Broccoli Salad Surprise is absolutely delicious! While there are many recipes out there, this one has a special technique to take it over the top! Everyone will be raving about it and the secrets all yours!

Always in search of great recipes, especially those that I can make ahead, this one got so many compliments!

Potluck Recipe Success with Broccoli Salad Surprise

One of my favorite things about being a member of the Order of the Eastern Star is our charity work and our sense of family.  When anyone becomes a member of a Masonic organization, they are family. Regardless of state, or even country, you have family everywhere!  We are all the kind of family that will do everything we can to help one another.

Which  means if you are 9 states away and have an something go terribly wrong in a place where you know no one, you can find a Masonic Lodge or Eastern Star Chapter and someone will help you.  Or, if you are having a rough time, you have sisters and brothers who’ve been there and often know just what to do or say in your time of need.

I had made this dish for a funeral honoring a very special lady in the Oklahoma Order of the Eastern Star. In her lifetime, she did a lot of good for God, charity, schools and positively impacted the lives of so many people. After the dinner honoring her life, as I was helping clean up a few people came up wondering who had made my Broccoli Salad Surprise!  That was totally unexpected but it always feels great to have your food complimented!

Broccoli Salad Surprise For BBQ Recipe Season

In our house, recipes cannot often be repeated.  If we have the same thing in two months my rotten husband complains that we have it all the time.  Seriously, it’s ridiculous! BBQ season is no different.  Every time we grill he wants different side dishes!

Having perfected the Broccoli Salad Surprise, it will definitely be on the rotation this summer! I love that I can make it a couple of days ahead of time so that the day of it’s one less thing I have to make and clean up!

Broccoli Salad Surprise

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs fresh broccoli (you can also use thawed frozen broccoli, but the crunch isn’t quite the same)
• 2.5-3 lbs seedless red grapes, quartered
• 1 1/2-2 cups celery, very thinly sliced
• 1/2 very thinly sliced red onion, cut into small pieces
• 1 pound cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1 1/2 c slivered almonds
• 2 cups mayonnaise
• 2/3 c sugar, divided in half
• 2 T + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• Black pepper, as desired.

Directions:

1. Mix mayonnaise, 1/3 cup of sugar, apple cider vinegar and pepper in a bowl and set aside for 15 minutes minimum.
2. Cook bacon until crisp (but not burnt) and thinly slice or crumble it. Set aside.
3. If the broccoli is in large pieces, cut it up so that they are more bite sized.
4. In a large bowl, combine broccoli, grapes, onions and celery. Stir well to combine.
5. By now, it should have been at least 15 minutes.  Taste the mayo mixture. If you like the flavor, your good to move on.  If it needs some more tart, add a little more apple cider vinegar, stir and let sit for another 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle the additional sugar over the broccoli mixture and stir.
7. Mix the bacon into the broccoli mixture and when the mayo mixture is to your liking, add it to the broccoli and stir well.
8. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, though overnight is better!
9. Add in almonds, stir and serve!

***Remember, with the mayonnaise base, you don’t want it to get warm! You could easily ice down a bigger bowl, then sit your bowl of broccoli salad down inside the iced bowl! There are actually dishes on Amazon that are made just like this!***

Additional BBQ & Potluck Recipes

Traditional Potato Salad

(Could-Be) Garden Fresh Corn Salad

German Potato Salad

Deviled Eggs (Paleo Friendly!)

Italian BBQ Pork Chops

Homemade Salsa

Summer Desserts

Mock Welch’s Strawberry Popsicles 

Peanut Butter Pie

Pineapple Pie

Peach Mango Sorbet