Plant Based Broccoli Salad
Creamy, flavorful, and loaded with nutrients, this Healthy Plant Based Broccoli Salad is a delicious lunch, dinner, or side dish. You'll love contrast between crunchy veggies and the sweet grapes, and you'll also love the creamy and slightly sweet oil-free dressing. This broccoli salad without mayo is also perfect to take to a potluck, barbecue, or picnic!
Equipment
- 1 Blender a food processor may also be used
Ingredients
Broccoli Salad
- 6 Cups Raw Broccoli Florets, cut into penny-sized pieces
- ½ Small Red Onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced, see notes section below for substitutions
- 2 Ribs Celery, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced, see notes section below for substitutions
- 2 Cups Red Seedless Grapes, or more to taste, if they are large halve or quarter them to be bite-sized, or try 2 diced apples instead
Dressing
- 16 Ounces Silken Tofu, drained, see notes section below for substitutions
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar, or lemon juice
- 1 Medjool Date, pitted, see notes section below for substitutions
- 1 Tablespoon White or Yellow Miso Paste, see notes section below for substitutions
- 1 Teaspoon Granulated Onion
- 1 Teaspoon Granulated Garlic
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Add the silken tofu, apple cider vinegar, pitted Medjool date, miso paste, granulated onion, and granulated garlic to your blender. Blend on high until fully combined. A little spice may get stuck on the side; just scrape it down with a spatula or spoon and blend for 10 more seconds.
- Taste test: Taste the sauce. Need more sweetness? Add another pitted date. More saltiness? Add a teaspoon of miso. More acidity? Add another tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Blend again and taste again. Repeat until you're happy with it.
- Assemble the salad: Add your chopped broccoli, sliced celery, sliced red onions, and grapes to a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce on top. You might want to start with half of it and add more if needed. Some people like it to be saucier than others. Mix well and taste. Adjust as needed.
- Storage: Refrigerate leftover plant based broccoli salad in an airtight container for up to 4 days. If you have leftover dressing, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days and it's great on cooked veggies and more.
Notes
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- Red Onion: You can use sweet or yellow onion for a more mellow flavor (or white onion for a stronger flavor). The mildest onion would be green onion (AKA spring onion or scallion).
- Celery: You can swap this out for chopped carrots for an equally hardy veggie (that will last well in the fridge) or a more delicate one like bell peppers or cucumbers. Note that these will not last as long in the fridge but are less dense and therefore may be more palatable for some folks.
- Silken Tofu: This recipe calls for 16 ounces silken tofu. You can find 16-ounce packages of silken tofu in the refrigerator section at your local grocery store, that's where I buy mine even in my little town that has almost nothing. But if you can only buy your silken tofu in the shelf-stable 12-ounce aseptic containers, you can either use 1 + ¼ of those, or just use one pack and add 2-4 tablespoons of soaked raw cashews, soaked raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or dehydrated potato flakes.
- To Substitute the Silken Tofu: If you can only find soft or regular tofu (don't use firm), you can use this and just add a little plain unsweetened non-dairy milk (just enough to blend). If you don't want to use tofu at all, you can do 1+½ cups drained and rinsed canned (or cooked from dried) white beans, or 1 cup of either soaked raw cashews or soaked raw sunflower seeds (and you will need water or plain unsweetened non-dairy milk to blend, and how much depends on how long you soaked them so start with equal parts nuts/seeds and liquid and adjust from there.
- Medjool Dates: I used a Medjool date to sweeten this recipe naturally. Other options include pure maple syrup or date syrup (I would start with a half tablespoon and add more to taste). You can also omit this ingredient entirely if you don't want the dressing to be slightly sweet.
- Yellow or White Miso Paste:This is to replace the salt in the recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. If you're fine eating salt (or if you eat the potassium chloride salt substitute) you can go ahead and use that. If you are totally avoiding added sodium, you can leave it out.
- Add more protein: Want this to be a more satisfying main dish? Add cooked beans like no-salt-added garbanzo beans (AKA chickpeas) or another bean you like. Or try cubed baked tofu or tempeh!
- Top it: Many traditional broccoli salad recipes included dried cranberries. You could definitely buy unsweetened dried cranberries if you wanted to stay within Whole Food Plant Based guidelines! Raw pumpkin seeds, crushed walnuts, raw cashews, or raw sunflower seeds would also be a lovely topping.
- Sodium: If you are avoiding sodium altogether, you can omit the miso paste entirely. There is sodium coming from the tofu in this recipe, so you can follow my instructions above to use raw cashews or raw sunflower seeds instead.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.5 recipeCalories: 399kcalCarbohydrates: 69.8gProtein: 23.5gFat: 9.6gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.1gSodium: 439.9mgPotassium: 1923.2mgFiber: 11.7gSugar: 38.8gVitamin A: 99.9IUVitamin C: 250.8mgCalcium: 305mgIron: 5.7mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!