Broccoli Salad With Bacon And Apple
on Jun 15, 2014, Updated Oct 01, 2026
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Imagine crunchy, juicy apple, smoky bacon, tangy cheddar, sharp onion, salty peanuts, and of course crisp bites of broccoli all bound together with a creamy-but-light Greek yogurt dressing. With so many flavors and textures, this broccoli salad makes perfect party food, or even a quick and easy dinner served with grilled meat or fish.
A lightened-up broccoli salad
I think of this broccoli salad a salad of contrasts. It’s simple and fresh and yet also hearty and comforting with the addition of smoky bacon, crunchy peanuts, crisp apple and cheese.
It’s also very versatile. Serve it for lunch by itself, perhaps with some bread or olive oil toasts on the side, or for dinner with meat or fish. It also makes interesting party food and it’s easy to prep it ahead if you want to.
I mostly cook broccoli, so I love that the broccoli in this salad is uncooked. It’s surprisingly delicious this way since the small pieces are combined with all the other delicious and interesting flavors.
As for the creamy-but-light Greek yogurt dressing, it pulls everything together wonderfully!
📌Recipe snapshot
- Prep time: 15 to 20 minutes
- Serves: 4 to 6
- Key ingredients: bacon, broccoli, apple, lemon juice, onion, cheddar cheese, peanuts, black pepper, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, honey
- Why you’ll love this: ‘dinner salad’, side dish or party food; so many flavors & textures; creamy but light dressing
About the ingredients
You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.
- Bacon: I like thick smoked bacon for the best flavor and texture, and pan-sized for convenience, but any kind of bacon will work. For a no-cook version, use tasty smoked ham instead!
- Broccoli: Wash well and cut the uncooked broccoli into small pieces about 1 to 2cm wide.
- Apple: You’ll only need one. Pick a juicy, crisp, tart one rather than one that’s very sweet or soft. Try a Granny Smith or Pink Lady! Apple season is the perfect time to make this salad, although it’s great any time of year.
- Lemon: Don’t skip this. It serves two purposes – adding tart flavor, and also preventing the apple from browning.
- Onion: A bit of finely chopped onion cuts through the richness of some of the other ingredients. You don’t need too much. It’s a background flavor rather than a main one. I like to use red onion, which is milder and sweeter. Shallots and salad onions would work, too.
- Sharp cheddar cheese: A bit of sharp grated cheddar adds savory depth to the salad.
- Peanuts: Using salted peanuts saves me from adding any salt to the salad, but use unsalted if you prefer since the bacon and cheese are also quite salty.
- Raisins: These are optional, but they add welcome bursts of sweet chewiness. Dried cranberries would serve the same purpose.
- Black pepper: Add this to taste. I don’t think you need any extra salt as a few of the ingredients are already quite salty.
- Greek yogurt: I lighten up the simple dressing by combining three quarters of a cup of Greek yogurt with just a little bit of mayonnaise.
- Mayonnaise: Just a tablespoon and a half adds just enough savory richness and creaminess.
- Mustard: I like to add a mild French style mustard such as Dijon mustard to the dressing. American mustard would work well, too.
- Honey: A tiny bit of sweetness balances out the sourness of the Greek yogurt-based dressing very nicely. You can use maple syrup instead if you like.
How to make a broccoli salad with bacon and apple
It will only take around 15 to 20 minutes to make this. While the bacon is cooking in a pan, you can continue prepping and chopping the other ingredients for your broccoli salad.
I usually start by cutting the bacon into small pieces (with kitchen scissors!) and pan-frying it for about 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp. If you have an air fryer, you can follow this 8-minute air fryer bacon recipe if you prefer.
Then it is just a matter of chopping all the other salad ingredients and placing them in a large salad bowl.
Also mix together the few simple dressing ingredients.
Let the bacon cool slightly, then add that to the bowl too.
Stir the dressing in really well.
Helen’s Top Tips
- This recpe would also work very well using tasty smoked ham, sausage, or chicken pieces instead of bacon.
- If you soak the apple in lemon juice before adding it to the salad, the apple doesn’t go brown and you can quite happily keep it in the fridge for a day (or two or three – speaking from experience!).
- If you do make the salad ahead, note that it’s best to add the peanuts at the last minute. They don’t hold onto their crunchiness for too long.
- You could easily switch the peanuts for another nut or seed such as crunchy walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, or even pistachios!
A few serving ideas
This broccoli salad with bacon and apple works as a side dish with so many mains! Here are just a few ideas:
- with a homemade quiche such as this simple ‘impossible’ crustless quiche, or a classic quiche lorraine (this combination would work especially well as party food).
- with air fryer chicken legs, panko chicken, salmon or another kind of simple grilled or air-fried meat or fish.
- with meatballs (try these air fryer chicken meatballs!).
It’s also delicious as lunch leftovers, and perfect for taking along to a party!
Recipe FAQs
You can keep this broccoli salad well covered or in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. The lemon juice will keep the apple fresh. Note that the peanuts may lose some of their crunchiness the longer they’re in the fridge.
Yes, you can. The best substitute is probably sour cream. The dressing will be a little richer and less fresh-tasting than the yogurt version, but still very good. You could also use regular unsweetened natural/plain yogurt instead of Greek yogurt. Crème fraîche works, too, if it’s available where you live. Lastly, you can just use mayonnaise, although the salad will become considerably richer.
A few more dinner salads
Broccoli Salad With Bacon And Apple
Ingredients
For the salad
- 6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon oil, for cooking
- 2 heads broccoli, (small to medium)
- 1 large apple
- 1 lemon, juice only
- ¼ red onion, chopped finely
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated (sharp/tasty)
- ½ cup peanuts, salted or unsalted (I prefer salted)
- optional – 1 handful raisins or dried cranberries
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the dressing
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt
- 1½ tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons mustard, I like Dijon (American works, too)
- 1 tablespoon honey, or maple syrup
Instructions
- Fry the bacon in the oil until cooked through and crispy if you like (around 8 to 10 minutes), then set aside.6 slices bacon, 1 tablespoon oil
- Separate the broccoli heads into small florets. Chop them into smaller 1 to 2cm pieces if you like. Put the broccoli into a large salad bowl.2 heads broccoli
- Slice the apple (no need to peel) into small pieces and put them into a small bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lemon all over the apple, then add the apple and any extra juice to the large bowl with the broccoli.1 large apple, 1 lemon
- Now add the onion, cheese and peanuts. Also add the raisins or cranberries if using.¼ red onion, 1 cup cheddar cheese, ½ cup peanuts, optional – 1 handful raisins or dried cranberries
- Stir all of the dressing ingredients together well in a medium-sized bowl, then add to the salad. Add black pepper to taste. Mix really well.freshly ground black pepper, ¾ cup Greek yogurt, 1½ tablespoons mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons mustard, 1 tablespoon honey
Bahaha Oh my gosh that is an amazing story! I absolutely love it. I would be a terrible spy too – whenever I’m trying to be quiet I end up being actually louder!!
And this broccoli salad looks awesome girl. I haven’t made one I think since last year. And now you have me craving it!
Well I think I’ve arrived a bit late on the raw broccoli salad scene, so this was the first time I’d made one – loved it, though. Glad you enjoyed the story. I actually did make plenty of noise while hiding, but somehow got away with it. 😉
HAHA! This is an amazing story!!! I was laughing the whole time I was reading. I totally could picture the entire thing in my head. Hiding is one of the most stressful/fun things ever and I totally revert into a giggling kid again when I’m trying to be sneaky! This story just made my day.
This salad looks amaaaazing! I always go for the broccoli salad at salad bars, because I love it so much, but I’ve never made it at home. And OMG RAISINS!!! I love raisins in broccoli salad. I would add the raisins for sure as a broccoli salad without raisins is no broccoli salad to me!
Again, I just adore your stories! Please write a book already!
Thanks so much for ‘adoring’ my stories, Allison! You’ve made my evening by saying that. I try not to draw the stories out too much because I always picture people thinking ‘why on earth would I care that she dropped a pot of granola on her lawn or hid behind a door for an hour?’ But then I know that I enjoy other people’s stories (especially the ones that tell me a bit about what’s going on in their lives) so I just take a deep breath and ‘dare’ to write just what comes naturally to me in the next post. 😉
Glad you like the salad, too. I wondered if it was a bit too ‘ordinary’ to post, but I think broccoli salads are more common in North America than over in Europe. I for one hadn’t really tried one like this before, so I thought I would!
I’ll think about the book! Haha! Maybe an ebook of recipes & mini-stories one day! 🙂
Haha! This had me cracking up Helen!
This salad sounds delicious!
:-):-)
It sounds like fun! I am glad you guys didn’t get caught and you were able to surprise the family.
The broccoli salad looks and sounds incredible. I love every single ingredient!
Thanks so much, Pam. Each ingredient in this salad is so tasty by itself – that’s why I liked it so much. 🙂
What a fun surprise! I had to laugh out loud about you two giggling like 10 year old girls. Waiting behind the door for 1 1/4 hours in pajamas could do that to you, I suppose! haha I love broccoli salad, and I’ve never made one with apple and sharp cheddar before — this sounds delicious, Helen! Pinning. 🙂 Glad you’re safe and sound and getting settled in Australia!
Thanks for the good wishes, Marcie. We’re just about over the jet lag now and feeling settled into a routine, so all’s good! Glad the story made you smile … I doubt we’ll do that again in a hurry, so I thought I’d ‘milk’ it by turning it into a post.
Happy you liked the salad, too. The apple and cheddar goes great together!
Okay that was seriously a hilarious story!!!! That is some major dedication right there!
This salad looks awesome! I am definitely the only person in the world who doesn’t like bacon, but if you omit it I would eat this salad for all meals of the day! Yes, even breakfast 😉
Haha … I’d join you for a plate of this for brekky, Davida!
I don’t think this absolutely NEEDS the bacon. Chicken would be good, too, or I reckon you could just leave the meat out altogether and maybe add some raisins for some extra punch.
Hahaha! I was chuckling so hard at yall hiding (you with your blue feet ) from Mr. S’s bro – just so funny the lengths y’all went to to surprise the family – but so worth it! Cannot wait to hear what ya’ll did when the sis came by 🙂
Btw, I love salads with a combination of textures – and this has it all – along with a combination of so many different flavors!!
Yup, this was definitely bordering on going too far just for a little surprise … but hey, why not? 🙂
We visited Mr. S’s sis the afternoon after I wrote this post, and thankfully it was a bit easier to surprise her. We went with Mr. S’s mum, so she stood at the gate while Mr. S and I hid behind the wall and then jumped out at her when she got to the gate. She loved it!
So glad you like the salad – that’s what I liked about it, the fact that it has so many different flavours and textures in it! 🙂
What a gorgeous salad! And these photos are really incredible!
Thanks, Jocelyn. Actually, I was struggling slightly with the light for these photos (same old problem) but I think they just about made the grade. 😉
Hi Helen, maybe you should just become a professional blogging storyteller instead! Too funny. Forget cooking. Easier to take photos of as well.Too funny.
All the winners are in this salad, broccoli, bacon, apples, cheddar, raw onion and the big surprise with the salty peanuts! I recently started adding a few peanuts to my salad and I’m loving this salty addition!
What can I say? This salad is a party in my mouth. All the right friends are there. And yes, nuts get soggy if added too early! I’m making this for my husbands lunch tomorrow, he’s going to be a happy man.
Oooh, Laura, I get so excited every time someone tells me they’re going to make one of my recipes – and also a little nervous! Still, I don’t think your husband will be disappointed with this. Mine loved it! I figured that it was OK to add the salty peanuts instead of adding any extra salt, but I think unsalted peanuts would be fine too as there’s plenty of taste in the bacon, cheddar and onion.
Thanks for being so nice about my story-telling attempts. I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly good story-teller, but that’s just what seems to keep ‘coming out’ when I start writing a post. Who would have thought it?! 🙂
I love broccoli salad with bacon. But I’ve never tried it with apple. That sounds scrumptious!
Pinned.
Have a marvelous day Helen!
Thanks, Melanie! The apple works really well and I was especially impressed that I was able to stop it from going brown by soaking it in lemon juice. You have a great day, too!
That’s the funniest story!! I can imagine how much fun it would have been-it’s like a scene from a movie! Glad to hear that you pulled it off 😛
Haha … thanks, Lorraine. I take that as a big compliment coming from the best blog story-teller I know. 🙂
Sounds like it was a lot of working becoming a spy! Good thing you didn’t get caught though, especially for hiding out for as long as you did! This broccoli salad looks delicious! I’ve had similar versions before, but never one with bacon in it. Looks amazing!
Thanks, Gayle! This was sort of based on similar versions I’ve had a few times, but I’m not sure if I had bacon in them or not, it just seemed to go well with the apple and the crunch of the broccoli. Glad you like it!
P.S. Yup, the ‘spying’ was pretty hard work – not sure I want to do that again in a hurry.
Awwhhh you’re too funny Helen! I simply adore reading your stories haha. It must have been a lovely surprise for your family indeed 😉
This salad looks glorious with all those brown bacon bits and the peanuts OHHHH what a combo!! Also, that greek yogurt dressing sounds phenomenal! xx
Thanks, Consuelo. So glad to have made you smile. This surprise was definitely a lot of fun!
So happy you like the salad, too. The dressing was my favourite thing about this salad, actually – oh, and the bacon, of course!
What an eventful time you’ve had since you landed! It’s funny how much effort we put into “little” things, but because they’re special we have such fond memories of them afterwards. I bet everyone will remember “Scrummy Surprise-fest” for years to come. 🙂 I personally would be terrified to pieces if I began to think someone unannounced was in my house. I’d probably grab my dog and run outside to call the authorities. At least that didn’t happen to you two! Now this salad – it looks so great, especially for the U.S. summer we’re having. I love that it would pair well with just about anything, too. And I think I would love that dressing on more than just this salad!
Agree with everything you just said, Alyssa! I was really worried that we’d freak my brother-in-law out. I’m not sure I would have risked it with a woman! I remember once my sister hid in the house when I thought I was alone, then started making noises. Not loud ones but just enough to totally freak me out! Naughty girl!
So happy you like the salad. You’re right that this would go with almost anything – it would definitely be a good pot-luck dish. The dressing was a bit of an experiment but it definitely worked … and of course was very easy.
I have just done this alad for lunch! Was an instant hit for me and my husband: -)
have a great week!
You’ve just made my evening! I thought this was delicious but it’s wonderful to get positive feedback from others. You have a great week, too! 🙂
Fun post, Helen. Enjoyed reading about your spying antics.
And I love broccoli salad with bacon and apples. Delicious!
Haha … thanks, Norma! Glad to have made you smile! 🙂
Wow this is such a great way to use broccoli! I love finding interesting ways to use it but I’ve never tried broccoli in a salad before! The dressing looks absolutely delicious as well 🙂
I’d tried raw broccoli before in a salad but only a few times and I think they were always made by Americans. I don’t think this kind of salad is very popular at all in Europe – so I thought it was time I changed that! The dressing was definitely a winner – do give it a try, Lilli – I think it could be quite versatile and go well in many other salads.
Great post Helen, I had a few chuckles reading this, love surprises. You only surprise the ones you care about, so it’s special right? Love this salad, broccoli is one of my favorites.
Aw, that’s so true, Cheri! Yes, it was a very memorable thing to do! So happy you like the salad. Hope you are still having a wonderful time in Oregon. 🙂
I was thoroughly amused by your story! That is so funny about hiding from his brother, an hour and a quarter is such a long time to stay hidden! I’m really impressed, haha! I guess it would have been pretty scary for his brother if you guys decided to finally pop out after that long! I love the idea of surprise visits to family, but I’m never smart enough to pull them off, so bravo to you guys!! This salad is so creative! I love all the different flavors you used, and I especially love that you dressed it with Greek yogurt! It looks delicious!
Thanks for the sweet comment (again), Isadora! To be honest, this was fun, but it was fairly tricky to pull off. Catching a busy family all home together at a good time took plenty of scheming, that’s for sure! So glad you approve of the salad. The Greek yoghurt dressing was the best part because it pretty much tasted like mayonnaise but of course was a bit healthier than that.
Monsieur Scrummy et toi, vous êtes comme deux gamins. Haha, je crois que ton beau frère aura pu mourir d’un attaque le pauvre! J’imagine s’il aura poussé la porte de la chambre…
Ta salade est divine, J’adore tous ces mélanges des goût et pour l’été est idéal!
Merci, Eva … malheureusement, il fait tres froid a Perth au juin … la nuit, au moins (par jour il fait tres beau!) A mon avis, pourtant, cette salade est ideal pour l’ete et l’hiver tous les deux!
Quant au beau frere, oui, j’ai vraiment pousse un soupir de soulagement! 🙂
Helen, je crois que t’aimerais ma salade, elle aussi très complet et tu peut la déguster tiède ou froid! Il faut que tu clique aussi dans le dernier lien, je pense que ça te plaira aussi 😉
Merci, Eva! Je suis sure que j’adorais ta salade! Je vais te visiter bientot pour cliquer ce dernier lien! 🙂
Haha! That is hilarious! Your poor feet 🙂 There is nothing like a good adrenaline rush in the morning!
And there is nothing like a good summer salad that has bacon and apples! What a delicious combination Helen!
Haha … you’re right about that adrenaline rush! Fun, though …
Very happy that you like the salad, Mary Frances. I have to say that the bacon, apples, broccoli & cheese combination worked pretty well. 🙂