Raw Broccoli Salad with Peanut Dressing

Raw Broccoli Salad with Peanut Dressing is a hearty salad. Just add protein and you have a satisfying meal.

For the salad, all you need is two heads of broccoli, tomatoes, onions, fresh parsley and peanuts. For the dressing, it’s just peanut butter, grapeseed or olive oil, rice vinegar, mustard, and a little salt.  Mix together ingredients for the dressing and then the salad and then combine. Bingo Bango, your salad is complete.

I like this recipe because, apart from the broccoli, you don’t need to go hunting for any specific ingredients.  You can substitute almost every ingredient with what you have in your kitchen. You can use any tomatoes or onions, they just need to be cut into bite-size pieces. Salted or unsalted peanuts work fine, so long as they are not heavily salted. I used grapeseed oil, but any oil you prefer to use for salad dressings will work. The same for the rice vinegar. Substituting will provide an different flavor concept, but it will be delicious nonetheless. 

The only rule you should stick to when making this salad is to use, very fresh broccoli. Limp and somewhat aged broccoli isn’t going to work here folks.

Raw Broccoli Salad with Peanut Dressing is a great meatless lunchtime meal, you can make this really quickly the night before and enjoy for the lunch the next day. Just wait to combine the salad with the dressing until you are ready to eat it. You want that crunch broccoli gives, and the salad dressing will temper the broccoli’s hardy capabilities if left in it overnight.

The health benefits packed into this Raw Broccoli Salad with Peanut Dressing is amazing. If you are trying to stay on a healthy-eating path, this salad will keep you on track. Here’s some stats for you:

• Broccoli: good source of folic acid, high in vitamins C and K, and high in potassium.
• Tomatoes: high in vitamins C and K, good source of potassium and folate.
• Parsley: a superfood packed with vitamins and minerals, in particular C, K and A. It aids almost every part of the body, including the ability to reduce bad breath.
• Grapeseed oil: high in vitamin E

You will notice that I didn’t include peanuts and peanut butter in my list of stats. Ordinarily I would, but for those health benefits to be true it depends upon the quality of the peanuts and peanut butter. I used roasted salted peanuts, and my peanut butter is simply ground peanuts.  Invariably though, folks buy those mass produced peanuts and peanut butters which are very high in salt and filled with additives. Steer clear of those for this recipe, and you will have yourself a dynamic dish capable of healing the body.

Enjoy!