We are having a party this weekend and I want to make broccoli salad. My MIL makes an awesome broccoli salad. But she uses over a cup of mayo for 2 heads of broccoli. Although its delicious, I hate the thought of that much mayo. Im not a big fan of mayo, the concept makes me want to gag a little. It also calls for parm cheese, bacon, and a few other things I forgot, I will have to ask her. I think she put some sugar in it too. Now, my question, do you think I could substitute the mayo for light ranch? Im in love with Wishbone light ranch. Do you think it would be good? I dont know if Ill have time this week to practice it, plus we probably wont eat it and I dont want to waste food. What do you think? Or if you have a great recipe thats healithier than using mayo that would be great too! I am going to use this as our green dish instead of regular salad and I want the kids to like it! Thanks!
Lol. I know its not going to be super healthy no matter what, but mayo kinda grosses me out a little! I dont like to look at it. :)
The yogurt thing sounds like a good idea! Thanks ladies, maybe I will practice with your ideas.
Ok, so I made it.
Wishbone light ranch
broccoli
califlower
shredded cheddar cheese
Parm cheese
A MAZ ZING!! LOVE IT!!!
In my opinion ranch dressing will have too many added flavorings/spices and will change the taste of the salad.
I am a HUGE mayo fan (NOT Miracle Whip - MAYONNAISE!!) so I wouldn't change a thing...
Sometimes mayo makes the salad.
We made a macaroni salad with regular mayo and it was wonderful!
A few weeks later we made it again but this time we used low fat mayo.
Um - it tasted like wall paper paste.
Everything else about the recipe was the exact same as we did before.
It's a party and everyone will have a little serving of the salad, so I wouldn't sweat worrying about the fat content of one salad.
Use greek yogurt!! I use greek yogurt (with no fat, otherwise it won't work as well.) every time I need mayo, or sour cream. You can't tell the difference, and it's SO healthy. If you want the ranch taste, you can add ranch spices into the yogurt. Just google dry ranch dressing recipes. Seriously, greek yogurt is amazing!
Wait until you see how much sugar goes into it... you might decide to make something else! I make mine with mayo, sugar, broccoli, cheddar and bacon.
Personally, I wouldn't sub-out the mayo. Ranch has a lot of seasoning in it that will alter the taste. You may be able to reduce the the mayo and add it in slowly to get close to the texture, but in all honesty it probably won't be as tasty!
Why not just use reduced-fat Mayo?
And really, a cup of mayo for 2 heads of broccoli isn't that much....
Here's a recipe with broccoli, cauliflower, bacon & ranch:
BROCCOLI - CAULIFLOWER SALAD
1 head of cauliflower
1 head of broccoli
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can green peas, drained
1 c. cheddar cheese
1 1/2 to 2 c. Ranch dressing
1/2 to 1 c. sour cream
Bacon bits
Cut broccoli and cauliflower into bite-size pieces. Add slices of water chestnuts, 1 can drained green peas. Mix with Ranch dressing and sour cream. Top with cheese and bacon bits. Refrigerate. Better if refrigerated overnight.
The one I make has sour cream and mayo.
It also has bacon, green onion, cauliflower, green peas.
Typically with recipes, I just adjust them to our tastes. Let me know if you want the details on the recipe.
I make a broccoli salad that is broccoli, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon (I fry up bacon and tear it into bits, it tastes better then bacon bits or anything like that) and ranch dressing. It is really good! I worked at a deli in a grocery store in college and that is the one recipe I remember. I made it for a family function with my in laws and they all loved it and request it often!
I just made this for lunch yum. I might use a little yogurt in place if some of the Mayo but no ranch. You're putting Bacon and cheese in the salad I mean it's not gonna be super healthy.
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/quick-bacon-broccoli-...
This is my favorite salad. It sounds a lot like what you were planning on making. It calls for cole slaw dressing but I've used light ranch and thrown a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in there for some kick. Maybe you could do the same thing with yours. Ranch with some vinegar for the "mayo" kick? Make a small bit a few days before and try it! :)
I use olive oil-based mayo. It has fewer calories and I enjoy the flavor. I would think if you could cut the mayo to 2/3 of a cup, that would be a significant improvement. Although, I bet ranch would be tasty as well!
I have a recipe and it calls for broccoli, golden raisins, raw sunflower seeds, diced red onion, and bacon pieces. The dressing is a basic "slaw" recipe with mayo (Miracle Whip Light works just as well), sugar, and vinegar. I keep the dressing but increase the amount of broccoli I put in to thin out the dressing/salad ratio. To save myself some time, I buy the Hormel REal bacon recipe pieces in the pouch from the salad aisle.
I had this recently at a party and they put in craisins and cashews in place of the raisins and sunflower seeds--very tasty!
Yes! You can sub with ranch! It would even taste sooo much better! Yum!
There is also an olive oil based mayo that, in my opinion, tastes the same. I, too love ranch, so you may try half and half of mayo/ranch...make a small batch for yourself first to see if you like it. I would also substitute turkey bacon, but that's probably just me. Once bacon is in a salad, I think it's hard to tell if it's the 'real' thing or not.
You can also type in all the ingredients that you want to use/omit into allrecipes.com for a substitute recipe instead of making it up as you go along.
