Skinny Broccoli Salad with Greek Yogurt

Why this Recipe Works

Top Reasons You’ll Love this Salad:

• Can be made in advance
• Low fat and healthier—though you’d never know it.
• Doesn’t go soggy!
• Takes less than 15 minutes to throw together.

This skinny broccoli salad is a staple at potlucks, barbecues, picnics, and for good reason! It is sweet and savory and so convenient! The salad itself only takes 15 minutes (or less) to put together and it can be  made in advance for whatever event you are bringing it to. Unlike most green salads, this one doesn’t wilt and go soggy, and actually gets better the longer it sits!

Traditional broccoli salad is packed with fat and sugar, this one is a much healthier and lighter version! You won’t miss all the extra fat and sugar, I promise. The honey yogurt dressing uses Greek yogurt as the base which adds protein on top of cutting out a ton of calories from the traditional mayonnaise and sour cream.

The salad is full of delicious ingredients like broccoli crowns, broccoli slaw, chopped sweet apple, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, green onions, crispy bacon, and cheddar cheese. Your family will love this Greek yogurt broccoli salad as much as mine does.

Ingredient Notes

• Broccoli. You’ll want to use small, bite-sized pieces of broccoli. You can buy them already cut at the store or cut them into florets yourself.
• Broccoli Slaw. Broccoli slaw comes in a bag in the produce section, it is made up of thinly sliced broccoli stems.
• Apple. Use a medium-sized apple, I prefer crisp, but sweet one, like Fuiji, Gala, or Pink Lady, but use what you like.
• Dried Cranberries. Also called craisins, I use the reduced sugar ones to keep this broccoli salad light and healthy.
• Sunflower Seeds. You’ll need sunflower seeds that are already shelled. I like the ones that are roasted and lightly salted.
• Green Onions. Fresh green onions add a great onion flavor without an overwhelming onion flavor, use mostly greens and not too much of the white part.
• Bacon. The bacon should be cooked until crispy, chewy bacon doesn’t add a great texture to this salad.
• Cheddar Cheese. Cut the cheddar cheese into small cubes, I prefer a sharp cheddar.
• Greek Yogurt. Plain, fat free, Greek yogurt is the perfect addition to this broccoli salad with honey yogurt dressing. It adds creaminess and tanginess, protein, and cuts the fat from the mayonnaise down considerably.
• Light Mayo. We use just a little bit of light mayo to adds some of the classic flavor to this dressing.
• Apple Cider Vinegar. Apple cider vinegar adds a slight sweetness, while also adding acidity to the dressing.
• Honey. Honey is a great natural sweetener that is healthier than sugar.
• Salt & Pepper. Salt and pepper are used to season the yogurt dressing.

How to Cut Broccoli into Florets

In this recipe you can buy broccoli already cut up from the store if you prefer. However, cutting up broccoli crowns into small florets for this skinny broccoli salad with Greek yogurt is easy.

1. Wash the broccoli thoroughly and shake most of the water off.
2. Use a large, sharp knife to remove the majority of the stalk/stem.
3. Cut the broccoli crown down into 4 pieces before breaking it down into florets, it makes it a little more manageable.
4. Cut the broccoli where the stems begin to branch off into florets. You should end up with small, bite-sized, broccoli trees.

How to Make this Recipe

1. Prep Salad. Prepare all the ingredients for the salad and place them in a large serving bowl together—cube the cheese, chop the bacon, dice the apple, etc.
2. Make Dressing. Whisk together all the honey yogurt dressing ingredients and pour over the salad, coating it thoroughly. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve. I like to let the mixture sit for at least an hour before serving, however, it can sit for more or less time.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Expert Tips

• Customize the salad. this Greek yogurt broccoli salad is easy to customize to your own taste buds! See our substitutions and variations sections below for some ideas!
• Let it marinate. This salad is best after it marinates for at least an hour. The flavors mingle together, and the broccoli softens slightly as it absorbs some of the dressing.
• Add the bacon last. If you want your bacon to stay crispy longer, add it right before serving.
• Give it a mix. Like most salads, the dressing tends to pool at the bottom. So give the salad a quick mix to recoat it all in that yummy Greek yogurt dressing before serving.

Substitutions in this Recipe

If there is an ingredient you dislike or don’t have, feel free to swap it for something else. Here are a few ideas of what you can substitute in this recipe.

• Light Mayo. You can use regular mayo, sour cream, or all Greek yogurt.
• Broccoli. Broccoli can be swapped for shaved brussels sprouts, shredded cabbage, or kale.
• Dried Cranberries. Craisins can switched out for raisins, halved purple grapes, or dried cherries.
• Sunflower Seeds. Exchange the sunflower seeds for pepitas, sliced almonds, or chopped pecans.
• Bacon. Bacon can be omitted if vegetarian or try using turkey bacon.
• Honey. Swap the honey for maple syrup, agave, monk fruit sweetener, coconut sugar, white sugar, or stevia (you will need to adjust the amount for stevia).
• Vinegar. We use apple cider vinegar in this recipe, but feel free to use white vinegar, or red or white wine vinegar.
• Green Onion. Switch the green onion for diced red onion.

Recipe Variations

• Make it a lemon dressing. To make the dressing have a fresh lemon flavor add the zest of one lemon and swap the vinegar for lemon juice.
• Add extra fruits and  veggies. Feel free to add extra fruits or vegetables to this recipe. Some ideas are shredded carrots, diced cucumber, diced bell pepper, purple grapes, pomegranate seeds, etc.
• Make it a poppyseed dressing. If you love poppyseed dressing, add a little Dijon mustard to the dressing and add 1 ½ tablespoons of poppyseeds to it.
• Make it lighter. If you want to lighten this salad up further, read the section below, we have some great tips on how to cut the calories more, make it lower in fat, and make it lower in carbs.

How to Lighten this Salad Even More

For the dressing, you can reduce the amount of honey you add to it or replace the honey with a lighter sweetener. Agave has the same amount of calories as honey, however, it has a much lower glycemic index.

You can also replace the honey with your favorite zero calorie sweetener like stevia, monk fruit sweetener, or erythritol. If you use stevia, remember that stevia tends to much stronger than your traditional sweeteners that measure like sugar.

Swap the dried cranberries in this broccoli salad with sliced grapes, this will reduce the calories and added sugar in the recipe.

Try using turkey bacon instead of regular bacon. Remember to cook the turkey bacon until super crispy, no one want floppy bacon in this salad.

Overall, you can reduce the amount of toppings you add to the salad to cut back on the calories and fat in the broccoli salad. The highest calorie toppings are sunflower seeds, cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, and bacon.

What to Serve with this Recipe

This skinny broccoli salad with Greek yogurt is perfect for serving at a picnic or barbecue. I love pairing it with grilled meats (like our San Antonio chicken), hamburgers, pasta salad, or cold sandwiches.

How to Store this Recipe

Room Temperature

Because this skinny broccoli salad contains mayo it shouldn’t be left out at room temperature for longer than 2 hours. So, keep this in mind when you are serving it at your next barbecue. One of my favorite tricks is to fill a larger bowl with ice and place the bowl of Greek yogurt broccoli salad in it to keep it chilled for longer.

Refrigerator

One of the best things about this healthy broccoli salad is that it doesn’t get soggy, meaning it can last for days if stored properly! Keep it tightly covered and in the fridge and the salad will last for up to 3 days.

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