Featuring a tasty medley of broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and chickpeas, this chopped cauliflower broccoli salad with creamy avocado dressing is ready to rock your portable lunch game. Perfect for parties, potlucks, picnics, and a tasty on-the-go lunch!
Happy Spring!
More importantly, happy salad weather!!! (those exclamation points are my jazz hands, spirit fingers, and happy dance all rolled into one BTW)
I’m super pumped to spend the next two seasons salad-ing my face off! Though I often opt to serve salads as a side dish, I’ve been known to down a big bowl all on it’s own for lunch. This is usually followed by a pat on the back and a mental note that I just saved myself enough calories for a much needed glass of wine at dinner or something hopelessly covered in chocolate. Usually both. I’m nothing if not predictable ?
With this salad the post-veggie-faceplant reward is almost completely unnecessary because it’s SO GOOD!
Flavor packed and deliciously crunchy, this chopped broccoli salad is a great way to break out of a salad rut. Toss the leafy greens aside and chop these hearty veggies into a bowl full of yum, complete with a finger-licking avocado dressing that is sure to become a new staple in your kitchen. Flavor-wise it reminds me a lot of a macaroni salad, without the pesky carbs.
As an added bonus, this gorgeous green dressing keeps up to 4 days in the fridge and actually *STAYS* green when you seal it up nice and tight.
Cue avocado-shaped confetti!
Chopped Cauliflower Broccoli Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing AND CHICKPEAS
This sassy salad is perfect for all your Spring and Summer parties, potlucks, barbecues and picnics! Pair it with your favorite protein or enjoy all on it’s own for a veggie-packed lunch that’s healthy and delicious!
Thanks to the dreamy, creamy dressing the veggies step up the plate and channel their inner macaroni salad. Seriously! It’s like broccoli and macaroni salad hybrid with all of the flavor and none of the starchy pasta. I didn’t originally set out to accomplish this but MAN I love the results!
Nutrition Facts above are an estimate gathered using an online recipe nutrition calculator. Adjust as needed.
special diets and swaps
This Chopped Cauliflower Broccoli Salad is crazy versatile and can be tweaked to fit your lifestyle!
To make it vegan, use your favorite variety of vegan mayo and use THIS vegan avocado dill dressing <– so good!
As written, this salad is gluten-free and dairy-free.
Make this salad paleo + Whole30 friendly by skipping the chickpeas and corn. Extra broccoli and cauliflower can be added in their place if you’d like.
Chopped Cauliflower Broccoli Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD:
- 1.5 cups chopped broccoli
- 2 cups chopped cauliflower
- 1 cup cooked corn (fresh, canned, or steamed from frozen)
- 15 oz canned chickpeas drained + rinsed
- ½ bell pepper, chopped
- ⅓ cup chopped red onion or to taste
- 2 TBSP chopped green onion
- garnish with fresh parsley for an optional topping
FOR THE DRESSING:
- 1.5 ripe avocado*
- ½ cup quality mayo
- 1 TBSP lemon juice (extra to taste)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and chop your veggies and toss ’em all together!
- For the corn, steam or sauté if using fresh or frozen. If using canned, simply drain and rise. I opted for frozen corn + lightly steamed.
- Next toss all your dressing ingredients in a food processor and blend until perfectly smooth and creamy. Feel free to add any extra salt/pepper/spices to taste. A blender or immersion blender may also be used with great results!
- Toss your veggies in about 1/4 of the dressing adding extra as desired. You may want a little, or a lot! The dressing keeps marvelously refridgerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
small batch salad measurements for 2-4 people:
FOR THE SALAD:
- 3/4 cup chopped broccoli
- 3/4 cup chopped cauliflower
- 1/2 cup corn (cooked fresh, canned, or steamed from frozen)
- 1/2 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained + rinsed
- 1/4 bell pepper (any color!) chopped
- 2-3 TBSP chopped red onion
- 1 TBSP chopped green onion
- garnish with fresh parsley, optional
FOR THE DRESSING:
- 1 ripe avocado*
- 1/4 cup quality mayo
- 1/2 TBSP lemon juice, extra to taste
- 1 small/medium clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- small pinch sea salt + black pepper, to taste
If you get a chance to try this tasty chopped Cauliflower Broccoli Salad, let me know! You can leave me a comment here (LOVE checking those daily!) or tag @PEASandCRAYONS on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creations. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!
Celebrate salad season with 20 Easy Healthy Salad Recipes
Questions & Reviews
This salad is so tasty. And I found that the dressing makes enough for two whole batches of the salad. Thanks for the great recipe.
So happy you’re enjoying it Angie, thank you!
Do you steam these vegies or fry them? I assume they are not raw.
Hi Suzi! The corn, if not using canned and instead using frozen or fresh, can be steamed or sautéed. I like to use frozen organic sweet corn and simply steam it for a few minutes before tossing into salads. The broccoli and cauliflower are raw and chopped super tiny for awesome texture and crunch!
I loved this salad….the first day. Unfortunately, my son is not a fan of chickpeas and my husband is not a fan of green peppers. I thought to myself, that’s okay…built in lunch for me for a few days! Unfortunately, the avocado dressing became an unappetizing darker shade of brown each day. Do you have any other dressings that would go nicely with this salad, without turning brown?
Hi Ramona! Avocados naturally start to brown once cut/mashed but fresh citrus juice can do a great job at keeping things green. The fresh lemon juice is usually enough to keep mine from browning so I’m terribly sorry yours started to brown early!
My broccoli salad dressing would work great here (classic broccoli salad) and so would my homemade caesar dressing. I bet my creamy greek dressing recipe would also be delicious! Hope this helps and let me know if I can help in any other way! xoxo
Thank you!
One of my favorite salads! Made this for a dinner party the other day and everyone was asking for the recipe!
Yay!!! So glad this broccoli cauliflower salad was a hit at your dinner party – Thanks Jacklyn!
Love all the colors in this and I want to put the dressing on everything I eat!
Thanks Amanda! Love it so!
It’s a great concept and I’m glad so many others have enjoyed your salad. Regrettably, it was a huge disappointment in my house. It was a lot of work for such a sad outcome. It was very bland and it didn’t look anything like the photo, and I followed the recipe exactly.
So sorry to hear you found it bland Cyn, as we enjoy this one quite often and love the flavor from the red onion, corn, and garlic! Some readers desire a bit of extra salt and pepper with their salad/dressing and I totally support seasoning to taste since we all have a different preference there! xo
This was so delicious! I’ve made it twice in a week! Yum!! I don’t like raw broccoli and cauliflower,so I microwaved them a bit to soften them. Bonus, the broccoli is a nice bright green.
Delish!!! I used Greek yogurt to save a few calories, you’d never know it. I also added chopped up rotisserie chicken to make a heartier meal – was tasty like that but next time I think I’ll try hard boiled eggs instead. Super good summer food!
I love salad weather. This salad looks so delicious. Almost anything with an avocado dressing is a favorite with me so this looks even better than you can imagine. I’m going to see whether my kids will eat this too. Sometimes they’re good about salads and sometimes they’re really fussy. I’m going to make it the night ahead for lunch (using your idea about keeping them separate). I’m a big fan of having lunch prepped because otherwise I end up grabbing the worst food when I’m busy. Thanks for sharing such a delicious looking salad.
Hi. I’d just like to ask if I can swap to greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise? Would that work too? Thanks.
Hi Ana! It will totally work! The dressing may be a wee bit tart/tangy depending on which kind you use so just go for a good quality yogurt that you love! 2% or whole Greek will be creamier than non-fat, for instance.
I was looking for a healthy dish and this one with broccoli and cauliflower looks amazing! I can`t wait to stop to supermarket on my way home.
I just tried this salad today and I must say I’m impressed. The taste is really amazing. Thanks for sharing!
This recipe yells “healthy” right from the start. I managed to convince my son to eat it and was amazed that he liked it. Thank you so much for sharing!
Just made this and felt like it needed something else so added in cilantro and oh my god!! Such a good addition!
LOVE IT Heather! Cilantro in this sounds right up my alley! 🙂
I can hardly wait to give this a try this summer! Nice recipe.
Thanks Steven! 🙂
Yesssss! Made this last night as a side with dinner and it was the hit of the night! All 3 little ones had two helpings of it and wanted more! Such a fresh, crunchy, yummy bowl of deliciousness. I can’t wait to eat some for lunch today. Will definitely be making again…and again….and again! Thanks!
I just jumped in the air – YESSSSS! Thanks for making my day, Kristen! I am so super thrilled y’all loved the salad and that it’s kiddo approved 🙂
Can’t wait for summer to enjoy this delicious looking salad!
this recipe looks so delicious!
lol “salading my face off.” that’s me too! all that produce is so sexy, I can’t NOT.
This salad looks like an Easter basket!!!
That avocado dressing sounds so good! I never would have thought to put worcestershire sauce in salad dressing, but I love the flavor, great idea!
It gives it this wonderful layer of flavor that I can’t get enough of! Thanks girly! 🙂