Broccoli Waldorf Salad
Crunchy with a hint of sweetness, Broccoli Waldorf Salad is healthy and tasty. Perfect for summer picnic season–or anytime of the year!
There’s a restaurant near us that we like. And every summer they put a Broccoli Waldorf Salad on the menu. Three months only. Once Labor Day rolls around, it’s history.
So this year, I finally said, “Silly girl, everyone makes that a Broccoli Waldorf salad. Just do it.”
And it worked the first time–it was even educational. I learned that you can buy bacon bits pre-cooked on the grocery shelf. Add that to the precut broccoli florets and the whole thing is a piece of cake.
I looked at a number of online recipes, did some picking and choosing, then adjusted after tasting. I also used a Bosc pear instead of an apple. Bosc pears keep their crispness beautifully and looked fresher than the late apples I saw. It was perfect.
Go organic on the pear or apple if you can. Those consistently make the dirty dozen section of the EWG’s rating system. But even organic broccoli florets were easy to find and inexpensive at Trader Joe’s. Alas, I was not ambitious enough to fry up my own organic bacon bits and went with packaged conventional.
So here is my version, just in time for summer picnic season.
Or anytime. 🙂


- • 12 oz package broccoli florets, about 5 cups
- • 1 pear or apple, cored and cubed
- • 1/4 c. walnuts bits (or sunflower seeds)
- • ¼ cup bacon bits or bacon substitute
- • 1/4 c. craisins
- • 1 red onion, diced, about ½ c
- • 1/2 c. mayonnaise
- • ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- • 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
- • 2 tbsp honey
- • ¼ t salt, pepper
- Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large salad bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Mix with dressing or serve dressing on the side.

Summer Salads
- Broccoli Waldorf Salad by Art of Natural Living
- Easy Cucumber Onion Salad by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Fresh Summer Corn Salad by Home Sweet Homestead
- Layered Salad with Green Goddess Dressing by Delaware Girl Eats
- Lephet Thoke (Burmese Fermented Tea Leaf Salad) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Libyan Bean and Artichoke Salad by Pandemonium Noshery
- Salmon Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Tex-Mex Steak Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Thai Cucumber Salad by Cheese Curd In Paradise
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- Asparagus Soup with Chimichurri
- Fresh Berry Salad with Limoncello
I love fresh salads like this one 🙂
I’m so glad I finally figured out how to make this Tandy!
Awesome salad Inger, I am loving all the fruits in it…great for this coming summer. Have a great week!
I love fruits in salads too Juliana! You have a great week also!
This sounds delicious, and a great change of pace for mine and my husband’s daily salads. We love those pre-cooked bacon bits too, it’s so much easier than trying to fry bacon every time.
I was soooo excited to spot those bacon bits April! Then we just had to keep making this delicious salad until they were used up 🙂
This is such a tasty looking salad! Using pear instead of apple is a nice twist. I love the red onion in here. I adds a bit of zing and balances the sweetness so nicely 🙂
Thanks Thao! I use pears more and more now–and totally agree on the red onion. I add it to salads a lot!
Now some people are not friendly with broccoli but I really enjoy it. We do it the Italian way which is called “twice cooked”, first steamed and then sauteed in olive oil
I’ll have to try that Cathy!
I love a good broccoli salad and this one has so many goodies in it!
Thanks!
I think I will try this with my home-cured pancetta. And the pear, for sure!
Oooo, yes, on that pancetta David!
Love broccoli salad. Had never considered adding apples or pears. Thanks for the idea.
The restaurant version that inspired this serves it over lettuce too, which really makes it healthy!