This easy yet super healthy broccoli salad with arugula and blueberries is an excellent healthy side dish for any day or potluck.
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Lovely, I hope you're doing great today. Here I'm with my favorite healthy broccoli salad. Made with a creamy-tangy dressing, it's fresh, easy to make, healthy, and delicious.
I love this version of broccoli salad, and I hope you'll love it and make your healthy-to-go-for salad.
Why will you love this salad? Because it's fresh, crunchy, and super good when left in the fridge for a day or so.
This salad recipe is fresher and healthier than the classic broccoli salad, with neither mayo nor overly sugared dried fruits or honey. Instead, I use plain yogurt, which I whisk together with cold-pressed olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and a healthy soy sauce that you can replace with balsamic vinegar.
Spice your broccoli salad with arugula. Its tart, peppery flavor really makes this broccoli salad worth trying.
Tips to make a healthy broccoli salad
- Cut your broccoli into tiny florets: If you are like me and can't chew on a whole broccoli floret, then get only the little parts of the broccoli head. I leave out any stems.
- Let it marinate: While you can serve this healthy broccoli salad right away, I prefer to let it sit in the refrigerator for a day to allow all of the flavors really infuse together. You can also prepare the salad in meal prep and consume it in 3 days.
- Save the almonds for later: For crunchy nuts, chop and add almonds when you're serving this broccoli salad. When marinated or left in the salad, the nuts lose their firmness.
- Combine with veggies and fruits: Raw broccoli alone isn't that fancy to eat! Add sweet veggies like carrots, fruits, and nuts. I particularly love adding arugula for its peppery, tart flavor.
- Avoid unhealthy foods: Classic broccoli calls for bacon and mayo. Substitute mayo with yogurt or goat cheese which is much healthier.
- Limit the sugar: Instead of honey, syrup, and dried cranberries, use raw cranberries or other berries in their fresh form. I've found that arugula, acv, and soy sauce add more flavors that eliminate the need to add sugar to broccoli.
Do you have to cook broccoli for broccoli salad?
Not necessarily, as mentioned above, cut the florets into small bits.
Raw broccoli is much healthier than cooked as it contains glucosinolates and antioxidants that heat will destroy.
Besides, the acid in the vinegar will break down the broccoli fibers a bit.
If you choose to cook broccoli, please avoid blanching or boiling because broccoli is high in vitamins K, C, and Bs. Vitamins C and Bs are water soluble, which will leak into the boiling water.
Don't throw broccoli stems!
While this healthy broccoli salad calls only for the tiny florets, the stems are rich in fiber and nutrients. Save them to add in a broth or chop them thinly and add them to other dishes.
Lovely, I hope I've given you good reasons to try out my favorite healthy broccoli salad. I can't wait to read from you in the comments or emails. Let me know how your broccoli salad turned out!
Sending you my love, eat to your health, and always remember,
"you have the power to heal yourself." Githu
Enjoy more healthy salads
- A must-make apple salad with alfalfa
- Tasty salad with tempeh and fresh green beans
- Spicy arugula salad with fennels
Recipe
Easy broccoli salad with arugula
Equipment
- kitchen knife
- Salad spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cups broccoli (only the florets)
- 2 medium fresh carrots
- 1 medium bell pepper
- 1½ cups fresh blueberries
- a handful of arugula
- ¼ red onion
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ lemon
Yogurt dressing
- 2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil
- 2 tablespoons sugar-free soy sauce or balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt with probiotics
- ⅔ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the yogurt dressing
- Mix all the ingredients in a mason jar with a lid.
- Shake vigorously and set aside
Make the broccoli salad
- Clean and dry the veggies
- Using a food grater, grate the carrots and add them into a large salad bowl.
- Chop the broccoli florets thinly and add them into the salad bowl.
- Sort out the arugula. Cut the stems off if the leaves are mature. Put the arugula into the salad bowl.
- Dice the bell pepper and the onion. Add these into the bowl.
- Chop the almonds with your knife. Put them into the salad bowl
- Squeeze the lemon all over the ingredients in the salad bowl
- Add the blueberries, then pour the yogurt dressing all over the salad
- Using salad spoons, gently mix the ingredients into a delicious broccoli salad
- Cover the salad and leave it to stand for 30 minutes. Serve.
- Thank you so much for sharing this recipe
Notes
- This salad will be perfect the next day. Make it in advance and leave it to marinate in your fridge.
Ms. Becky
I'm planning to prepare this salad, it looks delicious. I am wondering what salad dressing you use for this one. Is it from one of the salad recipe links that you provided? Thx.
Githu
Becky, you are amazing. You made me realize that I'd omitted to attach the recipe card, where you'll find the yogurt dressing I use for this broccoli salad. Thank you so much, and many blessings to you.
Githu
I love this broccoli salad, I hope you'll love it too. Customize yours with whatever you like.
J.T.
Hi, just made it, haven't munched on it yet. I'd like to know the calories per serving (not shown). It certainly is a healthy salad. Thanks.
Githu
Hi J.T sorry for such a late response. I do not count calories. I regret not to be helpful with that.