Broccoli salad is one of those rare veggie salads you can make ahead — its sturdy broccoli florets won’t wilt in the fridge. That makes it awesome for meal prepping: serve it as a side for dinner one night, enjoy it as a light lunch for the next couple of days.

It’s also one of our favorites because it’s heavy on the goodies — nuts, dried fruit, and the like — and all the chewy, crunchy texture they bring. This recipe is no exception. In addition to the classic red onion, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries, it’s got feta and dried apricots. In the test kitchen, we all enjoyed the mellow saltiness of the feta in there: it rounds out the pungent onions and sweet-tart fruit.

The dressing is super creamy, which is important because you want it to grab onto the tops of those tiny broccoli trees — and bring all the aforementioned goodies with it. We use mayonnaise as the base, plus some sour cream for tangy depth. To that we add dill, chives, cayenne pepper, and a small amount of red wine vinegar. All that bright, clean flavor lightens things up, and where you’d expect a sweet dressing, this one is vibrantly savory.

The salad and the dressing come together beautifully: It’s creamy, crunchy, chewy, fruity-sweet, and salty. It’s got enough cool creaminess going for it that it’ll make a brilliant pairing with boldly seasoned barbecued meats. But it would also be fantastic next to something simpler, like a nice piece of salmon or roasted chicken.

Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the broccoli salad:

12 oz Gelson’s bacon

1 head broccoli, chopped into ½-inch pieces

1 small red onion, diced

¼ cup salted sunflower seeds

¼ cup dried apricots, chopped

¼ cup dried cranberries

½ cup feta cheese, crumbled

For the salad dressing:

½ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup sour cream

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill

2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

Kosher salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. To make the salad: On a sheet pan, cook the bacon for 15 to 20 minutes, or until crispy. Set it aside to cool, and then chop it into ¼-inch pieces.

3. In a large bowl, toss together the broccoli, red onion, sunflower seeds, dried apricots, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and bacon.

4. To make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, red wine vinegar, dill, chives, and cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Fold the dressing into the broccoli salad and serve. Note: leftover broccoli salad can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Calculate nutrition information for this recipe.