Fully Loaded Broccoli Cauliflower Salad with a Sweet Creamy Dressing is that go-to salad that you can count on in a pinch. It’s the perfect salad for spring, summer, fall, or winter. The vegetables are available all year round. Most of all the salad is delicious!
Use it to feed a crowd, a family, or a single person. It fits the bill! The salad can be used as a side salad, main dish, but most of all it’s a kid-friendly salad because of the sweet creamy dressing. More kids are likely to eat broccoli and cauliflower with such a sweet and flavorful dressing.
This is one salad that lends itself to healthy. With its delicious taste who wouldn’t mind eating all of their vegetables? There’s broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and chopped red onions to bring out a bit of tanginess. We must not forget the cheese, two types to be exact, pepper jacket, and sharp cheddar (or select one or two cheeses of your choice). Then, tie it all together with bits of chopped bacon. As they say, everything tastes better with bacon. Add a sweet creamy homemade dressing and it takes this salad to a whole new level.
Equally important, this salad tastes best if made the night before. However, it can be made the same day. When the salad is refrigerated overnight the flavors mingle and mash together to enhancing the taste. Meanwhile, just know this salad is easy and quick to make besides this salad is a show stopper. It looks amazing as well as tasting delicious. It’s sure to become a family favorite.
Ingredients Needed for the Salad
- 4 cups broccoli florets, cleaned
- 4 cups cauliflower, clean and chopped
- 2 cups carrots, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup red onions, chopped in small pieces
- 5 cooked bacon slices, chopped
- 3/4 cup pepper jack cheese, cubed
- 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, cubed
Dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup relish
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Begin by cooking five slices of bacon. I prefer to cook my bacon in the oven rather than pan-frying. The bacon keeps its shape and you get less grease splatters. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the bacon on a baking tray lined with a wire rack (the grease drains to the bottom of the tray away from the bacon). Bake the bacon for 20 minutes are until fully cooked. Allow the bacon too cool. Break the bacon into small pieces. You may also omit the bacon from the salad if you would like.
Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl. Mix all the dressing ingredients in another bowl. Taste the dressing to see if an ingredient needs to be added. Combine the salad and dressing ingredients together. Refrigerate the salad for a couple of hours or overnight to develop the flavors. My Zest Italian Pasta Salad is another family favorite you might like to try.
Crispy Bacon Tip
If you want the bacon to stay crisp, add the bacon to the salad just before serving. With all these wonderful fresh vegetables and chopped crispy bacon along with the sweet creamy dressing found in this salad consider yourself lucky to be enjoying the Fully Loaded Broccoli Cauliflower Salad!
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- 4 cups broccoli florets, washed & cleaned
- 4 cups cauliflower, clean and chopped
- 2 large carrots, thinly sliced into medium size pieces
- ½ small red onions, chopped into small pieces
- 5 cooked bacon slices, chopped into small pieces
- ¾ cup pepper jack cheese, cubed
- ¾ cheddar cheese, cubed
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup relish
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the bacon on a baking sheet lined with a wire rack (the grease drains to the bottom of the sheet away from the bacon). Bake for 20 minutes are until fully cooked. Allow the bacon too cool. Break the bacon into small pieces.
- Next, wash and chop the broccoli into florets, clean the cauliflower, shred the outer skin of the carrots then slice them into medium-size pieces. Chop the red onion into small pieces.
- Cut the cheese into small cubes.
- In a small bowl mix all the ingredients for the dressing. Add more seasoning if needed.
- Add the vegetables, cheese, dressing, chopped bacon to a large bowl then mix all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
