This broccoli salad recipe will definitely blow you away. Pasta, bacon, and broccoli? What could be better? This pasta salad is my go-to summer side dish!
Yes. I know. I know. Another pasta salad. Somebody stop me! #cantstop #wontstop
I’ve told you at least 1,000 times (ok, 3 times) that one of my favorite things about summer is pasta salad – ahem, Mexican Pasta Salad…Greek Tortellini Pasta Salad – and today, I have a Broccoli Salad Recipe that’s going to blow. your. mind.
This broccoli salad recipe is near and dear to my heart, because I grew up eating this salad. I feel like every Midwesterner probably grew up eating this salad. I’ve had this pasta salad more times than I can count. To give you a little insight on how much I <3 this salad…I requested it for my high school graduation party and pretty much every night during the summer.
Honestly, I don’t remember what else we served that day other than three different kinds of cake and cream cheese wedding mints, because those little bites of joy are literally my favorite.
Buuuut, back to that broccoli salad recipe.
That broccoli salad? It’s good. I mean. Did you see Trevor and I chowing down in the video?
Really…there’s pasta and there’s bacon. You can’t go wrong when those two things are involved.
But you wanna know what makes this broccoli salad recipe taste even better?
It’s SO darn simple to make.
Easy recipes taste better than non easy recipes. amiright? 😉
Cook some pasta. Crisp up some bacon. Chop up some broccoli. Slice some green onions. Whisk together a sauce. Throw everything into a gigantic bowl (seriously, this makes a lot) and give it a stir.
Done, done, and done.
Side note: Trevor and I have like 2 pounds of this broccoli salad recipe in our fridge right now. Now that we’ve started doing videos (it’s up there 👆 check it ouuuuut), we have recipe testing/photographing days and we have video days. That means we have TWICE the amount of food that we normally do.
Aaaand I’m not complaining. 🙂 I could eat 2 pounds of this broccoli salad allll by myself and I’m pretty sure I did while we were filming. I even asked Trevor if in the “closing” I could just go ahead and eat the whole time. I did. And I know I’m not alone.
About a year ago, I actually made this to bring over to a friends house for dinner. They were making dinner and I offered to bring a side dish and of course, dessert. I brought my monster cookies, because their two-year-old loooooves them.
Dinner was a success. Everyone loved the salad, so I…reluctantly… left the leftovers with them.
The next evening, I get a text and it said something along the lines of “We came home looking forward to leftover broccoli salad and it was all gone, because our nanny ate it!” Ha! SEE!!! It’s not just me!
I probably would’ve done the same thing and trust me, you’ll see what I mean when you make this broccoli salad at home.
Best summer pasta salad side dish. Ever!
– Jennifer
Broccoli Salad Recipe
Equipment for this recipe
Ingredients
Broccoli Salad
- 1 (12 oz) box bowtie pasta
- 1 head broccoli cut into small pieces (about 1 pound)
- 5 Green onions sliced (just use white and light green part)
- 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup salted cashew halves/pieces
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 pound cooked bacon roughly chopped
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Salad
- Cook bowtie pasta according to package directions.
- Place all salad ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine.
Dressing
- Whisk together dressing ingredients until fully incorporated.
Assembly
- Pour dressing over salad ingredients and toss to combine.
- Chill in the refrigerator until cold and serve immediately!
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Nutrition Information
*Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.