Fresh broccoli salad is creamy, salty, tangy, sweet, and oh, so delicious. My grandma has been making this for holidays and family get-togethers for as long as I can remember, and I've been addicted to it for just as long.
In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, bacon, cheese and onion.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar. Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture and stir together until everything is evenly coated.
The broccoli salad can be served immediately, but tastes even better if you cover and refrigerate it for 1 to 2 hours before serving. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
You should get about 7 cups of broccoli florets from the heads of broccoli, roughly 28 ounces.
A great shortcut is using bagged, prepped florets. I still need to cut up some of the larger ones, but it's a big time saver!
You can use a white, yellow or red onion, whatever your preference.
There are so many variations to broccoli salad, so feel free to add other ingredients based on your personal preferences: dried cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, chopped pecans, etc.
You can make the following modifications to the dressing: plain Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise and honey in place of sugar. You can also use a honey mustard vinaigrette if you don't want a creamy dressing, or a sour cream or buttermilk-based dressing if you want it creamy but not mayo-y.