Asian sesame broccoli salad made with crisp broccoli & a tangy garlic sesame oil dressing. A healthy Asian broccoli salad that’s vegan, low carb, keto, and paleo! Delicious as a Korean broccoli side dish!
This Asian sesame broccoli salad is crunchy, zesty, garlicky, and full of sesame flavor! It’s made with a simple dressing of toasted garlic, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Add in some red pepper flakes for a spicy kick!
This is also great as a Korean broccoli side dish (banchan). I always look forward to getting this sesame broccoli side dish when I go to Korean restaurants and usually end up asking for seconds.
Why You’ll Love This Asian Sesame Broccoli Salad
- Everyone can enjoy this!
- vegan
- paleo
- low carb & keto friendly
- can be adapted to be gluten free.
- Can be made ahead the day before and tastes even better
- Full of fiber and vitamins
Serve as a Korean Broccoli Side Dish
I love making a big batch of this to have as a Korean broccoli side dish and saving it for the rest of the week. It tastes even better the following day because the broccoli has had time to absorb more of the flavors. Make this delicious side dish to go along with any Asian meals.
How to Make Asian Sesame Broccoli Salad
First, blanch the broccoli florets. Blanching is the process of quickly cooking something in boiling water and then quickly cooling it down with an ice water bath or cold running water. Blanching does several things: it preserves the vitamins in the broccoli, brightens the color, removes the edge from raw broccoli, and makes it slightly tender while still keeping the crunchy texture.
You can see below in the photos the broccoli is a much brighter green color after blanching:
Next you want to dress the broccoli in the garlic sesame dressing. The garlic is slightly cooked in oil before adding in the rest of the dressing ingredients. The reason for this is to remove some of the sharp taste of the raw garlic and infuse the oil with garlic flavor.
You can serve this immediately but I recommend letting this sit for about an hour for even better flavor. You can also serve this Asian sesame broccoli salad chilled by letting it sit in the fridge or serve it at room temperature.
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Asian Sesame Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lbs broccoli florets
Dressing Ingredients
- 2⅓ Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce substitute with tamari for gluten free
- 1 teaspoon toasted white sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon toasted black sesame seeds
- ⅓ teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes optional for spice
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Blanch the broccoli: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add in a generous pinch of salt after the water boils. Boil the broccoli florets for 1 minute and then place the broccoli into a bowl of ice water or run it under cold running water to stop the cooking process. This helps brighten the color and retain the crunchiness of the broccoli while removing some of the raw taste. Drain the broccoli from the ice bath and set it aside.
- Make the dressing: In a small pot, heat the minced garlic and olive oil until the garlic starts to sizzle and becomes fragrant. Remove it from the heat and add in the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, black and white sesame seeds, and chili pepper flakes.
- Mix the broccoli with the dressing and season it with salt and pepper. The longer the broccoli sits in the dressing, the more flavor it will absorb. This tastes the best after about an hour. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
This broccoli sounds so good. I want to eat it as a midday snack. Is that weird?
This is such a vibrant, flavorful side dish. The Asian flavors really make this one unique — I think it would be great with a rotisserie chicken for an easy dinner.
So simple yet so tasty!! I have to make this soon!
I love a broccoli salad and this Asain sesame version looks soooo delicious!! Can’t wait to try the recipe 🙂
What a great side dish. So versatile and can go with so many dishes.