The creamiest dairy-free broccoli salad that you’ll ever taste! It’s one of our favorite side dishes and it’s perfect for bringing to picnics, cookouts, or parties! Everyone loves it! Vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free.
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Happy Labor Day everyone!
I had originally planned on sharing this post yesterday but life got in the way. My mom always told me that sometimes you have to put the work aside and just have fun, so that’s what we did!
Travis and I got sucked into working on fun wedding stuff and then we decided on going for a last minute bike ride at 6:30pm which resulted in Travis getting a flat tire. So, we came back home and decided on making homemade pizza and watching National Lampoons European Vacation. It was a good day! =)
So, hopefully, I can catch you before you head off to your picnics, cookouts, or pool parties so you can make this quick and easy broccoli salad to bring with you!
One of our favorite places to go out for a healthy dinner is Sweet Tomatoes. We love the salad bar, soups, and chocolate chip cookie bars. Have you tried the broccoli salad they have on the bar? It’s delicious BUT it’s loaded with mayo, bacon bits, and sugar. So, it might look healthy but it’s really not.
I wanted to recreate their broccoli salad to be a healthy, dairy-free side dish that we could feel good about eating. I’ve also been looking for dishes that I can pack for lunch at work and eat cold since we don’t use microwaves anymore.
This broccoli salad hits all those points!!
I’ve been obsessed with cashew cream lately. It’s the best dairy-free creamy substitute that I’ve found yet! Since we’ve been trying to cut out dairy as much as possible, I’ve used cashew cream as a substitute in so many of our favorite recipes.
Popular Cashew Cream Recipes:
The Best Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip
Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Shells
Roasted Cauliflower Cashew Cream Alfredo Sauce
I used cashew cream sauce instead of using mayo or greek yogurt like other versions of classic broccoli salad. It’s just as creamy and flavorful, and in my opinion, even better! Travis and I loved it! We’re finishing it off with portobello mushroom cap burgers tonight for dinner.
Tweet ThisBroccoli Salad Ingredient Substitutions:
I use a mixture of jumbo raisins and dried cherries in this broccoli salad because I love the tart tangy flavor that the cherries give. I also added a little bit of red onion to balance the sweetness of the juicy grapes and chewy raisins. You can easily customize this broccoli salad to your tastes. Here are a few other ingredients that would be delicious in it!
- Golden raisins
- Sunflower seeds
- Dried apricots, diced
- Dates, diced
- Dried plums, diced
- Sliced almonds
- Hemp seeds
- Chia seeds
- Dried pineapple chunks
I recommend refrigerating this broccoli salad for at least one hour before you want to serve it so the flavors have a little time to meld and the sauce gets really thick and creamy.
You might have a little extra cashew cream sauce leftover but it really depends on how saucy and creamy you want it. We like it really creamy so I add all of the sauce but start with 1 cup and see how you feel about the consistency.
The creamiest dairy-free broccoli salad that you'll ever taste! It's one of our favorite side dishes and it's perfect for bringing to picnics, cookouts, or parties! Everyone loves it! Vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free.
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- water for soaking the cashews
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup (or agave)
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 lbs raw broccoli, florets removed
- 1/4 red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup jumbo raisins
- 1/4 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup grapes, halved
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Soak the raw cashews in a bowl of water for one hour. Make sure that the water completely covers the cashews. When you're done soaking the cashews, discard the water.
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Add the soaked cashews, coconut milk, ACV, maple syrup, salt, and pepper to a high power blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
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Blanch the broccoli florets for 2 minutes in boiling water. Immediately put the hot broccoli into an ice bath to cool. Drain dry very well then put the broccoli into a large mixing bowl.
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Add the cherries, raisins, grapes, pumpkin seeds, red onion, and 1 cup of cashew cream sauce to the mixing bowl. Mix everything together until all the broccoli is coated with sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
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Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
- I recommend starting with 1 cup of the cashew cream sauce so you can judge the consistency before adding it all. I add it all because we love the salad to be extra creamy! You can always add more sauce but you can't take it away if you like it on the dryer side.
I just know you’re going to love this broccoli salad! If you make it, please tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #StaceyHomemaker so I can see your tasty creation!
Are you going to a Labor Day party today? Do you have a signature dish you always bring to parties? Let me know in the comments!
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This looks so good! I so need to try it.
xoxo, Jnny
Thanks, Jenny!
I have pinned this for later! It looks SO good, and I am such a fan of cashew cream. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you!
This sounds delicious! I need to try it sometime. 🙂
Thank you!
Wow, this looks amazing, Stacey! Broccoli salad has always been one of my favorites and I really love how much healthier you have made it using cashews instead of mayo. I’ve been having so much fun using cashews in different ways…they really are very versatile! Definitely pinning this to make in the near future!