Broccoli Carrot Salad

This broccoli carrot salad is a hearty, crunchy side dish that makes an ideal accompaniment for grilling season, but it works just as well any time of year. Carrot salads and broccoli salads are established favorites, and here, the two vegetables work beautifully together.

The juicy crunch and sweetness of carrots makes a perfect complement to the broccoli’s earthier flavor and less-pronounced texture. Together, the two also offer a color contrast that looks pleasing on the plate. Best of all, they’re reasonably priced and available year-round. What’s not to like?

Ingredients for Broccoli Carrot Salad

• Carrots: Carrots bring a sweet juiciness to balance the earthiness of the broccoli.
• Broccoli: The texture and color of the broccoli florets complement the shredded carrots beautifully.
• Raisins: The raisins in this recipe bring a textural contrast and little pops of sweetness to round out the salad’s flavors.
• Onion: Onion lends a sweet and savory note to the salad.
• Garlic: The minced garlic brings its signature aromatic pungency, elevating the other flavors.
• Mayonnaise: Mayo provides most of the salad’s dressing, moistening each mouthful while helping bind the ingredients together.
• Sugar: The sugar in this recipe emphasizes the sweetness of the carrots and mutes the assertive mustard flavor.
• Mustard: Ground mustard adds a hint of spiciness to the salad’s dressing.
• Bacon: Bacon elevates the salad with its sweet, savory, smoky flavor.

Directions

Step 1: Assemble the salad

In a large bowl, combine the carrots, broccoli, raisins, onions and garlic.

Step 2: Dress the salad

In a second bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar and mustard. Add the dressing to the vegetable mixture, tossing until the vegetables are thoroughly coated. Cover and refrigerate the salad, then stir in the cooked, crumbled bacon just before serving.

Broccoli Carrot Salad Variations

• Go a little nuts: Carrots in general have an affinity with nuts (think carrot cake with walnuts), and this salad is no exception. Stirring in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews or almonds gives this salad an instant upgrade. Aside from the flavor and crunch they bring, nuts are nutritional powerhouses. They’re packed with protein, fiber and healthy fats, and nuts have a range of health benefits too.
• Swap the broccoli for cauliflower: Broccoli’s texture and bright green color make it a pleasing complement for the carrots. For an alternative take on this salad, you can swap out some or all of the broccoli for cauliflower florets. The orange-and-white color scheme will be just as pleasing, and using both broccoli and cauliflower adds a third color. It’s a great way to use up that last little bit you have left over from another cauliflower recipe. If you really want to lean into the visual, look for purple cauliflower at your supermarket or farmers market.
• Bring in some fruit: An interesting way to tweak the salad’s flavor profile is with the addition of fruit. A crisp apple cut into slivers plays nicely with the carrots, and so do orange segments. Shave the peel and outer layer of membrane from an orange with a sharp knife, then separate the segments from the inner membranes, or just use a drained can of mandarins. Crushed or diced pineapple is another interesting addition.

How to Store Broccoli Carrot Salad

Any uneaten salad should be transferred to a smaller bowl and covered. For longer storage, place the salad in a food-safe container with a tight-fitting lid.

How long will this broccoli and carrot salad keep?

The salad will keep for up to five days in the refrigerator. Its flavor will remain the same, though the vegetables will lose some of their initial crispness after the first day. After a couple of days, some of the carrots’ natural juices will dilute the dressing and pool at the bottom, but you can just drain those away. If the salad seems dry afterward, you can add a small amount of additional mayonnaise and toss it again.

Can I make this carrot broccoli salad ahead of time?

You bet! A salad with broccoli and carrots is pretty durable, compared with a green salad. You can mix it up several hours in advance, or even the day before, and keep it in your refrigerator until mealtime. Wait until the last minute to add the bacon, because otherwise it will absorb moisture from the salad and soften.

Broccoli Carrot Salad Tips

I hate waste—can I add broccoli stems to this salad?

You certainly can, and in fact you’ll find the stems used in our broccoli slaw and many other recipes. The stems almost count as a separate vegetable, because they’re crisp, fleshy and juicy. Use a peeler or paring knife to peel away the tough and stringy skin, then shred the stems on a box grater or julienne them with a food processor or mandoline slicer. Broccoli stems are juicier than carrots, especially if you use a box grater, so use no more than one part shredded stem to three parts carrots, otherwise the dressing will get too wet.

What’s the best way to shred carrots?

If a box grater is physically challenging and a mandoline is intimidating, you still have lots of options. Most brands of food processor come with multiple shredding discs, which make it fast and easy (that’s what restaurants do). KitchenAid and other stand mixers have a vegetable-shredding attachment that’s basically a sturdier take on those rotary cheese graters you’ve seen in infomercials. If you look online, it’s not hard to find a vintage French-made “mouli-julienne,” or its modern equivalent. That’s a sort of manual food processor with replaceable discs and a big hand-operated crank that’s easy to use. All these work well, but don’t be shy about buying your carrots preshredded. If prepared convenience products are what it takes for you to cook fresh, healthy food, ignore the “food snobs” and use them without apology.

What other flavor profiles could work with this salad?

The dressing in this recipe, with its ground mustard, is unusual but tasty. If you’d like to change things up, you’re in luck, as carrots are chameleons that work well with a lot of flavor profiles. For just a few alternatives, consider the dressing from this curry coleslaw or Thai chicken coleslaw. You could even skip the mayo entirely and dress the salad with some finely minced ginger, a splash of rice vinegar and some sesame oil.