The Leonard Home

Is there anything more Southern than throwing a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, covering it in mayo, and calling it salad?

I’ll admit that this mayonnaise salad concept was never my favorite. So much so that when I was traveling for work and eating at the same barbecue joint every week, it took me six months before I tried their broccoli salad. And then I wondered why I had ever stopped myself.

Because let me tell you, that broccoli salad was perfect. The tiny chopped pieces of broccoli, the salty bacon and cheddar, the sweet cranberries, the bite from the onion, and the pecan bringing in that perfect textural component. I was forever changed and immediately knew I’d be replicating this at home.

Ever since, this has been my go-to potluck item. I don’t know if it’s that people can pretend they’re being healthy (hey, it’s broccoli!), or the combination of all the beautiful colors, or that they can see the bacon in there and can’t resist, but this is always the first thing to run out at the potluck.

To me, there’s nothing more satisfying than bringing an empty bowl home after sharing with a group. It may be my competitive nature out to get me, but it almost feels like I won the potluck 😂

So if you’re looking for the perfect side dish to serve at a cookout, or trying to decide what to bring to the office potluck, this is it.

What do you need?

• Broccoli
• Bacon
• Red onion
• Dried Cranberries
• Pecans
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Mayonnaise (I’m passionate about Duke’s)
• Sugar
• Red Wine Vinegar (if you don’t have red wine vinegar, try apple cider vinegar!)

First things first, mix up the dressing. You’ll combine the sugar, mayonnaise, and red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Pop that bowl in the fridge, and move on.

Next dice up your red onion, small. You don’t want a big bite of raw onion overpowering your bite. You’ll soak this onion in a bowl of cold water in order mellow out the flavor so the raw onion flavor doesn’t overtake the dish.

Next, get that bacon cooking. Yes, you can technically use pre cooked bacon bits in here, but it’s so much better with the fresh, greasy, stuff. And you’ll be chopping up your broccoli while it cooks, so you can’t say it takes too long to cook!

And speaking of chopping up the broccoli, let’s get to doing that! The secret here is you want the broccoli to be in SMALL pieces. You want to be able to get a bite that has all the toppings in it, and you can’t do that if you’re dealing with a big floret. I aim for each piece to be at most as big as my thumb pad. This also allows the dressing to better soak into the broccoli. It may feel like a hassle, and it definitely is the single most time consuming aspect of this whole recipe, but I promise it’s worth it.

Once your broccoli is all chopped up, add it to your serving bowl. Chop up your pecans, bacon, and cranberries and toss those in. Add some shredded cheese (you can fresh shred it yourself, but this is the one recipe where I can honestly say I don’t think it makes a difference). Dry the red onion and add it in. Pour the dressing you made earlier over all of it and stir until everything is well mixed up.

I think it’s best to make this early and give it a bit of time to chill to allow the dressing some time to soak into the broccoli. I’d suggest an hour or two. But if you don’t have the time, it will still taste great!

The quantities in the recipe below are per one crown of broccoli so that it’s easy to adjust quantity to fit your needs. I double the recipe when I’m bringing it to share with a group, and the pictures included in this post show the doubled quantity. If I’m just making this as a side dish for a few other people, one crown is plenty.

I hope you love making this! Let me know what you think in the comments if you try it out!