Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This is a more fresh, light and exciting version of a broccoli cauliflower salad. There’s no heavy creamy salad dressing, bacon or cheddar cheese. Here it’s a balance of mediterranean ingredients including sun-dried tomatoes, olives and chickpeas. This is the kind of salad you can’t stop eating.

The dressing is a vinaigrette with a smidge of creaminess thanks to tahini. In a traditional recipe, it’s usually mayonnaise, greek yogurt or sour cream. Here I add couple tablespoons of tahini to red wine vinaigrette which also makes it a bit nutty.

This is the perfect salad for potlucks, family gatherings or make-ahead lunches. Because it has a base of chopped broccoli and cauliflower and not lettuce, it keeps that great texture even when you make it in advance. 

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Broccoli: Look for florets with tops that are tightly packed together and green, not yellow. You can buy broccoli crowns and chop them, but you won’t need the woody, thick stems.
• Cauliflower: Avoid cauliflower that has any dark spots because that means it’s not as fresh. You can buy precut florets or a head of cauliflower and cut it.
• Chickpeas: The recipe calls for a 15-ounce can of chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans. Drain the can and rinse the chickpeas in a colander. Then pat them off with a towel. I like to remove the loose skins, so they don’t end up mixed into the salad.
• Sun-dried tomatoes: You can find them at the olive bar or in the Italian food section at the grocery with the jarred olives, artichokes and other antipasti. Take them out of the jar with a fork, leaving behind the oil. You can substitute with roasted red peppers or use both.
• Olives: Roughly chopped pitted Kalamata olives give the salad moments that are a bit briny and salty.
• Red onions are one of my favorite salad onions. They aren’t too strong, but they still have a good sharp accent.
• Almonds give the salad nutty crunch. You can substitute with toasted walnuts, pine nuts or sunflower seeds. 
• Feta makes so much sense with these other Mediterranean ingredients. You can swap with crumbled goat cheese. Or for something more mild, grated parmesan would also be a good choice.
• Parsley: I finish the salad with chopped fresh herbs to round out all the flavors. 
• Red wine vinaigrette: As mentioned, tahini gives the vinaigrette a touch of something creamy. The dressing also has minced garlic, whole grain mustard, fresh lemon juice, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. You can substitute with white wine vinegar.

Serving

There are so many ways to serve this no-lettuce salad. It works no matter the season with its combination of fresh vegetables and jarred Mediterranean ingredients. You can approach it like a main dish or a side dish depending on the occasion and what you’re serving with it. Pair it with garlicky mushroom spaghetti, lemon pepper pasta or roasted tomato orecchiette.

Make-Ahead Tips, Leftovers & Storage

You can make the salad and the vinaigrette up to 2 days in advance. Store them in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator. 

If you have leftovers, you can keep them in the fridge up to 3 days. I like to let them sit out for at least 15 minutes before I eat them, so the veggies aren’t as cold. Because cauliflower and broccoli are a hearty base, leftovers will hold up much better than a salad with leafy greens.