This roasted broccoli salad is everything! Bright lemon, crispy bacon, rich feta cheese—it’s all wrapped around a big bowl of grilled broccoli. It’s a real hero’s meal!

Here’s what I want you to know about the grilled broccoli salad:

This is my favorite way to eat broccoli in my life.

My friend Liz introduced me to this salad, which was introduced to her by another friend, Amanda. Isn’t this the best recipe ever? From one food lover to another, to another, and now here, on your screen, ready for you to gobble up in 5 seconds.

The ingredients here are humble, but together, they add up to a flavor:

• The onion
• Bacon
• feta
• lemon
• broccoli
• yeast

Add some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and you’re ready for the beautiful journey of roasted broccoli.

The salad has everything you could want

The flavor of the dish was just what I wanted at every meal: rich and crunchy, with the slightly bitter and bright zest of lemon and the saltiness of crispy bacon, all wrapped around a large bowl of roasted broccoli, a true hero in its own right.

What I love about this meal:

• It’s delicious. Good food, good mood. Cancel immediately.
• More actual hands-on preparation is needed. Everything is done on the pan, so you have plenty of time to avoid spending in the kitchen.
• It’s super customizable. For example, if you want to make it bigger, add some grilled chicken or roasted vegetables.
• As a leftover, it kept well. Bread is tricky and gets wet, so put those croutons in a separate container and keep them dry. But this salad can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature. I know you’ll question it, but I even ate these leftovers for breakfast. Rode the emergency train to the last stop.

I don’t want to make you jealous, but I have a plate of broccoli, bacon, and shallots in my oven as I write this.

My house smells good; I’ll eat this soon; it’s a good day.

Grilled Broccoli salad: Frequently asked questions

I’m all out of bacon! What can I replace?

The pancetta must be delicious! Cut it into small cubes – or many grocery stores sell cubed bacon (SOS wins!). Then fry it in the pan for a few minutes and sprinkle it on the salad.

How long can you keep leftovers?

If you can store the broccoli and other ingredients separately from the sourdough croutons, this will keep for 3-5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If croutons are mixed with sauce and other ingredients, they may break down faster and become soggy the next day. I ate it as a little soggy leftover, but it was still delicious. 🙂

This looks great! Is this dinner?

This salad is so filling! It has bread, bacon, cheese, and grilled broccoli (not to mention a nice layer of olive oil), but if you want to pair it with something else, these chicken meatballs or a quick store-bought roast chicken will be great.

Can I use frozen broccoli?

Absolutely! The main thing to note is that frozen broccoli takes longer to cook in the oven. To avoid overcooking other ingredients, remove the shallots from the pan after 20-30 minutes, cook the broccoli first, and then add the shallots to the pan 10-15 minutes later.