli. Can you offer a suggestion for miso substitute? Just don’t feel like hunting down that ingredient at the moment.

    1. Pinch of Yum Logo

      Yo could just use all almond butter. The main point is the salty flavor (so add a little salt to compensate) and to thicken, which almond butter would do for you.

    2. Pinch of Yum Logo

      Phenomenally good!!!
      I found your recipe 2 summers ago and it is now on regular rotation. If I go too long without it I start craving it. Miso and orange is sooo delicious, and I really appreciate the lack of added sugars. Thank you so much for this recipe!

  5. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Seriously?? Do you know how they manufacture & process the “oranges” … to keep them fresh/available all year round?! This is not a clean salad with processed orange juice even if the label says no sugar … honestly, I watched a documentary on the industry … eeewwww, it’s so disgusting and really sad! Stick to fresh squeezed!

      1. Pinch of Yum Logo

        @Kim- Juice your own oranges and enjoy the salad.

        @Stephanie- Thank you. Literally laughed as I scrolled.

  6. Pinch of Yum Logo

    I love broccoli salad and have a favorite that I make, but this has a different twist to it. Looks mmmm good, and I’m going to try it out.

  7. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Lovely salad recipes! Do you have calorie/nutrition information on any of them? Thank you for posting these.
    Martha

  8. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Loved the video, and this looks wonderful! It’s a great way to revamp broccoli because I’ve been in a rut with it!

  9. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Love all your salad recipes; however, being a cancer survivor, I cannot have anything containing soy, i.e., miso: can I replace that with something else?

    1. Pinch of Yum Logo

      Our local food co-op sells a miso made from chickpeas. No soy in it. You might check around to see if it is available in your area.

      1. Pinch of Yum Logo

        This looks amazing! I don’t have miso on hand and I see you recommend just doubling up on the almond butter but could I possibly use fish sauce? Or too salty? Wrong flavor?

  10. Pinch of Yum Logo

    the protein in the pancake mix you have. Is it that collagen peptide protein? Those are pretty expensive pancakes. Why is that necessary rather than a more affordable product?

  11. Pinch of Yum Logo

    Made this salad and brought it to a pot luck. It was a huge hit!! Super easy to make too. Great that it didn’t require any cooking. Will definitely make again.