Cucumber Broccoli Salad
This family favorite cold Broccoli Salad is the perfect summer side dish! This easy broccoli salad is loaded with crunchy broccoli, crisp cucumbers, pine nuts, feta cheese, mint, Greek yogurt and more.
This summer, stay cool with more salad recipes like Classic Caprese Salad and Cucumber Tomato Salad.
Table of Contents
While we’re still in the heat of summer, there’s no better time to make a refreshing veggie salad! This cucumber broccoli salad pairs perfectly with just about every grilled meat you plan on serving at your next backyard barbecue. It also pairs fabulously with sandwiches if you’re packing a picnic basket.
I have a soft spot for broccoli salad recipes – especially this one! I love this broccoli salad because it’s packed with fresh, crunchy broccoli and crisp cucumbers. It’s light, crunchy, and dressed with a refreshing minty Greek yogurt dressing. It’s truly the perfect combination of refreshing ingredients in every bite.
The addition of Feta cheese satisfies the need for cheese and it enhances the salads lighter qualities at the same time. Feta also goes perfectly with the Greek yogurt dressing! Oh, and the best part (other than those well balanced flavors)? This salad is quick and easy to make, and is great for making ahead of time.
Ingredient Notes
Broccoli – You’ll need about two heads of broccoli. You can buy a bag of pre-chopped broccoli, just make sure you’ll still have enough.
Cucumber – You can choose to peel or not peel your cucumber, just remember that most of the nutrients are in the skin.
Pine Nuts – You can lightly toast your pine nuts in a pan over medium-low heat for an added toasty flavor.
Feta Cheese – This cheese is refreshing, tangy, and mild. It makes the best compliment to the dressing and other ingredients.
Herbs – You’ll need fresh dill weed and mint leaves for this recipe.
Greek Yogurt – Plain Greek yogurt is what you’ll need! Make sure it has no additional flavors.
Lime Juice – Freshly squeezed should be used for the best flavor.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions.
Prepare the ingredients. Chop and measure all of the ingredients accordingly. Place them all (without the dressing) in a large mixing bowl.
Toss it all together. In a separate bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing until smooth. Toss it all together until the salad ingredients are evenly coated.
Recipe FAQs
You can use any kind of cucumber you like best! English cucumbers are great if you don’t want a lot of seeds and they have a nice and thin skin so you can leave the skin on. However, any cucumber you buy at the store will work great.
You can certainly use both low-fat mayo and Greek yogurt if you’d like. Just keep in mind that mayo and Greek yogurt that have their full fat content will yield richer, creamier dressing.
This broccoli salad will last about 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Make sure to store it in an air-tight container. After 2-3 days, the cucumber will start to wilt and be too mushy.
How to Make Cucumber Broccoli Salad Ahead of Time
I encourage broccoli salads be made at least 2 hours before serving. When broccoli is mixed with all other ingredients and dressing and sits for a couple hours, it soaks up all the wonderful flavors and softens a little bit. Make sure to store it in the refrigerator!
Don’t make the broccoli salad more than about 24 hours ahead of time, though. After that, the salad will start to get too soft and cucumbers will release more liquid.
Storing Suggestion
Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Leftover cucumber broccoli salad makes a great side dish on busy weeknights! It will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days before starting to get too soft.
Make sure to use a clean spoon each time you take some out and close the lid back right away. The less exposure to air and bacteria, the longer it will keep.
Tools For This Recipe
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Bottom Grip Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
Plastic Cutting Board or Wooden Cutting Board
More Easy Salad Recipes To Try
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Cucumber Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 2 bunches of broccoli
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup Feta cheese
- 1/4 cup diced green onion
- 1 tbs fresh dill weed minced
- 5 mint leaves minced
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp mayo
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- fresh cracked black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
- Cut the broccoli florets from the stem and chop them into smaller pieces.
- Slice the cucumber into straws. (You can choose to peel the cucumber and scoop out the seeds if you wish.)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, cucumber, Feta, pine nuts, green onion, dill weed, and mint. Stir until mixed together.
- In a small bowl, whist together Greek yogurt, mayo, sugar, lime juice, salt, and pepper.
- Mix the sauce into veggies until all veggies are evenly coated.
- I recommend letting it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. Give it a quick mix and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Categories:
4th Of July, BBQ, Gluten Free, Healthy Dishes, Salad, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I crave fresh and simple meals when the weather is hot and this salad was perfection! My favorite part was the zippy dressing, it made it so refreshing!
I am so happy you liked it!
We have so many cucumbers from our garden this year and I was really excited to try this salad. It turned out so delicious and the lime really made a zippy dressing that we all loved.
I am so glad you like it, Missy!
This is such a refreshing salad!
Hi, Can I use mayonnaise instead of yogurt or sour cream? Also, if I omit the nuts and feta cheese would it change the taste of the salad?
Love your recipes!
Hi, Delores! You could substitute mayonnaise it will slightly change the flavor but I believe would still be okay. It would change the taste of the salad if you didn’t add pin nuts and feta cheese, You could try a different cheese and nut, let me know how you like it!
This sounded sooo good until I saw the dill. ( not a fan) Any ideas for an alternative? Thanks. 🙂
Hi there! You can use other herbs if you don’t like dill weed. Try cilantro, it has a great fresh flavor.
I had fresh cucumber & broccoli from the garden of a friend whom I was house-sitting for…. this recipe made the most of the two garden flavors and added a “cool” touch to them. I substituted flavored yogurt (pomegranate Tilamook already in the fridge) , bottled dill weed, and Mozzarella for Feta (I added a bit more salt to make up for the loss of salt from Feta). It tasted amazing even though I didn’t have; onions, mint or pine nuts. Worked much better for the bitter cucumber skins associated to the variety planted (don’t skin your veggies people; that is where the vitamins are!) then a typical vinegar/oil dressing. Thank you Lyuba!
I’m so glad you liked it. This sounds great version and I must try it!
I love broccoli and this sounds like a delicious salad! Pinning this to try out soon!
Thanks so much, Kristen!
This salad made my mouth water! I am featuring you today from last week’s All Things Thursday Blog Hop #2. I hope you’ll link up your greatness again tonight! Have a super day!
Blessings,
Nici
Thank you so much, Nici!
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