Recipe: Joan’s Broccoli Madness

Joan’s Broccoli Madness was one of the most popular pre-made items on the Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes salad bar.

The restaurant’s website said Joan was the company’s former marketing guru. She often brought the dish to holiday potluck parties, and after friends and family started begging for it she worked with company chefs to add it to the menu.

The broccoli salad was so popular, they even sold a Joan’s Broccoli Madness salad kit at Costco!

This is not an official recipe, but several copycats have been created over the years. They all include the same simple ingredients: broccoli, cashews, raisins, and red onions, all tossed together with a creamy and tangy mayo dressing.

Joan’s Broccoli Madness is super easy to assemble and is the perfect dish to accompany any meal.

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise (208g)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 c white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 pounds broccoli florets
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1/4 cup bacon bits (approx 4-5 slices)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup diced red onion

Directions

• In a bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and vegetable oil until well combined and sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
• Cook bacon, let cool, and cut into 1/4″ bits.
• Cut broccoli florets into preferred size.
• In a large bowl, combine broccoli florets, cashews, raisins, red onions, and dressing/mayo mixture. Mix thoroughly.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve. Flavor will be even better if the salad is refrigerates overnight.

Recipe makes approx 3 quarts.

Official Ingredient List

This ingredient list was captured from the official Sweet Tomatoes website. It may aid in your own recipe creation.

Broccoli, Mayonnaise (Soybean oil, water, pasteruized egg yolks, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, contains less than 2% of salt, spice, lemon juice concentrate, calcium disodium EDTA added to protect flavor), Sugar, Raisins (Raisins, sunflower oil), Cashews (Cashews, canola oil, extra fine sea salt), Apple Cider Vinegar (Apple cider vinegar [diluted with water to 4% acidity]), Bacon Bits (Bacon Cured With: Water, Salt, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite. May Also Contain: Sugar, Brown Sugar, and Natural Smoke Flavor), Red Onion, Xanthan gum.