When you want a hearty cold broccoli salad recipe but you don’t want the sugar and carbs to go with it, then you’ll absolutely love this low-carb keto broccoli salad with bacon.
Chock full of delicious ingredients like fried bacon, cheese, low carb sunflower seeds, and a keto-friendly sweet dressing, this easy salad recipe will be perfect as a meal prep lunch, on your holiday table, or at a potluck with friends. It’s a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
Broccoli Salad (Keto)
When I think of holiday dinners and summer potlucks, broccoli salad always seems to be on our family table. Come to think of it, for two decades now I’ve been getting assigned broccoli salad for every occasion, I have this recipe down pat.
A traditional broccoli salad recipe calls for lots of sugar, lemon juice, and sometimes sweetened cranberries or raisins. While maybe you thought you couldn’t still have broccoli salad on your health program, you’ll find that this keto broccoli salad tastes just like the yummy traditional version you’re used to.
That being said, my husband LOVED this low carb keto broccoli salad with bacon version BETTER than the original! He thought that the apple cider vinegar added a nice kick to the salad that lemon juice doesn’t provide.
I’ll be serving this low-carb broccoli salad at my next family party and I don’t even plan to tell them it’s keto and I can guarantee they won’t even notice the difference.
Why You’ll Love This!
- It’s a hearty salad recipe that’s filling enough to be a meal
- The broccoli salad keto recipe doesn’t taste low carb, which means you can serve it to anyone and I promise it’ll get rave reviews!
- Raw broccoli holds its shape well and doesn’t get soggy. The keto-friendly broccoli salad will keep for many days in the fridge.
- It’s easy to make recipe swaps, whether you prefer a different type of nut, cheese, or even protein, customize it or use up what’s in your fridge.
Here’s our traditional broccoli cauliflower salad recipe if you’re looking for a cold broccoli salad and weren’t here for a keto version.
Do you love broccoli as much as we do?? Be sure to try some of our other popular keto broccoli recipes like broccoli cheese soup (keto) or pan-fried broccoli cakes.
Ingredient Notes
To make this classic salad as low as carb and keto as possible, we substituted the lemon juice with apple cider vinegar, the sugar with Swerve, and used salted sunflower seeds instead of sugary cranberries or raisins.
What is so great about this keto broccoli salad (no sugar!) is that it’s easy to swap ingredients if you want to change it up. Feel free to swap half of the broccoli for cauliflower, use ham instead of bacon, use almonds instead of sunflower seeds, or skip the seeds all together.
Want a keto broccoli salad without bacon? Feel free to substitute ham, turkey, or your favorite protein substitute.
- broccoli-tops only – going half broccoli and half cauliflower is a great alternative
- well cooked and chopped bacon
- diced red onion
- shredded cheddar cheese – any shredded cheese will work here, to keep it as low carb as possible we recommend shredding cheese from a block instead of using cheddar from a bag that adds potato starch (and hidden carbs)
- salted sunflower seeds – pecans, macadamia nuts, and pinenuts work too
- mayonnaise – this is our favorite keto mayo
- apple cider vinegar (or fresh lemon juice)
- erythritol (our favorite sweetener brands are this one or this blend)
Variations
If you want a keto broccoli salad without mayo, you can use sour cream instead but it won’t have as tangy as a flavor. Mixing in a keto-friendly Ranch dressing also makes a great substitute for times you don’t want to make a homemade dressing.
Recipe Instructions
To make the broccoli salad keto recipe, you first make a quick, tangy dressing, chop all of the ingredients, add to a bowl, and combine. So easy!
Make the Dressing
To make this delicious keto-friendly broccoli salad, you’ll want to start by making the keto broccoli salad dressing. Mix the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and erythritol in a small bowl and set aside.
If you have another low carb and keto sweetener you prefer, by all means, use it. Stevia would also work to sweeten this salad but you’ll want to add less of it since it’s 200 times stronger than erythritol. Just a sprinkle of stevia should do it.
Prep
The recipe calls for 2 broccoli heads and you’ll want to cut off just the top. I don’t worry if I get little bits of stem pieces in the salad, but most of the broccoli should just be the heads.
Using the remaining unused broccoli for broccoli rice is a perfect way to use up the rest of the broccoli.
Chop the broccoli into very small pieces and put it into a medium-size bowl. Here’s a visual of how small of pieces we cut the broccoli into.
Add Ingredients to Bowl
Add the chopped onion, shredded cheddar, chopped bacon, and sunflower seeds to a large bowl, along with the chopped broccoli pieces.
Mix the vegetable mixture together. You could in theory add the broccoli salad dressing before mixing the vegetable mix together and just do this as one step. I personally like to combine the vegetables and other ingredients just to make sure it evenly combines.
Combine
Add the low carb broccoli salad dressing to the rest of the broccoli, cheese, and bacon mixture and gently combine. Let the mix sit in the fridge for at least one hour before serving so the flavors can blend.
This is one of those salad recipes that the longer you let it sit the better it tastes! I usually make this low carb broccoli salad the morning of when I need it later that afternoon or evening. It’s perfectly fine to make the day before too!
This fantastic broccoli salad keto recipe seriously makes the best broccoli salad recipe, need proof? Check out the reader reviews! It’s also a terrific option for lunch meal prep since the broccoli holds its shape and doesn’t get soggy as lettuce greens do.
Recipe Tips
- While the recipe calls for 2 broccoli heads, you can also buy whole broccoli and cut off the stalks.
- You can definitely serve the broccoli salad keto recipe right after assembling, it has an even better flavor if you let it rest in the fridge for a couple of hours or even overnight.
- To keep the carbs down as low as possible, shred the cheese from a block, and use mayo and bacon that don’t add sugar.
Common Questions
How Many Carbs in Keto Broccoli Salad?
The broccoli salad keto recipe has 5 net carbs per serving.
How Long Does Broccoli Salad Keep?
Raw broccoli salad will keep up to 4-5 days in the fridge. It does not freeze well. Since it makes a large bowl, if you can’t eat it all that week, the broccoli salad low carb recipe can be cut in half.
Keto Broccoli Recipes
- Keto Broccoli Cakes
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Roasted Broccoli Recipe
- Homemade Cheddar Sauce
- Making Riced Broccoli
- Chicken Casserole with Broccoli
- Steamed Broccoli in Microwave
We’d love to hear how your broccoli salad low carb recipe turns out! Post comments and feedback below or post your photos on the Pinterest pin. Enjoy!
Keto Broccoli Salad Recipe
An easy and delicious low carb and keto broccoli salad recipe that includes bacon, sunflower seeds, and an amazing no sugar broccoli salad dressing. This low carb broccoli salad is perfect for holiday gatherings, potlucks and BBQ's!
Ingredients
- 2 heads of broccoli, tops only
- 8 slices well cooked and chopped bacon
- 1 cup red onion, diced
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup salted and roasted sunflower seeds
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp erythritol
Instructions
- mix mayo, apple cider vinegar and erythritol in small bowl to make the broccoli salad dressing and set aside
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl
- Add the dressing mixture and combine well
- Chill for 1+ hours before serving
Notes
The nutritional information is an estimate and does not subtract erythritol from the net carb count. This recipe roughy has 3 net carbs per serving after subtracting the fiber and erythritol. People following a keto diet subtract both of these from the carb count since they have zero impact on blood sugar. We highly recommend calculating the nutrition yourself also since all brands can vary.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 10 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 285Total Fat 27gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 20gCholesterol 22mgSodium 1008mgCarbohydrates 6gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 6g
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Diane says
Do you use real mayo or miracle whip?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Diane, my go-to brand is usually Best Foods. Just use whatever brand you like! Jen
Jessica says
How long does this keep refrigerated once made?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Jessica, Up to 5 days! It’s great to eat off of all week. Jen
J Ehlers says
Delicious! Thank you for sharing. Next time I will only use 1/2 cup red onion but other than that, no changes!
Pam says
This broccoli salad is very good. Was easy to make and definitely will be making me again! Thank you for sharing!
Vicki says
This was a great salad! People asked me for the recipe at my event! Made it as written – delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Karen T. says
Made it and loved it. I made a few changes but I’m sure it’s fabulous as written. I omitted the cheese and used about 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds instead of the sunflower seeds. For the dressing, I used 1/2 cup light Mayo, one small package Splenda, 1 T. Apple cider vinegar and then about 1/2 cup or so of Bolthouse farms ranch salad dressing. I’m not keto and follow Weight Watchers so this helped with the calories.
Rebecca says
I made this last night minus the sunflower seeds and it is AMAZING!!! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Sara Miller says
I have made this 3-4 times after the first time. I use a bag of fresh broccoli florets (12 oz) and scaled everything back. It’s so good and quick to throw together. I think I’m gonna make this every weekend cookout this summer, at this rate.
Joanna says
Do we use raw broccoli or should we steam it first? Thank you!
WholeLottaYum says
Raw broccoli! Thanks for checking 🙂
denise says
I used monk fruit to sweeten. I found it a bit salty. I added too much cheese. The seeds I used were raw so they were not saltened.