Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
NY Times Famous Broccoli Salad – with Sesame, Cumin & Garlic Recipe
This can be a well-known Broccoli Salad from the New York Occasions. Seeing all of the superb critiques, I attempted it as soon as, had a nibble, and wasn’t satisfied. However then I saved nibbling and couldn’t cease. I’m now satisfied. (And I’ve made it numerous occasions since!)
Welcome to Day 2 of the RecipeTin Eats 30 Day Vacation Salad Marathon, a day the place I’m bringing you one thing easy but intriguing and little bit completely different!
It’s a wildly standard uncooked Broccoli Salad by Melissa Clark of New York Occasions Cooking. Crimson wine vinegar frivolously “cooks” the uncooked broccoli, then it’s marinated in an intensely flavoured mixture of cumin, garlic, sesame and olive oil.
It’s so unexpectedly tasty, distinctive, and I maintain making it time and again so I wished to share the recipe with you!
Not a fan of uncooked broccoli? This will not be the dish to fairly convert you. Do that one as an alternative, the place the creamy dressing actually rounds out the crunchiness like a coleslaw. In any other case, frivolously steam the broccoli as an alternative – it’s value making only for the dressing!
Right here’s what you want for this broccoli salad. A part of the attraction and is how few substances are referred to as for to make such an fascinating salad, although I do forewarn you that there’s marinating time concerned.
Common readers will probably be unsurprised to listen to that I tweaked the ingredient portions a bit… right here’s what I modified from the supply recipe (and why):
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(Far) much less oil – I decreased the unique 3/4 cup (185 ml) olive oil which to me – and lots of a whole lot of commenters on the recipe – is an obscenely extreme quantity of oil. We don’t want our broccoli swimming in oil! I’ve lower it all the way down to 1/3 cup which remains to be on the beneficiant aspect by my regular requirements, however the correct quantity to deliver the required richness and mouthfeel. You’ll be able to go as little as 1/4 cup nevertheless;
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Much less salt – Equally, I decreased from 1 tsp to three/4 tsp as a result of it was a tad salty for my style. You could possibly cut back even additional to 1/2 tsp. (NB. Ensure you use kosher/cooking salt, not desk salt which is way finer. In case you use desk salt you would wish to cut back to simply below 1/2 tsp); and
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Doubled crimson wine vinegar from 1 1/2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon. 1 1/2 teaspoons is such a small quantity it did nothing from what I might inform. I elevated it to chop by way of the richness of the oil and in addition to “prepare dinner” the broccoli a bit higher.
The making half is simple however a bit distinctive, calling for a light-weight “pickling” of the broccoli earlier than marinating in a closely flavoured garlic-cumin-sesame olive oil dressing:
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Gentle pickle – Toss the broccoli salad within the crimson wine vinegar and put aside for 10 minutes. It has the impact of barely softening the floor, form of like Ceviche. However extra importantly, we get vinegar tang into the broccoli earlier than dousing with the garlicky olive oil;
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Infuse oil – Infuse the olive oil with garlic, cumin and sesame flavours, by frying till golden brown. This actually takes 30 seconds;
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Toss – Pour over the broccoli and toss effectively. Love these crispy golden garlic bits!
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Marinate – Combine and depart for not less than 1 hour or as much as 2 days, to “marinate”. That is when the flavour magic occurs and the garlic/cumin/sesame flavours penetrates the broccoli. It’s a kind of uncommon salads that will get higher with time!
Cooked broccoli possibility – For these of you cautious of or dead-set hostile to uncooked broccoli, simply steam the florets frivolously earlier than continuing with the recipe. Please don’t boil, it’ll make the florets watery and dilute the flavour!
I first made this recipe out of sheer curiosity, questioning why folks rated it so extremely. With the primary chunk freshly made, with out letting it sit and soak within the marinade, I wasn’t satisfied in any respect.
Submit-marinating for 1 hour, I had my second chunk, and thought it was advantageous however I nonetheless didn’t perceive the rave critiques.
Then I simply saved selecting at it, consuming increasingly more, and…….wait! I realised I actually couldn’t cease consuming it. It’s bizarrely addictive. I nonetheless don’t fairly rave about it to mates as a result of it’s not everybody’s factor. However I am quietly hooked on it, and also you would possibly simply grow to be so too.
So I wish to share it, quietly, with you, my web mates. 😇
Like to know what you suppose when you attempt it! – Johnsat x
PS. Bear in mind, uncooked broccoli haters, steam your broccoli first. This isn’t the recipe to attempt to convert you right into a uncooked broccoli lover! Use this Creamy Uncooked Broccoli Salad with Bacon as an alternative. You’ll like that one, I promise!
What’s the Vacation Salad Marathon?
That is my inaugural Christmas recipe countdown the place I’m sharing 30 salad recipes in a row till Christmas Eve – one thing utterly completely different to folks’s regular baking countdowns!
These salads are along with my common 3 new recipes every week. As a result of aren’t you bored of the same old tomato-cucumber-lettuce backyard salad routine??
Click on right here to see all of the Vacation Salad Marathon recipes up to now, or join prompt updates and also you’ll obtain a free e mail alert each time I publish a brand new salad! 🙂
Captioning typo alert! The liquid I pour over the broccoli at 10 seconds is the crimson wine vinegar, not sesame oil! 🙂
Ingredients
- 500g/1lb broccoli florets , large florets halved or cut into thirds (3 medium or 2 large broccoli heads, 1kg/2lb in total)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, cider vinegar)
- 3/4 tsp salt, cooking/kosher (if table salt: 1/2 tsp)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves , finely minced using knife (not crusher)
- 2 tsp cumin seeds (whole, not powder)
- 2 tsp sesame oil , roasted (Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes / chilli fakes (optional)
Instructions
- "Cook" raw broccoli: Toss broccoli in red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Set aside 10 minutes – it will lightly pickle, almost "ceviche" the broccoli.
- Garlic, spice and oil mix: Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, cumin seeds and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until garlic is light golden. Stir in sesame oil.
- Toss broccoli: Immediately pour oil mix over broccoli. Toss very well using a rubber spatula to scrape up all the oil from the side of the bowl.
- Marinate: Leave on the counter for at least 1 hour to marinate, or refrigerate for up to 48 hrs (it gets better with time).
- Serve at room temp, not cold, for best flavour!
Notes
1. Sesame oil – Toasted sesame oil is brown and has more flavour than un-toasted (which is yellow). The common sesame oil sold in Australia is toasted, un-toasted is harder to find.
2. Recipe source – Melissa Clark’s Broccoli Salad with Garlic and Sesame recipe for the New York Times. Except I more than halved the oil from 3/4 cup to 1/3 cup which is still plenty. 3/4 cup seems excessive – I don’t want my broccoli swimming in oil!
I also increased the red wine vinegar from 1 1/2 tsp to 1 tbsp because I think it cuts through the oil and “cooks” the raw broccoli better. I also reduced the salt from 1 tsp to 3/4 tsp (was a tad salty for my taste).
3. Storage – 3 days in the fridge, but be sure to serve at room temperature. If it’s an emergency, microwave briefly to take off the fridge-cold edge.
4. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.
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