Vegan Broccoli Salad

This easy vegan broccoli salad creates a creamy, crunchy salad that’s great for barbecues, potlucks, and more. This summer salad is a perfect low-carb keto recipe full of energizing ingredients, like broccoli and sunflower seeds. See tips for substituting vegan sour cream or vegan ranch dressing for mayo, and tips to serve this raw or lightly-cooked salad cold.

Do you prefer a raw broccoli salad? That’s how I was first introduced to this salad, and I find it a bit too crunchy for my taste. I’ll provide tips for making it both ways, but however you serve it, your body will thank you for it.

I love veggie-focused recipes such as these Spicy Sesame Zoodles (aka, zucchini noodles) or Vegan Banana Green Smoothie for a refreshing start to the day. Incorporating plant-based dishes into your everyday diet is the way to go!

What You Need

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:

• Broccoli florets
• Green onions
• Frozen peas
• Seeds — You can use either pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
• Raisins — Use either raisins, golden raisins, or dried cranberries.
• Vegan mayo — I used Hellman’s Vegan Mayo for this recipe.
• Vinegar — I prefer mild vinegar such as apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar, but you can substitute white vinegar.
• Sweetener — You can use agave nectar, maple syrup, or a zero-calorie sweetener such as stevia or monkfruit.
• Chia seeds — Adding chia seeds will help thicken the sauce. You can substitute an equal amount of ground flax seeds.
• Veggie Bacon — This is optional, but adding vegan bacon is a great topping for this salad. See veggie bacon ideas below.

How to Make Broccoli Salad

Is it possible to make your next broccoli salad vegetarian? I say yes! And, the fact that this is an easy vegan broccoli salad is an added bonus. Here is a synopsis of the steps involved:

1. Lightly steam the broccoli.
2. Make the creamy sauce by stirring together the ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Toss together the broccoli, veggies, seeds, and raisins.
4. Stir in the sauce and toss to coat the broccoli.
5. Cover and refrigerate for an hour, up to overnight.
6. To serve, add veggie bacon crumbles.

Here are more detailed step-by-step instructions:

Step One: Steam the Broccoli

Most broccoli salad recipes call for raw broccoli. I prefer using lightly steamed broccoli. Here’s how to do it:

• Microwave Directions: Rinse broccoli florets and place them in a microwave-safe bowl with a lid.
• Stovetop Directions: Add a steamer basket to a saucepan and fill it with enough water so it’s just below the basket, not touching it. Bring the water to a boil and add the florets to the steamer basket.
• Steam broccoli florets for 2 to 3 minutes, to make the vibrant green color of the broccoli stand out and to soften the bite just a bit.
• Immediately remove broccoli from heat and pour the broccoli into a strainer and run it under cold water to stop the cooking process.

To make a raw vegan broccoli salad: make sure to cut the florets into smaller pieces, and allow the broccoli to marinate in the sauce for several hours (or even overnight) before serving.

Step Two: Create the Sauce

We’ll be making this vegan broccoli salad with vegan mayo for the ultimate in creamy flavor. To make the sauce, stir together the vegan mayo, vinegar, sweetener, and chia seeds in a bowl. The sauce may seem a little runny at first, but the chia seeds will thicken it in time.

For a no-mayo sauce, here are some options to substitute for the vegan mayo:

• Vegan sour cream
• Vegan plain yogurt
• Cashew cream makes a broccoli cashew salad that’s very tasty.

Step Three: Assemble The Salad

In a serving bowl, toss together the broccoli, chopped green onions, frozen peas, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, and raisins. Pour the sauce over the top and stir to make sure the entire salad is coated.

Cover and refrigerate the salad for at least an hour or up to overnight before serving.

Optional Step Four: Add Veggie Bacon to Serve

I use vegan bacon with this plant-based broccoli salad, but I add it right before serving it. This keeps the bacon crunchy and flavorful. Here are some options for vegan bacon:

• Sweet Earth Benevolent Bacon (available at Sprouts and many health food stores)
• Lightlife Smart Bacon (available at Sprouts and many health food stores)
• Homemade Almond Bacon Slivers works here, too
• These vegan tempeh bacon strips can be crumbled over this salad
• You can even use Better Crocker Bac-os Bits which are accidentally vegan

Cook the bacon according to the instructions, let it cool, and then sprinkle it over the top of the salad immediately before serving.

Broccoli Salad with Cranberries

You can add dried cranberries in place of the raisins to make a vegan broccoli salad with cranberries. I love colorful food, and the added color from the dried cranberries in contrast with the green broccoli is bold and beautiful.

You don’t have to wait for a family party to make this best vegan broccoli salad. It’s good for a Tuesday night home dinner as well.

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Vegan Broccoli Salad

Increase your consumption of high-energy foods like this healthy and tasty Vegan Broccoli Salad. It's loaded with sunflower seeds and other tasty morsels.

5 from 5 votes

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 10

Calories: 162kcal

Author: Marly McMillen

Ingredients

• ▢ 5-6 cups fresh broccoli florets
• ▢ ¼ cup green onion chopped
• ▢ 1 cup frozen peas thawed
• ▢ ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• ▢ ¼ cup raisins
• ▢ Dressing
• ▢ ¾ cup vegan mayo
• ▢ 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons stevia
• ▢ 1 tablespoon chia seeds (or ground flax seeds)
• ▢ almond bacon slivers

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Instructions

• Use your favorite steaming method (microwave or stove-top) to lightly steam the broccoli. I steamed mine for maybe 2–3 minutes. Once you've achieved the desired tenderness, remove the broccoli from heat, pour it into a strainer, and run with cold water to stop the cooking process. (Be careful when handling hot broccoli!) I like to put the chopped onion on top of the still warm broccoli. I think it helps to tenderize the onion a bit for the salad.
• In a small bowl combine the vegan mayo, vinegar, agave nectar, and chia seeds. If the dressing appears a little runny, don't worry. The chia seeds will cause the dressing to thicken quite nicely (besides adding some healthy Omega-3s to the nutrient mix).

Assembling the Vegan Broccoli Salad:

• Place broccoli, sunflowers, chopped onion, sunflower seeds, raisins, and peas in a large serving bowl. Add the dressing to the salad and toss all the ingredients together to thoroughly spread the dressing throughout.
• Refrigerate the salad until ready to serve. 
• When you're ready to serve, prepare the Bacon Almond Slivers (or vegan bacon product…see note below) according to the recipe instructions. 
• Immediately before serving add the bacon almond slivers (or crumbled vegan bacon product) over the salad and serve.

(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)

Notes

Instead of the bacon almond slivers, you can use vegan bacon now found commercially in most stores. Simply cook a few slices according to the package instructions.

We used pumpkin seeds, but you can also use sunflower seeds

Calories and nutritional information is provided for the salad without almond bacon slivers.

To make broccoli cashew salad, substitute cashew cream for the vegan mayo. 

Calories: 162kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 113mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 420IU | Vitamin C: 47mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 0.9mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Did you make this recipe?

Leave a rating below then tag @namelymarly on Instagram and hashtag it #namelymarly. I love seeing your creations!

This post was originally published in 2019 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.