Easy Copycat Ruby Tuesday Broccoli Salad Recipe

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Ruby Tuesday Broccoli Salad Recipe

Our copycat Ruby Tuesday Broccoli Salad Recipes tastes amazing and is very easy to prepare. This recipe is full of deliciously good ingredients and is also a great healthy side dish for any occasion. Give this recipe a try with our easy step-by-step instructions.

Broccoli Salad top down

Ruby Tuesday Broccoli Salad

Ruby Tuesday’s broccoli salad is a classic favorite. Although it may be difficult to find broccoli salad on their menu any longer, you can easily make a copycat version of Ruby Tuesday’s broccoli salad at home. Making your own homemade broccoli salad is surprisingly easy to do and it tastes amazing. 

Broccoli Salad Recipe (Ruby Tuesday’s Copycat)

Ruby Tuesday’s broccoli salad is a classic kind of broccoli salad. Our copycat recipe will walk you through how you can easily make your own version of their broccoli salad from scratch. All you need are a few basic ingredients, then a dressing. This salad is very easy to put together, and can serve a large group if needed. Not only is it easy to make, it can also be made in advance, and tastes great. 

Broccoli Salad With Cranberries And Sunflower Seeds

There are all kinds of ingredients you can include in broccoli salad. Some favorites are classic broccoli salad that has been made featuring cranberries and sunflower seeds. There are also many other ingredients you can add to liven up your broccoli salad and make it look and taste amazing. Let’s turn our attention to the different kinds of ingredients you can include in your copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad. 

Broccoli Salad Ingredients: 

Broccoli: The key ingredient of Ruby Tuesday’s broccoli salad is of course broccoli. To make broccoli salad we will use broccoli florets, which is the head of each piece of broccoli. You’ll want to be sure to thoroughly wash and dry these pieces of broccoli before including them in your salad. 

Bacon: Bacon is another featured ingredient that most everyone loves in broccoli salad. There are different ways you can incorporate your bacon. Some prefer to cook strips of bacon and then chop them up after they have cooled. If you are looking for an easier method, you can simply use bacon bits in your broccoli salad. No matter what type of bacon you choose to include, your bacon will be a lovely feature of the broccoli salad. 

Nuts: Nuts are another favorite ingredient in broccoli salad. There are different kinds of nuts you can include in your broccoli salad depending upon your favorite types of nuts. Some good, go-to types of nuts you can include are pecans, walnuts, or almonds that have been crushed up. Get creative and include your favorite type of nut if you wish. 

Dried Cranberries: Dried cranberries in broccoli salad add a lovely, sweet pop of flavor to your broccoli salad. It also adds a beautiful bit of color that is pleasing to the eye. If you do not have dried cranberries, you could also include raisins or any other kind of dried fruit to help add that pop of color and sweetness to your broccoli salad. 

Red Onion: Red onions are another common ingredient in most broccoli salads. Red onions provide a lovely pop of color, as well as a little extra spice to the taste of your broccoli salad. If you do not like onions, you can easily leave these out, however, if you do, include red onions they add a nice bit of flavor to your copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipe. 

Sunflower Seeds: Sunflower seeds are another common ingredient that can be found in most classic broccoli salad recipes. The sunflower seeds add a nice bit of salt and crunch to your broccoli salad. The sunflower seeds help to balance out your broccoli salad and make it all-around delicious. My personal preference is to include salted sunflower seeds, however, whichever kind you wish to include works well. 

Cheese: Shredded cheese is delicious in any kind of broccoli salad recipe. My favorite type of cheese to use is freshly grated cheddar cheese, however, you really can include whatever your favorite type of cheese is in this broccoli salad. Some other good types of cheese are feta or even blue cheese. If you are using shredded cheese, I recommend shredding your own cheese so that you can avoid having the extra starches. However, any type of your favorite cheese will be great in broccoli salad. I have also seen broccoli salad with small cubes of cheese are included rather than shredded cheese. The choice of what kind of cheese and what shape is up to your preferences. 

Creamy Dressing: There are multiple ways you can make the dressing for your broccoli salad. Most dressings are going to be a base of mayonnaise (or Greek yogurt), with granulated sugar, and a type of vinegar. Any kind of vinegar from white vinegar, red wine vinegar, to apple cider vinegar can be used when making your broccoli salad. You will want to be aware that the type of vinegar you choose to use will slightly alter the overall taste of your salad, so choose carefully. We are going to share with you our favorite way to make the dressing for broccoli salad, however, feel free to get creative and adjust as you wish.

Here’s what you’ll need to make Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad:

Let’s turn our attention to what you need in order to make this copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipes. There are a few basic kitchen utensils you will need, as well as ingredients to make this recipe. These topics and more will be outlined in the following sections. 

Making a classic broccoli salad:

Making a classic broccoli salad is quite simple. You will need a few basic ingredients that we have detailed above and will give you a shopping list below. There are also kitchen utensils that will help to make the job easier when preparing your own Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipes from scratch. 

Equipment Needed

To make our version of the copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipe, there are only a few kitchen utensils that you will need in order to make this recipe. Please see the below equipment needed from your kitchen:

Measuring cups
Mixing bowl
Spoon
Cutting board
Sharp knife
Colander 

The ingredients needed to make Ruby Tuesday’s Broccoli salad:

Broccoli florets
Bacon bits
Nuts
Dried cranberries
Red onion
Sunflower seeds
Cheese
Mayonnaise
Granulated sugar
Apple cider vinegar 

Broccoli Salad close up

How to Make Homemade Ruby Tuesday’s Broccoli Salad

Now that you have your suggested shopping list for ingredients to make a copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipes, let’s turn our attention to how you actually go about creating this broccoli salad from scratch. See the following for a general overview of how to make the salad. 

Instructions to make Ruby Tuesday’s Broccoli salad:

Prep!

To prepare for making your Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipe, you need to start by preparing your broccoli florets, then gather all your other ingredients to make sure you have everything on hand. To prepare your broccoli florets, cut the florets from the head of broccoli. Place the broccoli florets into a colander, wash them thoroughly in cold water, and allow them to fully dry. 

Create!

While your broccoli is drying, you can begin mixing together your dressing in a mixing bowl, then mix together your salad in a separate mixing bowl. When all your salad ingredients are mixed, add your dressing of mayonnaise, sugar, and apple cider vinegar on top of your salad. Stir until your broccoli salad is totally coated in dressing. Place in the refrigerator and chill. 

Present!

Once your salad has been prepared, and had time to chill together, you can serve it. To serve, dish into individual serving dishes, or place into a large serving bowl. If desired, you can sprinkle an additional bit of shredded cheese and bacon bits on top for an added interest. Then serve and enjoy! 

Broccoli Salad Recipe on the Light Side

Broccoli salad in general is a light side dish. However, if you would like to make it even lighter, you can refrain from adding as much cheese to the mixture. Then use light mayonnaise instead of regular for the dressing to make it even lighter. 

Broccoli Salad Variations:

Blanch the broccoli: If you want to make your broccoli salad with broccoli that has been blanched rather than broccoli that is completely raw, you can definitely do this. To blanch your broccoli, bring approximately 4 quarts of water and 2 teaspoons of salt to a boil. While this is coming to a boil, prepare a bowl with cold water and ice. Place your broccoli florets into the boiling water, and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the broccoli and immediately plunge into the ice-cold water. Allow the broccoli to chill until it is completely cooled, then drain thoroughly.  

Make it gluten-free: Great news! Our copycat recipe for Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad is naturally gluten-free. There is no need to adjust to make anything gluten-free.

Make it vegetarian: You can easily adapt this recipe to make it vegetarian. Simply leave out the bacon, and use a vegetarian substitute for the cheese, or completely leave the cheese out altogether. Otherwise, prepare as instructed. 

Keto Broccoli Salad: A great thing about this copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipe is that it is naturally a keto-friendly broccoli salad. You do not have to adjust anything to make it keto-friendly, however, you can use almonds as your nuts if you wish or substitute the cheese to use blue cheese instead of feta. However, these changes are not required for this recipe to be Keto friendly. 

My Low Carb Version Of Broccoli Salad: Broccoli salad is naturally quite low in carbohydrates it contains. Therefore, nothing has to be done to this recipe to reduce the carb content. 

Use different kinds of nuts/cheese/dried berries: If you wish to mix things up and make your broccoli salad slightly different, a great way to do this is to mix up the kinds of nuts, cheese, and dried berries you include in this salad. Get creative and let your imagination come up with some great alternatives to your typical nuts, cheese, and dried berries to include. 

Broccoli Salad with Bacon: Broccoli salad featuring bacon is a fan favorite. If you love bacon in your broccoli salad, you can choose exactly how much you want to include, and also what type of bacon. You can cook your own bacon and then crumble it up before adding it to your salad if you wish. Or you can purchase your favorite kind of bacon bits that are already cooked and ready to use. 

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad: Adding a bit of cauliflower to your broccoli salad makes a lovely broccoli cauliflower salad. There’s no need to adjust any other ingredients, simply addcauliflower florets to your salad for a delicious twist to your recipe. 

Broccoli Raisin Salad: Although our recipe calls for Craisins, you can also try including raisins in your broccoli salad instead of dried cranberries. Using raisins will still give you that lovely pop of sweetness, however raisins are more common to find. You can use golden raisins, or your typical raisins, the choice is up to you.

Broccoli Salad Dressing: There are many ways you can make the dressing for your broccoli salad. Our favorite way is to use a mayonnaise, sugar, and apple cider vinegar combination. However, you could also use Greek yogurt in place of the mayonnaise, and there are also many types of vinegar to choose from. All these ingredients will make a good dressing; however, the variation of ingredients may slightly change the overall flavor of your salad. Experiment and learn your favorite way to make a broccoli salad dressing. 

Recipe for Ruby Tuesday Broccoli Salad:

Ingredients

8 cups broccoli florets
1 cup bacon bits
1 cup nuts
¾ cup dried cranberries
1 medium red onion, finely diced 
½ cup sunflower seeds
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
½ granulated sugar
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 

Instructions

Step 1

Begin by cutting your broccoli florets, and washing them in cold water, allowing them to fully dry. 

Step 2

Make your dressing by combining mayonnaise, granulated sugar, and apple cider vinegar in a small mixing bowl. Stir to combine then set the dressing aside. 

Step 3

In a large mixing bowl, combine your washed and dried broccoli florets, along with bacon bits, nuts, dried cranberries, chopped red onion, sunflower seeds, and freshly shredded cheddar cheese. Fold ingredients together to combine. Then add your dressing and stir until everything is coated. Place into the fridge and allow to chill for one hour, or until you are ready to serve. 

Step 4

Remove from the fridge, add a few additional toppings of shredded cheese, sunflower seeds, and bacon bits, then serve and enjoy! 

Nutrition Information:

Our nutritional facts for this recipe are based upon the specific ingredients outlined above. Please note that we have estimated the above recipe contains approximately 10 servings. We have based our nutritional facts upon the assumption that one serving is equal to 1/10 of the above recipe. Please also note that if any of the above ingredients are changed, the following nutritional facts will also change. 

Nutrition Facts

We have estimated that one serving contains approximately 381 calories. We have also estimated that one serving contains 22.5 g total fat, 26 mg cholesterol, 706 mg sodium, 36.3 g total carbohydrates, and 12.8 g protein. 

Tips and Techniques

There are a few different tips and techniques that can help you make a better broccoli salad. Below are a few of the tips we would like to outline for you when making our copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad recipe. 

More Make-Ahead Salad Recipes:

Tips For Making Copycat Ruby Tuesday Broccoli Salad

Chilling Is Essential For The Flavor. When you prepare your broccoli salad, it is very important that you prepare your broccoli salad in advance so that it has time to chill before serving. Although this step may seem like it is not essential, chilling your salad together is actually very important. When you chill your prepared salad it allows the dressing to absorb into your salad, making your overall flavors enhanced, and ultimately much tastier.

You can add the broccoli to the salad raw, blanched or fully cooked. How do you add the broccoli to your broccoli salad is completely up to your choosing. My preference is to use broccoli that is completely raw when added to the broccoli salad. However, there is no right or wrong way to prepare the broccoli. If you wish it can be blanched, or even fully cooked if you would rather. 

For best results, shred cheese from a block. Although not required, we have noticed a better overall flavor of your cheddar cheese when using freshly shredded cheese from a block. This allows your salad to not contain as much starch as cheese that comes pre-shredded from the store. Instead using freshly shredded cheese from a block gives you a fresh taste of your cheese. You can also cube the cheese from the block instead of shredding it if you wish. The key is simply to use cheese from a block so that it tastes fresher.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Any leftovers of broccoli salad that you have should be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator. If your broccoli salad has been left at room temperature for more than two hours, it should be thrown out. Otherwise, your broccoli salad can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. With broccoli salad, it is important to keep an eye on the smell of the dressing. The mayonnaise dressing is most likely the first aspect of your salad to go bad. Be sure to look it over and give it a good smell test before eating leftovers. 

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FAQ’s

How Long Ahead Of Time Can Broccoli Salad Be Made?

If the dressing has not been combined with your salad, broccoli salad can be made up to four days in advance. However, if you’re dressing has been added to your salad, your salad will most likely only last 2 to 3 days when stored in the refrigerator. 

How Long Can Broccoli Salad Sit Out?

Broccoli salad may not sit at room temperature any longer than two hours. If the temperature is warm, the time maybe even less. If in doubt, throw it out. 

Can You Freeze Broccoli Salad?

Although you can freeze broccoli salad, we do not recommend freezing broccoli salad. Mayonnaise does not do well when it has been frozen, when it re-thaws it goes through a separation process and is never the same again. Therefore, if your broccoli salad has dressing on it, it should not be frozen. Instead, enjoy your broccoli salad within two to three days after it has been prepared. 

Do you have to cook the broccoli for broccoli salad?

No, you do not have to cook broccoli for broccoli salad. Some people enjoy blanching their broccoli, or even fully cooking it, however, it is not required when making broccoli salad. In fact, my favorite way is to use raw broccoli when making broccoli salad.

How do you store broccoli salad?

The best way to store broccoli salad is to place it in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator. Broccoli salad can be kept in the air-tight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days after it has been fully prepared. 

Is broccoli low-carb?

Yes, broccoli is a fairly low-carb food. On average, 1 cup of broccoli florets contains approximately 6 g of total carbohydrates.  These carbohydrates make up approximately 2% of your daily value.

What other low-carb veggies can I add to this salad?

Some other good low-carb vegetables that you can add to broccoli salad include cauliflower florets, and even fruits such as apples, and grapes. 

Broccoli Salad

Why This Recipe Works

This recipe for copycat Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad works well because it is packed full of delicious goodies. Not only is this broccoli salad full of different colors that are pleasing to the eye, but it is also a balance of taste that will satisfy your taste buds. Broccoli salad is a combination of sweet and savory ingredients that are full of nutrients for you. The dressing on this broccoli salad brings it all together into one amazing salad recipe. 

Ruby Tuesday’s Broccoli Salad Copycat Recipe

Our Ruby Tuesday broccoli salad copycat recipe is easy to make and tastes amazing. This recipe can be prepared in advance and can easily feed a crowd. This recipe is also perfect for any occasion no matter if it’s for a summer picnic or holiday gathering. Or perhaps you are just simply looking for a healthy side dish. No matter what, this recipe has got you covered. 

Ruby Tuesday’s Broccoli Salad

Our copycat recipe for Ruby Tuesday’s broccoli salad is packed full of amazing goodies. This broccoli salad is easy to make and tastes great. They take our word for it though, give this recipe a try for yourself and let us know what you think about it! 

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Faith
Faith Has been cooking and baking for many years! she loves to share her recipes with the world, and hopes you will enjoy them too!

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