When most of us think of slaw, a creamy cabbage-based dish served at summer barbecues comes to mind. This apple broccoli slaw couldn’t be further from that — it’s a cozy, vinaigrette-based slaw with sweet notes of cranberry and maple and a tangy dijon mustard vinaigrette. I love serving it in fall and winter months. You’ll love how this dish is:

Fresh, crunchy, and nutty
The perfect balance of sweet and tangy
A dump-and-toss salad with minimal prep

Slaw Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make the dish:

Broccoli slaw: Most grocery stores sell pre-bagged broccoli slaw, made from the stems of broccoli. If you can’t find it, you can buy whole-head broccoli and use a julienne peeler or mandolin to shred it yourself.

Apples: Use whatever kind you like! My favorite is honeycrisp — you just can’t beat the sweetness and crunch — but even something more sour like granny smith would work well in this recipe.

Dried cranberries: You can find these with or without added sugar. I prefer the unsweetened variety, as it keeps the sugar in this recipe in check. But regular sweetened cranberries work perfectly well, too.

Walnuts: These add even MORE crunch to the salad and a delightful nutty flavor. Apples and walnuts are a match made in heaven.

Extra virgin olive oil: This forms the base of the vinaigrette dressing. Rather than a dense, mayo-based dressing that’s common in many slaws, this recipe calls for a light and tangy vinaigrette, which I think goes so much better with the sweet apples and crunchy, fresh veg.

Apple cider vinegar: You can, of course, substitute whatever vinegar you have on hand. But I like reinforcing the apple flavor by using apple cider vinegar.

Maple syrup: A little goes a long way to bring this dressing into “honey mustard” territory — slightly sweet and tangy.

Dijon mustard: The defining flavor of the dressing, adding complexity and tang to the whole slaw.

How to Make This Apple Broccoli Slaw

This is truly a dump-and-toss kind of salad.

First, mix up the dressing. This can be done up to three days in advance. I like a nice big bowl when I’m whisking together a vinaigrette — the extra room in the bowl allows for more aggressive whisking, and thus, better emulsification.

Dice the apples. Do this right before serving the salad, otherwise the apples will turn brown. This is the only chopping you’ll need to do!

Toss everything together and serve!

Recipe Variations and Ingredient Substitutions

This recipe is very flexible, and I often find myself switching up the ingredients.

Recipe variation: Substitute pitted chopped dates instead of dried cranberries, and use pistachios instead of walnuts. This Mediterranean flavor combination works so well.

Add cauliflower: To up the veggie content in the slaw, you can add 1/2 cup small-chopped raw cauliflower florets. It adds extra cruciferous veggie flavor and crunch.

Swap jicama in for the apple: My husband is allergic to apples, so I often make this recipe with julienned or diced jicama. It’s slightly less sweet, but still delightfully crunchy and fresh.

Nut free: To make this nut free, use sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts.

Serving Suggestions

I love serving this apple broccoli slaw with protein-heavy mains like my vegan meatloaf or “marry me” chicken. The fresh acidity helps offset the richness of hearty dishes like pierogies.

As is the case with almost all the salads I make, I like to advocate for making them stand-alone meals by adding a protein such as vegan chicken, roasted tofu, or chickpeas. The latter would be especially delicious in this recipe.