Broccoli Salad with Peanut Dressing

April has not been good for blogging. The Day Job will eventually destroy me, and this month was a clear reminder of that. I will spare you the boring details.

You know what’s not boring, though? Spicy peanut dressing! Pour it over some blanched broccoli and edamame enhanced with green onion and topped with peanuts and you have a rather satisfying lunch.

I adapted this recipe from one I found on Pinterest. I wasn’t sure I needed to blanche the broccoli, but, since each bite of this salad is mainly broccoli, it certainly does make it easier to eat. Blanched broccoli also has a texture more compatible with the slightly chewy edamame. You could add other vegetables to this salad, too, such as bell peppers, sugar snap peas, or green beans, and if you want it all very crunchy, you could probably forgo blanching.

I really love the peanut dressing for this salad, which is thick and savory and sweetened with a bit of honey. I roughly doubled the volume of dressing from the original recipe, and added some Sriracha for heat. I kept the spice moderate, but you could certainly adjust to your personal taste. (But, really, spicy is better, right?)

We (two of us) ate this whole batch of salad for lunch, but if you want to serve it as a side dish, you could get more like four servings out of it. You could also probably double the recipe, though you may want to blanche the broccoli in two batches if you do. And doubling this recipe might just be a good idea, so you can either keep eating it or save some leftovers for later. Actually, I don’t know if this salad keeps well or not. We devoured consumed it all immediately. I guess I’ll have to make some more to find out. Perhaps a double batch.

Broccoli and Edamame Salad with Peanut Dressing

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

You can replace the honey in the dressing with agave nectar or maple syrup to make it vegan.

4 cups small broccoli florets

1 cup frozen edamame

½ cup thinly sliced green onions

¼ cup smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons roasted peanut oil (or sesame oil)

2 teaspoons Sriracha (or other hot sauce), or to taste

½ cup chopped roasted peanuts

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

2. When the water is boiling, add the broccoli. Boil for 2 minutes. Add the edamame. Cook for about 30-45 seconds more. Remove the blanched broccoli and edamame from the boiling water with a skimmer or slotted spoon. Plunge into the ice water to stop cooking. Allow to stand in the ice water until cooled. Drain very well.

3. To make the dressing, combined the peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, peanut oil, and Sriracha in a small bowl. Whisk until very smooth. Pour the dressing over the drained broccoli and edamame and toss to coat well. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.

Makes about 4 side dish servings or 2 big main dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Peanutty Noodles, Broccoli with Sweet and Spicy Almond Sauce, Sweet and Tart Broccoli Salad, Broccoli and Chickpea Salad with Mustard Pepper Dressing