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★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
Switch up the Coleslaw
Broccoli Slaw is a favorite side dish for summer dinners and cookouts. Lighter, crunchier, and with more flavor than coleslaw you'll love every bit of the creamy and tangy flavor Broccoli Slaw brings to your table.
Creamy, Tangy Homemade Dressing
If you like traditional coleslaw you have to give this lightly creamy broccoli slaw recipe a try. The dressing alone is worth trying.
Light and Refreshing
I like a light dressing for my slaw, so I can actually taste the vegetables. This dressing keep the veggies fresh and crisp.
The broccoli stems and grated carrots mixed with sweet onion and green pepper are the perfect flavor combinations to pair with creamy and slightly tart dressing with just a touch of sweetness.
Make it a Meal
Pair this broccoli slaw with Baked Mac and Cheese with Bread Crumbs, Honey Barbecue Grilled Chicken, and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for dessert!
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You'll need a bag of broccoli slaw mix and a few fridge and pantry staples to make the dressing.
- Broccoli Slaw Mix: You can get a bag of Broccoli Slaw mix in your produce section at most grocery stores. You could also use coleslaw mix.
- Green Pepper: I use one green bell pepper diced up nice and small in my slaw recipe.
- Sweet Vidalia Onion: A nice sweet Vidalia onion is the perfect flavor to go with the vinegar and mayonnaise in this recipe and finish off the explosion of flavors you get with each bite.
- Mayonnaise: I use real mayo, but if you like Miracle Whip you can use a little less, it gets watery faster since it's a little thinner. I think it's much sweeter than real mayo also, so cut the sugar down a little in this recipe, too.
- Vinegar: Any type of vinegar will work, so if you have apple cider vinegar or white vinegar at home just use it. I wouldn't use wine vinegar unless you really like that more Asian-inspired dressing.
- Sugar: A little bit of sugar takes the bite out of the vinegar and gives a nice smooth taste to the dressing.
- Salt and Pepper: You can use as much or as little S&P as you like, it's all about your preference with those two ingredients.
My secret-weapon ingredients to add flavor to the bagged slaw mix is to add in diced bell pepper and sweet vidalia onion. The flavor the bell pepper and sweet onion bring, goes really well with the dressing and slaw mix and gives this broccoli slaw an awesome and more complex flavor that I think you'll really love.
These extra veggies pair well with both the broccoli slaw mix as well as the traditional cole slaw mix.
★ How to Make Broccoli Slaw Dressing ★
Making homemade slaw dressing is easy—just start with a bag of slaw mix, chop a pepper and onion, and stir in the simple ingredients. In just ten minutes you’ll have a creamy, delicious side dish that keeps well in the fridge, perfect for busy days when you don’t want to spend time in a hot kitchen.
It doesn't get any easier than this recipe, all you need to do is:
- Chop the pepper and onion.
- Add broccoli slaw to a large bowl.
- Add dressing ingredients to slaw.
- Add chopped pepper and onion to slaw.
- Toss to combine everything.
- Chill then serve.
This simple slaw dressing enhances the natural flavors of the vegetables, and it’s so easy you’ll wonder why you didn’t make it sooner. The best part is you control the mayo, vinegar, and sugar, so you can adjust to make it as light or creamy as you like.
★ Optional Add-ins ★
- You could add additional vegetables if you wanted to — anything that sounds good to you. Broccoli florets, cauliflower, cucumber, etc.
- Chopped green onions are a great ingredient to add even more freshness to this recipe.
- A handful of crunchy sunflower seeds would also bring a nice nutty flavor to this easy broccoli slaw recipe.
- If you wanted to make this dish more like traditional coleslaw, you can add shredded red cabbage and give it a little more color too!
- Slaw is all about how you like it, and everyone makes it a little bit different. Usually inspired by how your parents or your grandma made it! 🙂
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Broccoli slaw lasts 3 to 5 days in the fridge when stored in an airtight container. After awhile, the veggies will soften being marinated in the dressing and may loose a little crunch. For that reason, broccoli slaw is best served fresh.
Broccoli slaw mix is typically made of shredded broccoli stems, carrots, and red cabbage.
Yes, broccoli slaw is generally healthier than traditional coleslaw because it contains more fiber, vitamins A and C, and fewer calories—especially if you use a lighter dressing. So it's a great choice if you love traditional coleslaw but want a healthier option.
Typically broccoli slaw like coleslaw is matched with a creamy dressing made from mayo, sugar and vinegar. Mayonnaise adds a bit of fat into the mix and, fun fact, one of the reasons fat tastes so good is that, in effects helps things "stick" to your tongue longer so you can really savor the flavors. We use just a touch of mayo to get that effect without making this slaw taste overly saturated. Vinegar helps brighten the taste of the veggies and add tang much the same way salad dressing does to a traditional salad. Sugar adds a layer of sweetness to balance the vinegar.
My favorite way to eat broccoli slaw or coleslaw is with seasoned or waffle fries. I take my fries and dip them in the coleslaw and oh my goodness... my mouth is seriously watering right now just typing this. You just gotta try it. It's kinda like the fries dipped in a chocolate milkshake thing but ever so slightly more healthy.
For dinner, try pairing this slaw with my baked macaroni and cheese with bread crumbs, some BBQ riblets, or for weeknights try it with my barbecue pork cornbread skillet. Mmmm mmm!!
All slaws are not equal and I've met quite a few people who are very picky about their slaws! I prefer a light, less creamy slaw so that what you'll get with this recipe.
You can adjust the mayo and vinegar ratios to your liking without messing things up. That's the beauty of homemade. It can be tweaked to your exact taste buds.
So if this is your first time making homemade slaw dressing, try making a small batch and see what you think. Adjust for the full recipe as you see fit. You can also adjust the sugar to make it more or less sweet.
★ More Cold Side Recipes ★
Browse all my easy side dish recipes
Want party food ideas? Browse all my easy party recipes.
This homemade broccoli slaw dressing was featured on South Your Mouth!
Broccoli Slaw w/ Homemade Dressing
Ingredients
- 16 oz broccoli slaw mix (red cabbage, carrots, and broccoli)
- 1 green pepper finely chopped
- ¼ sweet vidalia onion finely chopped
DRESSING
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup vinegar adjust to your liking
- ¼ cup sugar adjust to your liking
- Salt & pepper to taste
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Remove seeds from green pepper. Finely chop green pepper and onions using a food processor or by hand then toss with broccoli slaw mix.
- Stir in mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Chill for at least an hour, ideally overnight so flavors have time to marinate together. Toss then serve!
Greg says
White vinegar or apple cider vinegar?
Angela G. says
White vinegar. Thanks for asking. You could also try apple cider vinegar for a different flavor.