Ready within 30 minutes, this crunchy and creamy vegan broccoli slaw salad is an ideal spring or summer side that’s naturally dairy-free and made without mayo. For all the pickle fiends! It comes together with simple ingredients, like broccoli, cabbage, sweet onion, dill pickles, lemon juice, and raw cashews as the savory dressing base. No cooking is needed here and step by step photos show you how to make “slaw” out of a bunch of broccoli. I also share how to sub broccoli slaw in a bag if you’re pressed for time. Filled with fresh flavours similar to this dill pickle salad, tons of vegetables, tangy pickles, and an ultra lush ranch-inspired dressing, this easy slaw will be a hit at your next BBQ!
I can’t stop with the dill pickle recipes! They are always a huge hit in my kitchen, and hopefully they are in yours too. This slaw came to me when I was thinking of a warm weather remix of my broccoli dill pickle soup. This slaw recipe is so crunchy and absolutely chock full of savory, salty, and tangy pickle flavor.
Bags of broccoli slaw at the grocery store typically have julienned broccoli stems, cabbage, and carrots. You can substitute this pre-cut option if you’re pressed on time! Just add about 1 cup of thinly sliced sweet onion to that mix. I personally make my own “slaw” out of a bunch of broccoli. First, I separate the floret portion from the stem. Then, I use a peeler to remove the tough outer layer of the stem. From here, I julienne the stem portion and break off/cut small florets.
Perfect pairings for this broccoli slaw:
The base of my broccoli slaw dressing is raw cashews for a rich and creamy final product, similar to my vegan dill pickle dip! My favorite substitutes for cashews are sliced and skinned almonds or raw sunflower seeds. The cashews are blended up with chopped pickles, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, garlic, vegan worcestershire sauce, and a few more things. The resulting healthy dressing is punchy, robust, zippy, and seriously velvety. You’ll want to drizzle it over everything.
Hope you love this one as much as I do! Truly the only thing that could make it better is some crushed up dill pickle chips on top, but I think that might be a bridge too far for some folks haha.
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Crunchy & Creamy Dill Pickle Broccoli Slaw
Dill pickle broccoli slaw is naturally vegan and mayo-free, ready in 30 minutes, and punched up with tangy and savory pickle flavour.
Servings 4 -6
Ingredients
Dressing
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
- ½ cup chopped dill pickles
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Slaw
- 1 bunch broccoli
- 4 cups shredded cabbage (from ½ small head)
- 1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion (from ½ medium-sized sweet onion)
- ½ cup chopped dill pickles
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill
Notes
- My favorite substitutes for raw cashews are sliced and skinned almonds or raw sunflower seeds.
- I used fermented pickles in salt brine (as opposed to vinegar brined pickles). Pickles in a vinegar-based brine may be more acidic and saltier, depending on the brand.
- You could skip some of the vegetable shredding/dicing prep entirely by subbing bags of broccoli slaw from the grocery store. It won’t be exactly the same, but still tasty. These bags typically have a mix of julienned broccoli stems, carrots and cabbage. For the volume of dressing here, you’ll need about 8 cups of bagged broccoli slaw total. Just add 1 cup of thinly sliced sweet onion to the mix.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce does contain gluten. For a GF version, substitute Tamari soy sauce.
Instructions
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Make the dressing. Drain and rinse the cashews. In an upright blender, combine the cashews, chopped pickles, water, avocado oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, agave nectar, garlic clove, garlic powder, onion powder, dried dill. salt, and pepper. Blend on high until completely smooth. Set aside.
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Turn the broccoli into slaw. Cut the stem part off of the broccoli. Peel the tough exterior of the stems with a peeler. Then, cut the stems into 2-inch matchsticks. Cut the floret portion of the broccoli stalk into small florets.
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In a large bowl, combine the cut broccoli, shredded cabbage, sliced sweet onion, chopped dill pickles, and fresh dill. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine and serve! I like to garnish mine with more chopped fresh dill, extra black pepper, and extra diced pickles.
