I feel like I’ve stumbled upon gold with this recipe, guys. This Roasted Broccoli Salad with Almonds uses almost all ingredients that I keep on hand, and is so good that I was literally shoveling it into my mouth as I was taking photos. Thank goodness the crunch lo mein noodles come in a really big bag, because I’ll be making this Roasted Broccoli Salad with almonds again several times in the next couple of weeks.
Crunchy Noodle Alternatives
While I love what the crunchy chow mein noodles bring to the texture of this salad, I already know some of you will want to know what you can use in their place. If you just don’t want to buy chow mein noodles, you could use a brick of uncooked ramen noodles broken up, or if you’re looking to make this a little more low-carb, you can double the broccoli and just skip the crunchy noodles altogether. I wouldn’t suggest skipping the sugar in the dressing, though, because it is absolutely critical to balancing the salt and acid in the dressing.
Should I Use Fresh or Frozen Broccoli?
You can use either fresh or frozen broccoli florets, just be aware that fresh may take a different amount of time to roast. When roasting vegetables it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on them anyway, since the size of the vegetable and differences in oven temperatures can change roasting time quite a bit.
How Do Leftovers of Roasted Broccoli Salad Hold Up?
Leftovers of this recipe are okay, but it’s definitely best fresh. Luckily, this makes a small-ish batch. It will make four small side servings or two larger servings.
Goes great with: Easy Sesame Chicken, Pan Fried Sesame Tofu with Broccoli, Easy Orange Chicken, Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken
Roasted Broccoli Salad with Almonds and Simple Sesame Dressing
Servings 2 (2 cups each)Ingredients
SIMPLE SESAME DRESSING
- 2 Tbsp neutral oil* ($0.08)
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.12)
- 4 tsp soy sauce ($0.13)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil ($0.11)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.04)
- 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.04)
SALAD
- 1 lb frozen broccoli florets ($2.10)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil ($0.04)
- Pinch of salt ($0.02)
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds ($0.67)
- 1 cup crunchy chow mein noodles ($0.32)
- 2 green onions ($0.22)
Instructions
- Make the dressing first to allow the flavors time to blend. Add the oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, brown sugar, fresh grated ginger, and sesame seeds to a small jar or bowl. Whisk the ingredients together or close the jar and shake to combine. Set the dressing aside until ready to use.
- Spread the broccoli florets out on a baking sheet. Begin to preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place the baking sheet with broccoli on the stove top as the oven preheats to allow them to begin to thaw. Once the broccoli is soft enough to slice, cut any large florets into smaller bite-sized pieces. Drizzle the broccoli with 1 Tbsp oil and and pinch of salt, and toss to coat.
- Roast the broccoli for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring after 20 minutes. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the broccoli after 25 minutes, and allow them to roast together for the final five minutes. Take the broccoli and almonds out of the oven and allow them to cool (5-10 minutes).
- Once the broccoli is mostly cooled, add the crunchy lo mein noodles and sliced green onions, and stir to combine. Give the simple sesame dressing another stir or shake, and then drizzle the dressing over the baking sheet. Stir until everything is coated in dressing. Serve immediately.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Roasted Broccoli Salad – Step by Step Photos
Start by making the simple sesame dressing so that the flavors have time to blend (this is actually a double batch pictured). In a jar or bowl combine 2 Tbsp neutral or light oil (I used canola), 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 4 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (pictured on right), 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp freshly grated ginger, and 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds. Whisk the ingredients together or place a lid on the jar and shake until combined. Set the dressing aside.
Spread 1 lb. of frozen broccoli florets out on a baking sheet. Begin to preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place the baking sheet with the broccoli on the stove as the oven preheats so that they can begin to thaw. Once they’re soft enough to cut, slice any larger florets into smaller bite-sized pieces. Drizzle the broccoli with 1 Tbsp oil and toss to coat. Add a pinch of salt to the broccoli.
Roast the broccoli florets for 30 minutes total, stirring after 20 minutes, and adding 1/3 cup sliced almonds after about 25 minutes (roast the almonds with the broccoli for the last five minutes). Allow the broccoli to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Add 1 cup crunchy chow mein noodles and two sliced green onions, and stir to combine.
This is what the noodles look like, if you’re looking for them in the store. It’s quite a large bag, but I plan to make this salad again and again. :) If you have any other favorite recipes that you like to use these for, please share in the comments below!
Finally, give the dressing one last stir or shake, then drizzle it over the salad. Stir until everything is coated in the dressing.
And that’s it! This Roasted Broccoli Salad with Almonds is ready to devour!
Came out great! Grilled up a couple chicken breasts, cubed them up, and tossed them in for a full meal. The only thing I’d change next time is adding the crunchy noodles to each bowl individually since the leftovers I’m currently eating are nowhere near as good since the noodles are now all soggy.
This looks yummy! The only other thing I’ve used Chow mein noodles for is a topping in Hawaiian haystacks (you know, rice, cream of chicken sauce, chicken, pineapple, shredded coconut, Chow mein noodles, green onions (some times tomatoes and olives)….maybe it’s a regional thing…good for big get togethers cuz everyone builds their own.)
This is a winner! I have made it twice now and my husband enjoys it, too.
This was amazing! I paired it with rice and sticky ginger chicken and put it all in a bowl. My daughter asked for seconds of broccoli and loved the chicken and she doesn’t like chicken. Next time I will use 1.5 lb of frozen broccoli with the same amount of dressing since the broccoli cooks down so much. We were all left wanting more broccoli.
Meant to give it a 5 start rating!
This was a winner! I plan to make it again next week.
This was lunch today. I thought I would not be able to eat the whole pan. I not only did that, but I swear I’m going to be dreaming about that salad till I make it again. Thank you for the new addition to my recipe box! (I can only rate this five stars?! It needs, like, 10… of course, that won’t be enough either, lol)
I’ve made this twice already and love it!!
This looks delicious! It’s now next on my to make list. I just made your Vegetarian NOT Fried Rice last night so I have to eat the leftovers first. That was yummy as well. Thanks for all the recipes.
This looks delicious and super fresh =)
In the introduction you say lo mein, but in the instructions and pictures say chow mein.
Thanks for catching that! Fixing now. :)
Looking forward to trying this! I use chow mein noodles as a crunchy topping for casseroles, or an addition to tossed salad. Sometimes I do a stir-fry with lots of veggies and a protein, but either serve just a small amount of rice or skip it entirely, and just sprinkle some of the dry noodles on top. That’s if my husband doesn’t eat them all first (he loves to just eat them plain as a crunchy snack). I suppose they could be added to Chex-mix type snacks, too.
There are some cookie and candy recipes, too, which have been around for ages. I remember something called Haystacks which was chocolate and dry noodles mixed together. They are good and used to be much better, I think, when I was a kid. High calorie and nutritionally nil but, like potato chips, they add a lot of texture and fun to a dish. When I use them in a recipe, I’ll probably have to measure the noodles so as not to use too much. That’s a good idea to have less rice when using them. I’m trying hard to get more vegetables in my diet and maybe the noodles will help.
Just google chow mien noodles and I’m sure you’ll find lots of recipe. They are popular in retro recipes from the Baby Boomer era and the 70s because the noodles, soy sauce, rice and fortune cookies meant automatic Oriental as well as being among the among the few Asian ingredients available in regular supermarkets. Nowadays, of course, we’re lucky to have many more authentic ingredients in grocery stores but before about the last twenty and thirty years you had to have access to Asian markets to find them. I love retro recipes, myself, and believe strongly in eating what appeals to you rather than being strictly authentic. I’d say if it tastes good to you then eat it at least in moderation or as a treat now and then.
This recipe is just in time. Broccoli is a vegetable that I feel is I should eat but don’t really like. I have a bag of it which I was just trying to decide whether or not to take to the food bank. This is worth a try. I know you’ve published a couple of skillet recipes with broccoli which sound good but I’m single my freezer is very small and rather full at the moment so I don’t want a lot of leftovers at the moment so this sounds worth a try. Thanks.
YESSS!
Long time reader, first time commenter ;)
I also had pretty much all these ingredients in my pantry already, so this was a revelation. Such a great upgrade on my already-great staple of roasted broccoli.
One thing I didn’t have was brown sugar (ran out at Easter, oops) so I used honey instead. I bet brown sugar would be better but honey worked in a pinch.
You could probably use chow mein noodles instead of ramen in your crunchy Chinese chicken salad.
Yummy. I LOVE broccoli!!! :-)