Creamy Broccoli Salad Recipe with Chicken, Bacon, and Cheddar Cheese
Apr 20, 2018, Updated Mar 30, 2022
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Creamy Broccoli Salad Recipe – Simple, easy, and delicious broccoli salad loaded with cheese, chicken, and bacon tossed with a creamy and flavor packed dressing. It is the perfect side to bring to a picnic or a potluck.
Creamy Broccoli Salad!
Who can resist a heaping helping of this creamy, cheesy, bacon chicken and broccoli combo? NO body. Did I mention the tomatoes and red onions in there? YUM! The entire salad is like a crunch fest you won’t want to resist.
To add! If you are looking for a potluck friendly salad, this is it! If you also need something to pack up for lunch, this is it! On top of all that, me thinks the tangy and creamy dressing makes this broccoli salad a definite winner.
HOW TO MAKE CREAMY BROCCOLI SALAD
We start off by cutting up all our ingredients.
- Cut broccoli into small florets and transfer to a big salad bowl. *If you don’t like raw broccoli, you can put the florets in a small amount of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, covered. Then, rinse the broccoli under cold water so to stop them from further cooking.
- Chop up cooked chicken breasts to bite size pieces and add them to the salad bowl.
- Continue cutting up the rest of the ingredients including, cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes, cooked crispy bacon, and red onions.
- Add all ingredients to the salad bowl and set aside.
HOW TO MAKE A CREAMY SALAD DRESSING
- For the dressing, you will need yogurt, dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper, dried parsley and dried oregano.
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Add the salad dressing to the broccoli salad and toss to combine.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
This is an all time favorite salad and it goes FAST! If you have time, let it sit for a few hours in the fridge before serving – it tastes that much better!
MORE POTLUCK SALADS
- Crunchy Broccoli Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
- Potluck Pasta Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette
- Spaghetti Salad Recipe
- Avocado Egg Salad
ENJOY!
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TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS USED IN THIS RECIPE
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Creamy Broccoli Salad Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE BROCCOLI SALAD
- 4 cups broccoli florets*
- 6 slices turkey bacon, cooked to a desired crispness and chopped, (you can also use regular low sodium bacon)
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cooked/grilled and diced to bite size pieces
- 2 cups low fat cubed cheddar cheese
- 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
FOR THE CREAMY DRESSING
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Instructions
- In a large salad bowl combine broccoli florets, chopped bacon, diced chicken, cubed cheese, cherry tomatoes, and onions; set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar; whisk until thoroughly incorporated. Taste and adjust accordingly.
- Add dressing to the broccoli salad; toss gently.
- Cover the salad and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Any thing I can use to substitute the sugar? Trying to stay away from refunded processed sugar. Honey maybe?
Hi!
Yep, you can definitely use honey, or any other sugar substitute you may have on hand.
Made this last night for supper. Salad is great, but sorry to say we did not care for the dressing! If I make this again, will definitely be hunting a different one.
Such a perfect picnic side!
Broccoli salads are so delicious! This recipe looks amazing too, looking forward to try it.
Love the chicken addition in this salad! Great idea!
Love everything about this! Definitely Saving!
Such a great way to enjoy broccoli! Thanks for this salad recipe!
This recipe is me, but how much in cups or ounces do you think a serving would be? Great for a weight watcher diet, thank you.
Hi!
Yep, definitely good for a WW diet! 🙂 A serving of this salad is about 1-1/2 to 2 cups, or 1/6 of the entire salad since it serves 6 people.
Thanks for your reply and since you know more than I do, I ‘love ask another question! This would do us well for dinner, but it there any way to make this salad and have it for a couple of lunches? Could I just leave the salad undressed? Any idea of how much a serving of dressing is? Don’t forget, as a Weight Watcher I count every bite! Thanks for all of your help!
Personally, I like this salad a day or two after, salad dressing included. 🙂 But, yes, you can definitely have it for a couple of lunches – just keep it in an airtight container and in the fridge. In as far as the dressing, there’s a total of 16 tablespoons that you can get out of it, but for a cup of broccoli salad, you won’t need more than say 1 tablespoon. And a serving of the dressing is 1 tablespoon. Hope that helps! 🙂
YUM!! What a great combo! I love broccoli salad 🙂