Going to a family BBQ? Bring a bowl of bacon broccoli cauliflower salad and it will knock their socks off. I guarantee it will be the first salad from the salad bar to disappear.
Do you want to know what will make this low-carb bacon broccoli cauliflower salad even yummier? SOUR CREAM, of course!
You definitely have the ingredients for this! This salad is really easy to prepare.
This is another easy salad recipe following on from my keto Caesar salad (high-protein salad), cheeseburger salad, or keto taco salad.
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Easy keto salads
Salads are an easy go-to for keto veggie side dishes with your favorite meals. Dinner time can get dull after making the same thing every night – so why not make delicious creamy broccoli and cauliflower salad instead.
It’s the perfect side dish for chicken, beef, pork, salmon side dish, and BBQ this summer.
You’ll be able to convince your picky eaters to eat more veggies with this one!
And if you have been with me here for a while, you know my number one trick to get kiddos to eat their veggies? Yes, drown it in dressing. And every kid loves bacon!
Ingredients and substitutions
There are two parts to the bacon broccoli cauliflower salad – the salad and the dressing. All quantities and instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Raw fresh broccoli and cauliflower.
- Sour cream – or you can use cream cheese or marscapone.
- Spring onions – fresh spring onions (scallions) are bets for flavor and clor but you couldse dried onion flakes and garlic flakes instead.
- Bacon pieces – if vegetarian, use another protein that you prefer.
- Vinegar – this adds a lovely zesty bite to the sour cream dressing. make sure not to use balsamic that has added sugars.
- Seasonings – such as salt, pepper, chili flakes and even lemon pepper.
Flavours and variations
When you think of salads, you immediately think of sliced vegetables, a few tomatoes, and some leafy greens. Not very appealing and it can be a bit bland. No one likes bland.
But when you add all the delicious low-carb ingredients in this keto salad recipe together, this crunchy creamy salad will become a regular in your keto salad repertoire.
And because there are crunchy vegetables, smooth creamy sour cream, and smokey flavored bacon with vinegar, there’s a definitely added dimension in taste and texture.
You can change things up a little with this recipe, too! Why not add some walnuts or roasted pumpkin seeds? Or add differently colored cauliflower for an even prettier salad?
Instructions
Place the broccoli and cauliflower into a large saucepan. Cover with water and boil until tender but not overcooked. Make sure there is a little crunchy centre in the stalks otherwise your vegetables will be soggy and wet.
Once cooked, drain all the water and allow to stand with the lid removed so all the steam escapes.
Fry the bacon pieces in a small frying pan. Cook until crispy and golden brown. These replace croutons in a keto salad and add flavour and protein to the salad too.
Mix all the ingredients for the sour cream sauce together, then stir through the cooked broccoli and cauliflower. Always allow the vegetables to cool for a few minutes before folding through the sour cream dressing. The vegetables can be warm to create a warm salad or completely cooled for a cold salad.
Crisp vegetables, crunchy bacon, and creamy dressing. What’s not to love??
More keto salad recipes
Eating vegetables just keeps getting easier! Your kids will approve of this one! The whole family will love a hamburger salad (Big Mac salad), taco salad, keto chicken salad, and even crackslaw are perfect healthy family salad recipes.
Low-Carb Bacon Broccoli Cauliflower Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g broccoli chopped
- 150 g cauliflower chopped
Creamy Bacon Sauce
- 3 slices bacon diced
- 1 spring onion/scallion sliced
- 150 g sour cream
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 50 g nuts and seeds optional – see notes
Instructions
- Steam the broccoli and cauliflower pieces for a few minutes, until just cooked. It’s nice for them to be a little crunchy in the centre. Once cooked, strain the water, allow the steam to escape and set aside to cool.
- Gently fry the diced bacon until cooked and starting to brown. Remove from heat. Allow to cool.
Creamy Bacon Sauce
- In a large bowl, add the spring onion, sour cream, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Mix.
- Add the chopped seeds, nuts, bacon and bacon grease to the creamy sauce (keep a few nuts and bacon pieces aside, for garnish). Mix
- Gently stir the broccoli and cauliflower through the creamy bacon sauce and serve with a few nuts, seeds and bacon pieces to decorate.
Notes
Nutrition
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This is delicious! I made it with raw broccoli and cauliflower, and it is just perfect. We have already eaten it twice in the last week!
I agree – any sale with bacon and sour cream has to be a winner! So glad you loved it. Bring on summer!
I made this for dinner tonight, my husband and I ate the lot (served with tender sliced lamb steak over the top) as a main course. I toasted some pinenuts and added a few slivered almonds and pumpkin seeds. We loved it – this is a keeper! I don’t much enjoy cooking so thank you Libby for this addition to my ‘simple but delicious’ meals list. I’ll be making this often, it beats anything similar that we’ve had at restaurants!
WOW – what a lovely comment to receive and such high praise! I’m so happy that you loved it, and found it so simple and so delicious. That’s all I ever want to show everyone. Simple is best. 🙂
This was delicious! I miss potato salad and this has a similar texture…hubby devoured it! Thanks Libby!
Recipe needs good proofreading. Do you add the bacon and the grease to the sour cream mix while hot? Or just garnish with bacon?
The recipe that was emailed to me did not say what to do with the spring onion, nor the bacon. Is the bacon grease used? The recipe I received lacked flavor. Please clarify.
They are all added to the sour cream sauce. Reserve a few cooked bacon pieces to decorate and garnish.
How long will this keep in the fridge?
Up to 3 days 🙂
I’m a Yankee who doesn’t use metric conversion very often. Could you provide a grams-to-cup conversion? Basically, 1 cup = 128 grams. If you could clarify a little bit I would be VERY grateful! I think I may need to get a scale!
Thanks!
Under each recipe there are big red conversion buttons. You can switch between grams and cups, whichever is your preference to cook by 🙂
I took this broccoli and cauliflower salad to a family gathering of some picky eaters and it was a hit. I barely had enough to bring home for my lunch the next day.
I’ll take that as a result!!!! Awesome.
How much of the bacon grease did you add? All of it?
I would estimate my bacon when I fry it renders 1-2 tablespoons of bacon grease. I add it all. Make sure your bacon isn’t filled with other liquids, some brands have added water and other things added to plump up the bacon.
What “type” of vinegar? White, balsamic, apple cider, rice, etc?
You can choose your favourite flavour. Personally, I love to use apple cider vinegar. Yum.
I tried this recipe for the first time and I didn’t like the way it turned out. Putting the tablespoon of vinegar in was a bad mistake! It’s the overwhelming taste. I even added more onion and bacon. My husband won’t eat it but I’m not going to waste all that good food. I’ll give it 2 stars because it’s very low carb and very healthy ingredients, but 0 stars for flavor. Sorry. ?
I tried this recipe for the first time today. I don’t like the way it turned out. Putting the tablespoon of vinegar in the recipe was a bad mistake! It’s the overwhelming flavor. My husband won’t eat it but I don’t want to waste all that food. I’ll have to give it to stars Because the ingredients are low-carb and very healthy. But I have to give it zero stars for flavor. Sorry. ?
My recipe said 1 teaspoon of vinegar. I didn’t have any trouble with this amount and it was yummy. Definitely will make this again.
Interesting– the metric recipe says tsp of vinegar, but when you hit the US conversion button, it converts to one Tbl of vinegar. This is an error with the program that needs to be fixed. Glad it was pointed out before I made this recipe.
The typo has been rectified, thank you guys for helping 🙂
Thanks for all the work you put in Your recipes
Libby. I wanted to ask Would natural yoghurt work instead of sour cream?? I am on a a very particular low carb diet that doesn’t allow a lot of keto ingreds Thanks in advance.
Oh also do you take away fibre from carbs to get net carbs??? What about sugars? ?
Marie
Hi Marie, I think if your natural yoghurt was thick enough (they vary considerably) then it might just work. Yes, to calculate net carbs, you deduct the fibre value from the total carb value.
What is a serving size please? 1/2 cup? Whole cup? Tyvm
Sorry, I don’t measure/weigh portions. I just divide the recipe into servings and the nutrition panel according to servings it creates. I used to weigh but got too many complaints from readers that their meal weighed differently to mine 🙁
Do you serve this warm or after it has had time to chill in the fridge? Looks like the perfect July 4th recipe for today!
I actually love it both ways. Prepared warm straight after the steam has escaped from the freshly cooked broccoli and cauliflower with the added sauce, or cold the next day from the fridge – yummo!