A few months ago I made a batch of Honey Mustard Sauce and I literally could not stop dipping broccoli florets into it, so I knew right away that I just needed to make a whole Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad. This salad is incredibly simple, but packed with flavor, and it even holds up in the refrigerator well. This Honey Mustard Broccoli salad makes a great summer side dish, but you could always top it with some grilled chicken and make it a meal!
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Substitutions
If red onions are too strong for you, you can use a couple sliced green onions in their place. Another option is to soak your red onion for about 5 minutes in ice water, which will dull its sharp flavor.
Instead of dried cranberries, dried cherries, raisins, or even chopped dried apricots would work well. But I love the contrast of the tart cranberry flavor the best! :)
How Long Does Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad Keep?
Because broccoli is so sturdy, this salad holds up really well in the refrigerator. I’m on day three right now and it’s still quite tasty. The broccoli has only gotten slightly softer, the dressing is still creamy and moist (it hasn’t dried out), and very little water has seeped out of the vegetables. I give it an A- for sturdiness! As usual I would suggest keeping the Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad for a maximum of 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad
Servings 5 1 cup eachIngredients
Honey Mustard Dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise ($0.80)
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard ($0.09)
- 1 Tbsp yellow mustard ($0.09)
- 3 Tbsp honey ($0.36)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp paprika ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.02)
- freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
Salad
- 1 large crown Broccoli (about 5 cups chopped) ($1.69)
- 1/4 red onion (about 1/2 cup diced) ($0.11)
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds ($0.64)
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries ($0.22)
Instructions
- Prepare the honey mustard dressing by stirring together the mayonnaise, Dijon, yellow mustard, honey, vinegar, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Set the dressing aside.
- Chop the broccoli into small pieces. Finely dice the red onion.
- Combine the broccoli, onion, almonds, and dried cranberries in a large bowl. Add about half of the honey mustard dressing and stir to coat. Add more dressing to your liking (I used about 3/4 of the batch).
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
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Equipment
- Chef’s Knife
- White Cutting Boards
- Whisk
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos
How to Make Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad – Step by Step Photos
First, make the honey mustard dressing. Combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp yellow mustard, 3 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp paprika, 1/8 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper.
Stir the honey mustard dressing ingredients together until combined, then set the dressing aside.
Chop one large crown of broccoli into small pieces. You’ll want about 5 cups once chopped.
Place the broccoli in a large bowl. Finely dice 1/4 of a red onion (about 1/2 cup). Add the onion, 1/3 cup slivered almonds, and 1/4 cup dried cranberries to the bowl with the broccoli.
Add about half of the honey mustard dressing to the broccoli salad, then stir to coat. Add more dressing to your liking. I ended up using about 3/4 of the batch of dressing. If you need some ideas for how to use the remaining dressing, I have a list of ideas in my Honey Mustard Sauce post.
Enjoy the Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad immediately, or refrigerate until you’re ready to eat!
I have tried a lot of honey mustard dressing recipes that were ok, but none were anything I looked forward to having. Until this one! It’s simple and delicious! I will be making it often! Thanks!
I have a prepared Honey Dijon in my fridge. How do you recommend I tweak the recipe to account for this?
I don’t think you’d need to adjust much! I would use the same amount as regular dijon and then maybe a touch less honey so it’s not too sweet.
I’ve made this twice now and it’s so good!
Looking forward to trying new recipes. Just found this site
I’ve recently become a fan of budget bites and this salad is one of the reasons. What a delicious treat! And that honey mustard dressing…don’t get me started. So good!
This salad is outstanding! The dressing is perfect. I needed some salads that keep well in the fridge for my on-the-go life! Wife, mom, Coach, Teacher & grad student. This will help my family and I grab healthy meals for lunch & dinner. I’m super duper thankful for these recipes! God bless !
Flavorful easy salad with great texture! Super easy to throw together!
This is the most delicious broccoli salad EVER. I used 2 TBSP. honey (instead of 3) and reduced fat mayo (NOT yoghurt) and no cranberries but rather chopped fresh organic apple for crunch and additional sweet . . . Also I toasted sliced almonds. Ahhhh. mazing recipe THANK YOU
I love this recipe.l am 11 years old and l love to cook with my mother 🤩🥰
Keep cooking Bella! I love this so much. xoxo
Made this for lunch today. Added feta, sun flower seed, raisins and rotisserie chicken. Hardly ever a miss on budget bytes!
This is a keeper! I’ve used a combo of broccoli and cauliflower (it’s what I had…). Easy to make ahead, have substituted Greek yogurt for part of mayo, added sunflower seeds (again, what I had on hand…).
Versatile, healthy…and used the dressing as a dip for chicken tenders. Thank you!
Is this similar to the brochure salad which uses bacon? That has always been a fav, but this looks even without or per comments with a lower fat protein such as chicken.
Wow! I usually cannot do raw broccoli, but LOVED this recipe. I did make some subs – cherry tomatoes instead of cranberries, cherry peppers for some extra acidity – but the combination of broccoli with that dressing is an absolute winner no matter what you add. Super easy to make!
Excellent – I made this as a side dish for Easter dinner and added some crumbled bacon. I wasn’t sure if making the dressing homemade was worth it but I’m pretty convinced that it was!
This is DELICIOUS. I had a screenshot of this recipe saved on my phone, probably from your Instagram. I was on a flight home yesterday from a vacation where all I ate was carbs, and came across the screenshot while looking through my pictures. All I could think about was this salad! So I made it for dinner tonight. Because I already had currants, I used those instead of buying dried cranberries but otherwise followed the recipe. I’m going to serve it with grilled cod and grilled vegetables. thank you!!
do you think this would work if I cooked the broccoli first? I’ve learned its hard to digest raw broccoli, so I just never do it!
It will definitely change the texture and flavor, but I think it’s just going to be a matter of personal preference whether or not you like it with cooked broccoli. :)
Good fun, never mixed honey and mustarx before. Lots of substitutions make the final flav our a mystery. I liked the idea of helping kids to enjoy eating Broccoli
This is EXCELLENT. I put in the entire dressing batch and I should have only used 3/4 of the batch per the recipe. For context, I do not like raw broccoli on its own, and I couldn’t stop eating this. I’m thinking about adding this to my lunchtime rotation because I’ve been looking for ways to up my veggies and lunch is usually the hardest place for me to add more.
I love this recipe! I struggle to eat vegetables, especially raw ones, and this recipe makes me love them. I omit the red onion personally but other than that, the recipe is perfect to me! Thanks so much, I’ve enjoyed so many recipes from this website!
Delicious and easy! Didn’t have cranberries or almonds but put in a little red bell pepper and kalamata olives which really bumped up the visual appeal. Decreased the sweetener to 2 TBS and that was plenty sweet for us. Only got three large servings out of it as I couldn’t keep myself from munching on it as I was getting the rest of the meal ready….
So good! I added some rotisserie chicken and put it on a tortilla for an easy at-work lunch. Definitely making this again!
This was great. The only changes I made were to substitute Greek yogurt for the mayo and increasing the garlic and paprika to both a teaspoon.
This is the first recipe of yours I’ve made. I used raisins and cashews because that’s all I had. The dressing is bomb.
I’m in love with this recipe. I have made it at least 5 times since I found it a couple weeks ago. It’s so easy and delicious! Only changes were a bit more than doubling the garlic powder, and putting in a whole red onion, but those are just personal preferences. Having a bit of leftover dressing is great too because if you get a larger broccoli crown then you still have enough. LOVE this recipe so much!
So delicious! I substituted lemon juice for the apple cider vinegar, doubled the Dijon since I didn’t have yellow mustard, and pure maple syrup for the honey. Best broccoli salad I’ve ever had. 10/10 would make again.
Delicious! I’ve made it twice now and plan to come back to this recipe. I don’t change a thing – everything gives good balance.
This was amazing! My husband wants me to make this again! I increased the ingredients to feed 6 and had some leftover which we added to a salad with lettuce, cheese, more cranberries, and leftover honey mustard dressing. Delicious!
Delicious – I decreased the honey a bit and converted my partner who hates typical honey mustard dressing (which are usually very sweet). I would definitely make this for a pot luck if I could stop myself from eating it all.
This is a fantastic recipe. I’ve made a single-serving version of it 4-5 times in the last two weeks, and it’s always satisfying.
Since I’m only making one (large) serving at a time, I use the following proportions for the dressing: 4 tsp Mayo, 1/2 tsp each dijon mustard and yellow mustard, 1/2 TBSp of honey (1.5 tsp), and a pinch each of garlic powder and paprika. (I don’t have apple cider vinegar, so I omitted that.)
Based on what I have on hand, I also substituted cabbage for half the broccoli, hulled & roasted sunflower seeds for the almonds, and raisins for the cranberries.
Crunchy, tangy, sweet perfection. This dish is so quick to whip up! We have made it twice this week already and plan on taking some with us to the beach this weekend. It’s perfect as a side dish at a pot-luck too, just plan on doubling the recipe because EVERYONE will want seconds. We did not adjust the recipe at all. It’s perfect as is.
I was honestly a little skeptical about this recipe, but it is SO GOOD! Already planning on running to grab more broccoli so I can make another batch for us to eat throughout the week. So yummy and fresh, but also such a comforting and warm flavor! Definitely see myself making this again and again.
I had printed this out recipe out because I am trying a mostly plant-based diet for health reasons (trying to cut out meat and other saturated fats) but I had not tried this yet. I just made it the other day – it is so delicious! I wish I had made it before.
I only made two small tweaks: I used 1/2 full fat, 1/2 low-fat mayo, and I subbed out almonds for pecans (I’m allergic to almonds).
Thank you! I will take this to gatherings (when it is safe, after the pandemic).
Soooooo Delicious! My husband said I had to make sure to leave a review because he loved it so much. I added leftover chicken from a roasted chicken I had bought at the market. Yum!
We aren’t usually big honey mustard fans in this house, but this combination worked surprisingly well. We blanched the broccoli for 40 sec to get rid of that extra raw flavor, and used green onions instead of red since that was what we had available. Added some chopped bacon too. I am sad now that it’s gone. Thank you for the recipe!
I always like preparing salads like this over the weekend to take to lunch all week and this salad DELIVERS! It’s delicious and very satisfying.
Another probably weird addition I wanted to say is that I had some dressing left over and I couldn’t just throw it away because I loved it so much. So, I used it to make some grilled cheese (as a replacement for the butter) and let me tell you…I don’t want to make grilled cheese any other way.
Anyway, great recipe! Thank you!
This is SO GOOD! It reminds me of a broccoli salad I eat at Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes but so much better (and probably healthier for you too!) That salad has raisins instead of cranberries. I will try that substitution next time I make this salad.
Thanks for another winning recipe, Beth!
Really good flavor mix! Everything fits perfectly together!
I brought this to a neighborhood party on Saturday and it was a huge hit. It was all gone by the end of the night and several people commented to me about how much they liked it. I made a few changes based on preferences:
-Used non-fat greek yogurt in place of the mayo
-Used dried cherries in place of cranberries
-Used green onion in place of red
-Used roasted pepitas in place of the almonds
I also didn’t use the broccoli raw, I blanched it first. I used the microwaveable fresh florets (Mann’s brand) and cooked for 2.5 minutes instead of 3.5-4. Then I dumped in ice water. That worked perfectly. It may be because of the ingredient swaps I made, but it did become somewhat watery at the bottom after sitting out for a few hours. Taste was spot on though!
This is so amazing I can’t stop eating it! I always love it when something not “covered in cheese” can make me this happy (trying to cut back on dairy)….
Great work Marti!
A delicious alternative to green salads. Very flavorful, hearty, and hold up well as leftovers. Pretty healthy, too. You won’t be disappointed!
Thank you!
Honestly, I can’t believe I love this so much. I have made it four times and it’s so addictive. One of my kids takes it in his lunch box.
That’s a HUGE win!
Beth. Beth. Beth. Listen. I’ve never liked broccoli but I can’t stop eating this.
Best review ever!
So yummy! In my pantry, I already had golden raisins and walnuts, so I figured I’d try those as substitutes for the cranberries and the almonds (instead of buying new packs of each). They worked perfectly! I meal prepped four lunches with it – easy and delicious!
Oh and 5 stars :)
Perfect!
This salad is so, so, so, so good. I got a little skeptical as I was adding the ingredients for the dressing – like: really? That much mayonnaise?? But it somehow pulled together to be the BEST. I shouldn’t be surprised because Beth’s recipes are always amazing, but I was shocked how good this was. I LOVE broccoli in almost any form but I do not like raw broccoli very much. This is a game-changer, though. I think it’s the combination of all the ingredients, the dressing, and the fact that the broccoli is cut in tiny little pieces. It was very, very good, but also a little higher calorie than I’d have preferred, because of the mayonnaise in the dressing. I would probably add a little more of the other ingredients and maybe use a low-fat mayonnaise in the future, but that’s to fit my preferences and dietary needs. I also tend to go a bit heavier on the dressing, which doesn’t help.
Ha thanks for your candor! I want to try it with greek yogurt, but I haven’t yet. Let us know if you try another way. :)
So good! I didn’t add any onions and used dried cherries and some leftover dried apricots from another salad recipe I did from here; which I think it’s good to have this be a little dressing heavy as the dried fruits will soak up a lot of moisture over night. Added a little sprouted quinoa (I’ve been adding this to everything lately, I just like the flavor) and the entire bowl was gone in 24 hours.
Oh my goodness….this is amazing! I shouldn’t be surprised because the other broccoli salad on here is so tasty but ugh who knew I could like a salad this much.
I feel the same Hannah. It’s just too good!
I’ve always liked broccoli salad but never thought to do a mustard dressing. This was simple and delicious. Even my spouse, who is not very fond of raw broccoli, enjoyed it. My children like to help in the kitchen, so the 9-year-old mixed up the dressing and the 6-year-old measured out almonds and cranberries while I chopped broccoli and onion.
Love the kitchen helpers! Glad to hear it was a hit.
Super fast and easy to make – I used walnut instead of almonds because that’s what I had on hand and it was fantastic! My husband and I ate the whole thing in one sitting. Yum
It’s too easy not to eat it all!
There is absolutely no way this salad will last four to five days in my fridge. Mainly because I’m eating it for breakfast on day two!!! Seriously, if someone is reading the comments trying to decide if they should make this salad, do yourself a favor and double, or even triple the recipe. It’s that good.
I had mine for breakfast today too Adrienne! It is THAT good!
So addictive! I was out of yellow mustard so I doubled the dijon and it was divine. I missed the note on maybe not using the entire sauce for the veggie mix (oops) so mine was pretty creamy. My bad! It was still delicious and the first refrigerator salad from my prep the other day that got polished off.
Double dijon sounds divine! Hooray!
This is a great salad and it comes together super quickly. We were out of cranberries and trying to use up pantry items so substituted currants and it worked great. I think this is a versatile salad that you can swap out the nuts and dried fruit and it will still taste awesome.
The honey-mustard dressing is excellent and will make an appearance outside of this salad (maybe with chicken strips) for sure.
This is so good!! I subbed yogurt for mayo and added some quinoa to make this for my weekly meal prep and it’s delicious and refreshing!
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it. I don’t typically keep yellow mustard in the house although I do have mustard powder. Would you recommend doubling the Dijon or a different strategy? Thanks!
I’ve made it with regular mustard and stone ground, and it’s turned out great! I would keep to the liquid condiment and not mustard powder.
Thanks!
This is beyond delicious! I used dried currants instead of cranberries. It is fantastic!
Oh that’s a great swap! Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is straight up delicious! I veganized by using Vegenaise for the mayo and maple syrup in place of the honey (2 tablespoons was plenty). The sauce is soooo good – I was pretty much licking the bowl. :)
😋
Very Yummy! I used slightly less mayo and a bit less honey but it was very good. We also didn’t use all of the dressing so next time I’ll probably half the dressing. Will definitely make again.
I love this recipe. I steamed the broccoli VERY briefly and then immediately submerged it in ice water. After it chilled in the ice water, I drained it well in a colander. I also soaked the red onion in cold water for about 10 minutes to calm down the bite a bit. I recently took a road trip and packed this salad in a plastic container and put it in the ice chest. It kept great and was better than fast food.
It’s a great picnic salad!
Delicious recipe. I substituted 2 tablespoons of maple syrup for the honey and greek yogurt for the mayo. I also added a dash more apple cider vinegar.
Should broccoli be blanched first (for a minute or so)?
No it can just be fresh. You can blanch it if you prefer, but let it cool before mixing.
Red onions are usually too sharp for me but my spouse loves them. This last week at our town’s Farmer’s Market, someone was selling “Candy Apple Red Onions”. I bought a few thinking my spouse would want to add them to their salads. But I tasted them and they’re soooo delicious. I can’t wait to use them with this recipe!! They’ll be perfect.
Oh wow I’ve never tried those! I’ll have to keep an eye out.
Would this work with maple syrup instead of honey. I’m looking for a vegan version
Yes I didn’t have honey on hand and used syrup today and it worked. I only used about half at first to make sure it wasn’t too sweet. So just add and taste as you go.
Could you sub out some of the mayo for greek yogurt, or is there any other way to lighten up the dressing a bit?
Yes I actually swapped it with greek yogurt just today and it tastes great!