Jamie Oliver’s Broccoli Salad Is the Only One You Need

This Thanksgiving, we had a very unwelcome guest: Covid. I was supposed to cook for my extended family of about 25, and had the groceries stocked in my fridge to prove it. Once our plans were canceled, I found myself with enough broccoli to feed a small army. My children, shockingly, love broccoli and their favorite preparation is simply steamed with nothing on it—no, butter, no cheese, no salt, no pepper. Is this concerning? Absolutely. But when kids latch on to any form of vegetable, just go with it.

I, on the other hand, loathe this boring, bland, and very, very sad broccoli. After making it for the eighth time in a week and barely making a dent in my mountain of cruciferous vegetables, I knew I needed to find a clever and tasty way to use up some broccoli in bulk. Enter Jamie Oliver’s Broccoli Salad. 

Why I Love Jamie Oliver’s Broccoli Salad

This rendition of broccoli salad is unlike the mayo, sugar, and dried cranberry version of my youth, which, in my opinion, is a very good thing. I have a very complicated relationship with mayonnaise and while I believe there is a time and a place for it, I generally don’t want it anywhere near my broccoli. Instead, Oliver’s version is made with a garlicky white wine vinaigrette dressing fortified with a bit of rendered bacon fat, giving the entire salad a deeply savory and satisfying flavor.

Another thing I loved about this take on broccoli salad was the method used to cook the broccoli. Normally, you’d boil the broccoli until tender, then shock it in an ice bath to stop the cooking. However, while this keeps the broccoli nice and green, it also causes the vegetable to take on a lot of water, which can leave the salad soggy and the flavors muddied. Oliver’s recipe instructs you to blanch the broccoli briefly for just 60 seconds, then place it on a sheet pan lined with a tea towel to steam dry. While it sits, the residual steam cooks the broccoli to the perfect texture, and the excess moisture is absorbed by the towel.

Once the broccoli is dry, it’s combined with crispy bacon, chives, and tomatoes before tossing the whole thing with dressing. Since I made this in December, I didn’t think the tomatoes added much to the overall taste and texture of the salad. In the future, when I’m outside of tomato season, I’ll likely swap the fresh tomatoes for slivers of sun-dried tomatoes to really play up the savory notes. I also added a few roasted, salted sunflower seeds to add a little crunch.

The resulting salad was the perfect balance of pleasantly bitter broccoli, zippy Dijon vinaigrette, salty bacon, and a hint of freshness thanks to the chopped chives. Served cold, it makes a lovely salad, but I also enjoyed it warm as a unique green side. Even my kids accepted this “dressed-up broccoli.” Of course, bacon always helps, but a win is a win—especially if it means I don’t have to eat sad broccoli anymore!