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This creamy broccoli slaw is irresistibly tasty! It’s easy to make using fresh broccoli or the packaged mix you can find in most grocery stores.
Here’s a fresh spin on the classic broccoli slaw! Who knew broccoli could be so irresistibly tasty? Alex and I created our own spin on this classic, then nearly polished off the entire bowl in one sitting.
This recipe you can make with one of those store-bought broccoli slaw bags or fresh broccoli and carrots. It’s got a creamy dressing that’s equal parts savory, tangy, and a little sweet. It works as a summer side dish for a cookout, or an anytime side dish that works with—well, anything!
Ingredients in broccoli slaw
Broccoli slaw is a spin on the traditional coleslaw using thinly sliced broccoli stems instead of cabbage. Often you’ll find carrots in the mix, and it’s coated in a mayo-based coleslaw dressing. Broccoli slaw has become so popular that the mix is sold pre-packaged in grocery stores in the US. But you can also make it with fresh veggies!
Other things you’ll find in broccoli slaw recipes: a sweet element like sliced apple, dried cranberries or raisins, and a crunchy element like sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, or even dried ramen noodles. Here’s what we use in our broccoli slaw (or go to the recipe):
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Mayonnaise (or vegan mayo)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Sugar or maple syrup
- Dried dill
- Celery seed
- Sunflower seeds
- Dried cranberries
Make slaw with packaged mix or fresh broccoli
A nice feature of this broccoli slaw recipe is that it’s customizable based on your preferences and the ingredients you have access to! You can use either store-bought mix, or use fresh broccoli and carrots. Here are the pros and cons:
- Fresh broccoli and carrots: We highly recommend using fresh veggies here! The flavor is out-of-this-world fresh. It’s fastest and easiest with a food processor: you’d need a slicing blade and a grating blade. Or, you can use a knife to thinly slice the florets and then a box grater to grate the broccoli stems and carrots. It’s worth it for the flavor: we promise!
- Bagged broccoli slaw mix: It’s usually easy to find broccoli slaw mix at the grocery store, sold in 12 ounce bags. You’ll just need 24 ounces of slaw, which makes this method very quick and easy. The tradeoff? You lose some of that fresh, beautiful veggie flavor; store-bought mix can be a little dry.
Broccoli slaw add-ins
This broccoli slaw is incredibly good with just veggies and dressing. But you can also add sweet or crunchy elements to make it even better. Here are some options:
- Sunflower seeds: we added these for a crunchy topping
- Sliced almonds: this would also add a crunch
- Dried cranberries or currants: for savory + sweet fans! Alex is not, so we left them out in our version
- Julienned green apple: for another sweet element
Dietary notes
This broccoli slaw recipe is vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free. For vegan and plant-based, use vegan mayo (should be relatively easy to find at your grocery or online).
Classic Broccoli Slaw
This creamy broccoli slaw is irresistibly tasty! It’s easy to make using fresh broccoli or the packaged mix you can find in most grocery stores.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 modest servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Raw
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds broccoli on the stem* (or 24 ounces packaged broccoli slaw and skip carrots)
- 2 medium carrots
- ½ cup mayonnaise (or vegan mayo)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh black ground pepper
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds (optional)
- ¼ cup dried cranberries (optional)
Instructions
- For fresh broccoli & carrots: Fit a food processor with the slicing blade. Cut the florets off of the broccoli, then feed them into the food processor to thinly slice them. Peel the stems of the broccoli and the carrots, then cut them into pieces to fit into the food processor. Change the blade to the grating blade and feed them through the food processor. Alternate method: Thinly slice the florets with a knife. Then use a box grater to large grate the peeled broccoli stems and carrots.
- Place the sliced vegetables (or bags of broccoli slaw) into a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar, dill, celery seed, kosher salt, and several grinds fresh ground pepper.
- Add the dressing to the vegetables and stir until coated. If desired, stir in sunflower seeds or dried cranberries. Eat immediately or refrigerate up to 2 days.
Notes
*For a potluck or cookout, we’d recommend multiplying this recipe by 1.5 to make 12 servings.
More slaw recipes
Are you a slaw fan? Alex and I have realized we’re huge fans of the stuff: we have a hard time not loading up on it when we serve it! Here are a few more slaw recipes to try:
- This creamy coleslaw is the absolute best, covered in a zingy coleslaw dressing.
- Try vinegar coleslaw, a spin with a vinaigrette dressing: no mayo.
- This red cabbage slaw requires just red cabbage and red onion, plus a zingy dressing.
- This Mexican coleslaw or cilantro lime slaw go well with tacos and enchiladas.
I am going to make today, I wanted a real broccoli salad With real veggies, this sounds REAL to me , also I wanted more ideas with Brussels sprouts and broccoli, checking into Caufiflower all we eat are steamed, hungry for some thing different, but with same veggies, I am diabetic w/carb of 75 grams er day , I l’ll take care
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So easy and delicious. I used packaged broccoli slaw. It is very tasty!
This turned out wonderfully.