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Broccoli Salad

This broccoli salad is the perfect creamy, crunchy, rich, and flavorful side to go with any meal. It’s my new go-to for parties!

The post Broccoli Salad appeared first on Budget Bytes.

It’s nearly grilling season, and I need a reliable side dish to bring to parties, family reunions, and barbecues. This broccoli salad is the perfect creamy, crunchy, rich, and flavorful side to go with any meal. It has a great balance of sweet and tangy flavors, and the texture is unbeatable. It’s a fact that if you add bacon to any vegetable dish, even the most discerning meat eaters will give it a try. Baby steps, right?! I love making sure my loved ones eat their vegetables!

overhead view of broccoli salad in a white bowl.

What Is Broccoli Salad?

Broccoli salad is a classic side dish made from broccoli florets tossed with cheddar cheese, raisins, bacon, walnuts, and red onion, coated in a creamy and tangy dressing. This salad has a wonderful balance of flavors and textures and is so versatile!

Here’s what you’ll need to make broccoli salad:

Broccoli: Has an earthy and slightly sweet, slightly bitter flavor, as well as a delightful crunch!
Cheddar Cheese: Adds a creamy and salty component to the salad.
Raisins: Add a pop of sweet and fruity flavor.
Bacon: Adds a great savory and umami flavor. You’ll need 6 strips of cooked bacon. Vegetarian? No problem, just leave it out. Sometimes I put the bacon on the side for gatherings where there might be varied dietary restrictions.
Walnuts: Add a nutty flavor and delicious crunch.
Red Onion: Adds a bit of bite to the recipe and a wonderful crunchy texture, creating a great contrast to the sweet and chewy raisins.
Mayo: Adds richness and creaminess to the dressing.
Greek Yogurt: Makes the dressing extra creamy and tangy with fewer calories and fat than sour cream. I highly recommend Greek yogurt over plain yogurt or sour cream for its thicker, creamy texture.
White Vinegar: Adds a refreshing brightness and tanginess to the dressing to balance the richness.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance out the vinegar.
Salt and Pepper: Enhance the overall flavor of the salad.

Should I Blanch The Broccoli?

In testing, I preferred the final texture of raw broccoli over blanched, but you certainly can blanch the broccoli if you prefer. The blanching process takes out some of the natural bitter flavor from the broccoli; simply drop the florets in a large pot of salted boiling water for 1 minute, then quickly shock in a bowl of ice water. Instead, I opted to simply rinse my broccoli florets in hot water to make them extra bright green and make sure they were nice and clean.

To keep your broccoli salad from turning out watery, make sure to thoroughly dry the florets. The salt in the dressing will naturally draw out some of the moisture from the veggies, so making sure they are dry after washing them is an important step! I like to spread them out on a clean kitchen towel and gently pat them dry with another towel laid on top while I prep the rest of my ingredients.

What To Serve with Broccoli Salad

Broccoli salad is such a fresh and crunchy dish with a ton of flavor, so I suggest pairing it with simple proteins, like air fryer chicken breast or glazed pork chops.

Broccoli Salad

This broccoli salad is the perfect creamy, crunchy, rich, and flavorful side to go with any meal. It's my new go-to for potlucks!

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Total Cost ($5.79 recipe / $0.96 serving)

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 5

Total Time 20

Servings (about 1 cup each)

Calories 305kcal

Author Jess – Budget Bytes

Ingredients

Broccoli Salad

1 large broccoli crown, separated into florets (about 4 cups) $1.10
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese $1.24
1/4 cup raisins $0.39
6 strips bacon $0.90
1/4 cup walnuts, crushed $0.80
1/4 red onion, diced into small pieces $0.21

Broccoli Salad Dressing

1/2 cup mayo $0.75
2 Tbsp Greek yogurt $0.21
1 Tbsp white vinegar $0.04
1 Tbsp sugar $0.05
1/4 teaspoon salt $0.05
1/4 teaspoon pepper $0.05

Instructions

Cook the bacon until crispy. Let cool on clean paper towel-lined plate. Chop into bite sized bits and set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, combine mayo, Greek yogurt, white vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Whisk together and set dressing aside.
Cut broccoli into florets, shred the cheddar cheese, gather raisins, crumble bacon, crush walnuts, and dice red onion.
Combine salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.
Pour the dressing over broccoli salad and toss together until completely coated. Serve immediately, or let it marinate and get extra yummy in the fridge for up to 5 days!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Nutrition

how to make Broccoli Salad – step by step photos

ingredients for salad dressing in a white bowl.

In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup mayo, 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp white vinegar, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Whisk together and set dressing aside.

overhead view of ingredients for broccoli salad on a wooden cutting board.

Cut 1 large crown of broccoli into florets, shred 1 cup of cheddar cheese, gather 1/4 cup of raisins, crumble 6 strips of crispy bacon, crush 1/4 cup walnuts, and dice 1/4 of a red onion.

ingredients for broccoli salad in a white bowl.

Combine salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.

Pour the dressing over broccoli salad and toss together until completely coated. Serve immediately, or let it marinate and get extra yummy in the fridge for up to 5 days!

The post Broccoli Salad appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Vegan)

Your favorite chocolate chip cookies, but easier? We had to do it, friends! These vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie BARS have all the flavor, but there’s no chilling, no scooping, and no hand mixer involved! Just stir, spread, and bake.
Plus, ju…

Your favorite chocolate chip cookies, but easier? We had to do it, friends! These vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie BARS have all the flavor, but there’s no chilling, no scooping, and no hand mixer involved! Just stir, spread, and bake.

Plus, just 8 ingredients and 1 bowl required! They’re so easy it almost seems wrong…but they’re so right: perfectly sweet, chewy, buttery, and studded with melty chocolate chunks.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Vegan) from Minimalist Baker →

Homemade Banana Bread

This homemade Banana Bread recipe is super rich, moist, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It’s the perfect Saturday morning treat!

The post Homemade Banana Bread appeared first on Budget Bytes.

One day a friend was telling me about how she used to be so in love with the Starbucks banana bread and all I could think about was how the price for one slice is probably more than it costs to make a whole loaf, so I had to working on a dupe. It took about eight tries, but I finally made a homemade banana bread recipe that is super rich, moist, and totally melt-in-your-mouth delicious. And the best part? It ended up costing about $0.38 per slice. 😱 Take that, ‘bucks! Anyway, this banana bread was so good that I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. 🤤 So now the question is, is it wrong to make banana bread every single weekend??

Front view of a sliced loaf of banana bread on a wooden cutting board.

There are so many different recipes for banana bread out there and they create loaves that vary quite a bit in color, size, shape, texture, and of course flavor. My goal for this homemade banana bread recipe was to create a loaf that was super soft and moist, had a really good pronounced banana flavor, the loaf had to rise to a nice doamed shape (not be a flat brick), and did not get too over-browned. It took a combination of ingredients and techniques, but we finally got the perfect loaf of banana bread.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this incredibly moist and delicious banana bread:

Bananas: You must use very ripe bananas for banana bread. Like, half brown ripe. This will ensure they provide enough sweetness, moisture, and banana flavor to the bread. Underripe bananas will give you a dry, bland loaf.
Butter & Oil: I used a combination of butter and oil for this banana bread. Butter gives the bread a ton of rich flavor, while oil keeps the loaf super moist after it cools in a way that butter can not. It’s a one-two flavor-texture punch!
Eggs: Eggs help give the loaf strength, so it doesn’t crumble, and they also help leaven the loaf so that it bakes up nice and fluffy.
Sugar: Using a combination of brown and white sugar again maximizes the flavor and texture. Brown sugar adds a deep flavor and helps moisten the loaf, while white sugar sweetens without making the batter too heavy.
Flour: All-purpose flour provides strength and body to the banana bread.
Baking Soda: Baking soda helps leaven the loaf so it rises into a pretty doamed loaf shape.
Vanilla: A touch of vanilla extract adds richness to the flavor.
Spices: We add just a little bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to the batter to add complexity to the flavor without overpowering the banana. They’re supporting roles, not the main character.
Walnuts: Walnuts are optional, but I love the contrast in flavor and texture they add to the bread. You can also substitute in chocolate chips if that’s your jam!

How to Store Banana Bread

I could eat this whole loaf of banana bread within a few days by myself no problem, but if you’re not a champion eater like myself, here’s how to store the leftovers. Make sure the bread is completely cooled after baking, then cut it into thick slices. The sliced bread can be stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for 4-5 days, or it can be frozen for longer storage.

To freeze the banana bread, place sheets of parchment paper between the slices to prevent them from sticking, then place them in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Individual slices can be taken out and thawed at room temperature or briefly microwaved to warm through.

I made a LOT of loaves during the development of this recipe, so here are some tips that I found will help you get the absolute best banana bread ever:

Make sure your bananas are VERY ripe. The sugar content of bananas increases as they ripen, so the more ripe your bananas are the sweeter the bread and the more pronounced the banana flavor will be.
Don’t overmix the batter. Stirring the bread batter too much or too vigorously will create a rubbery texture in the banana bread. Fold the wet and dry ingredients together just until evenly combined.
Preheat the oven. This is a non-negotiable when baking. The sudden exposure to high heat (rather than a slow increase of a non-preheated oven) is what helps the loaf rise properly.

How to Make Banana Muffins

This banana bread recipe also bakes up really well as muffins. To make banana muffins simply prepare the batter as listed in the recipe below but divide the batter between 12 wells in a standard-size muffin tin. Bake the banana muffins in a preheated 350ºF oven for about 30 minutes, or until the muffins have risen all the way in the center, they’ve browned nicely, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean (crumbs but no wet batter).

Overhead view of a slice of banana bread with butter spread on it.

Homemade Banana Bread

This homemade Banana Bread recipe is super rich, moist, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It's the perfect Saturday morning treat!

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Total Cost $4.57 recipe / $0.38 slice

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 15

Servings slices

Calories 288kcal

Author Beth – Budget Bytes