Amish Broccoli Salad

Name: Amish Broccoli Salad
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 14 min
Ingredients: 8 bacon (rindless); 1 broccoli; 1 cauliflower; ¼ red onion; 1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded); ¾ cup mayonnaise; ¾ cup sour cream; 1 tbsp sugar; ½ tsp salt

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It is usually the simplest of salad recipes that taste the best. Nothing fancy and made with easy to find ingredients, this Amish broccoli salad is a real crowd pleaser!

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Why You’ll Love Amish Broccoli Salad
What Is Amish Food?
What Is Amish Broccoli Salad?
Can You Eat Raw Broccoli and Cauliflower?
Will Raw Broccoli Taste Good in This Salad?
Recipe Overview
Ingredients
Variations and Substitutions
Instructions
How to Make This Salad Perfectly [Expert Tips]
Great Mains for This Salad
Frequently Asked Questions
Recipe

Why You’ll Love Amish Broccoli Salad

Because it is simply delicious. It is not complicated and ever so wholesome. This recipe has been tested on so many different groups of people, from large parties to intimate dinners, and it still always comes out on top.

You’ll love this salad because it keeps well and therefore is great for meal prep. In fact, it does taste better after all the lovely creamy dressing seeps into the broccoli and cauliflower. Work lunch the next day never tasted so good.

It is also easy to cater for a large crowd and because you can make it ahead of time, it will let you get one element of your cooking out of the way.

Just loving this salad and thanking the Amish community for creating such a delicious salad recipe!

What Is Amish Food?

Understanding Amish food is appreciating the Amish community and their way of life.

Amish people migrated to America in the middle of the 18^th century from Europe and largely settled themselves in Pennsylvania. Their Christian faith is very conservative and they lead a very simple life. They don’t conform to many modern-day lifestyle choices.

Their simple lifestyle can be evident from the way they live and how they dress as they live a life of faith, discipline, dedication, and humility.

The Amish are completely self-sufficient, and they grow and breed their own food, from vegetables to animals. To this day, most of the machinery used on their farms is still horse-drawn.

Their style of eating is very much family style and all about home cooking. If you’re looking for the epitome of comfort food, look no further! They are accustomed to eating together and are very well-fed.

They are known for their friendship bread, shoofly pie, roast chicken, and creamy mashed potatoes (try our purple mashed potatoes). Nothing is pretentious, and everything is wholesome.

What Is Amish Broccoli Salad?

Amish broccoli salad is made with both broccoli and cauliflower. And it is eaten raw. Yes, raw!

Throw in some crispy bacon, diced red onions, and shredded cheddar and mix through with a creamy concoction of mayonnaise and sour cream. Can it be any easier?

Can You Eat Raw Broccoli and Cauliflower?

Yes, you can absolutely eat broccoli and cauliflower raw. Most people assume it always must be cooked, but it doesn’t. In fact, everyone who has tried this salad has commented they were shocked that the broccoli and cauliflower were raw.

Cutting them into smaller, bite-sized florets certainly helps with the crunch, but it is easier to eat than one might imagine. Just like our vegan broccoli salad [no mayo] or crunchy broccoli salad, the broccoli is not cooked.

Will Raw Broccoli Taste Good in This Salad?

100%! It’s what makes this Amish broccoli salad so delectable. It’s so nice and crunchy, and the broccoli florets absorb the creamy mayonnaise dressing ever so perfectly. Every mouthful is a fantastic combination of so many flavours.

Honestly, you can’t go wrong, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how tasty it is.

Recipe Overview

Flavour/Texture: Full of crunch, this Amish broccoli salad aims to please. The shredded cheddar cheese softens the texture while the bacon pieces give the salad that almighty savoury and salty goodness.

The salad is nice and creamy, with the sour cream giving the richness of the mayonnaise a nice balance. The diced red onion is a must, providing the broccoli cauliflower salad bite and pungency.

Ease: Super easy! Nothing complicated about this broccoli salad recipe. The bacon pieces are just tossed until nice and crispy while everything else is cut and mixed.

Time: Cook off the bacon pieces to start with, and while that is happening, start preparing the rest of the ingredients to maximise your time. It will only take you 15 minutes.

Ingredients

These are the ingredients you need for Amish broccoli salad:

Bacon: Buy the leanest bacon you can find, or to save even more time, you can just buy bacon pieces. Do watch the cook so as not to burn them. You can pan fry them at low to medium heat and just watch it as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Broccoli and cauliflower: I try to buy the same sized broccoli and cauliflower so that there is an even amount of both.

Red onion: Diced finely, it will give the salad a little zing! You can use the leftovers to make our easy shrimp salad recipe or Thai grilled pork salad (moo nam tok recipe), that only requires ½ the red onion.

Cheddar cheese: You can either shred it yourself if you have a big block or simply get a small back of shredded cheese.

Mayonnaise and sour cream: Whole egg mayonnaise and full dairy sour cream work best for this broccoli cauliflower salad recipe. Adjust accordingly if you prefer a different balance of either ingredient.

Variations and Substitutions

Bacon substitute: If you want it really salty or perhaps elevate the profile of the salad, you can use flat pancetta or even guanciale. We always have a block of flat pancetta in our fridge or freezer, so I decided to use it up, and it was yum! Not the wholesome Amish tradition, but it certainly works.

Broccoli and cauliflower: You can definitely use only broccoli or cauliflower if that is your preference. If you love Brussels sprouts, they can be used too. But cut them up into smaller chunks so it’s easier to consume.

And yes, you can eat Brussels sprouts raw, just like our keto brussels sprouts salad with shaved parmesan.

Onion: If red onion is too pungent for you, try using salad onion or even shallots.

Instructions

Step by step instructions for how to make Amish broccoli salad:

Cut the bacon into small pieces. Heat up a frying pan on medium to low heat. Add bacon pieces and cook until slightly crispy. Drain on some paper towels to remove excess oil.

Dicing bacon with a knife on a wooden chopping board

Frying bacon bits in a fry pan on a stove top

Frying bacon bits in a fry pan on a stove top with a wooden spoon

Cut the cauliflower and broccoli florets into bite-size pieces.

Cutting cauliflower with a knife on a wooden chopping board

Cutting broccoli with a knife on a wooden chopping board

Dice ¼ of a red onion.

Dicing red onion with a knife on a wooden chopping board

How to Make the Creamy Dressing

In a mixing bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, sugar and salt.

Mix until well combined.

Mayonnaise and sugar in a glass bowl with a red spatula

Mixing mayonnaise and sugar in a glass bowl with a red spatula

How to Assemble the Salad

Add the broccoli and cauliflower florets into a large bowl with the creamy dressing and mix until well combined.

Adding cauliflower florets into a glass bowl of broccoli and mayonnaise

Mixing broccoli and cauliflower florets with mayonnaise in a glass bowl with a red spatula

Then add the onion, cheese and bacon. Mix until well combined.

Adding bacon bits into a glass bowl of Amish broccoli salad ingredients

Mixing ingredients for Amish broccoli salad in a glass bowl with a red spatula

Serve.

How to Make This Salad Perfectly [Expert Tips]

No frozen vegetables: Defrosted frozen broccoli or cauliflower won’t be fresh enough for this Amish broccoli salad. You want the crunch, so stick to the fresh variety.

Let it sit: Don’t eat the salad straight away. Let the mayonnaise and sour cream seep into the tight grooves of the florets and work their magic. It is even more delicious the next day, so it’s perfect if you want to make something ahead of time or looking for a salad to pack for lunch.

Cold: This salad is designed to be eaten cold, not warm. The flavours are so much more acute.

Great Mains for This Salad

What to serve with Amish broccoli salad? Try these delicious main dish recipes:

This Amish broccoli salad requires a seriously good old fashion main dish that reminds you of a Sunday family dinner. This rosemary citrus roast chicken is so flavoursome while this herb roasted rack of lamb can’t be beaten.

Otherwise, we are sure this old fashioned beef stew with the salad and some fresh bread would really do the trick.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my Amish broccoli salad watery?

It is important to wash broccoli and cauliflower properly before consumption. This is especially true when you’re eating these vegetables raw. However, if they are not dried properly after washing, it will make the Amish broccoli salad watery.

Mixing the mayonnaise and sour cream through the vegetables when wet will cause a pool of water to collect at the bottom of the salad.

How to dry broccoli after washing?

Place the washed broccoli in a sieve or colander to get as much water out as possible. You can then place it in a salad spinner or on very absorbent paper towels. Set aside and let it dry.

Can I eat broccoli stems?

Absolutely and in fact, they are delicious! After cutting off the florets, slice up the stem and add to the dish you’re cooking or use them raw in a salad like this Broccoli Slaw. You’ll be surprised at how good they are and wonder why you always throw them away.

This Amish broccoli salad is surprisingly delicious. Having made it a few times, it always elicits great compliments. It has the perfect mix of salty and creamy and seems to go with almost anything you cook. Best of all, it’s a 15-minute recipe.

That’s all!

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