Whether it’s for a backyard barbecue or a church potluck, it’s hard to go wrong with a broccoli salad. We’ve made quite a few different versions over the years, but the recipe we have for you today just might be our new favorite. There are few things that don’t taste good with a creamy peanut sauce and it turns out broccoli is no exception. This Broccoli Peanut Salad is inspired by our favorite Asian flavors and is sure to be a hit with all who try it (dare I say, even the veggie haters!).

The peanut sauce really is the star of the show here, so we had to go with homemade. It comes together with just a handful of ingredients: peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and sesame oil. The consistency the sauce will vary a bit depending on the type of peanut butter you choose to use. If your sauce is too thick to pour then add one teaspoon or so of hot water at a time until the sauce is thin enough to pour. Sneak a taste at this point and add a little salt or sriracha if you want to kick things up a notch.

We wanted to maintain a good amount of crunch for this salad, so we’ve opted to blanch the broccoli. If you aren’t familiar with blanching it’s quite simple. You’ll want to bring a pot of water to a rolling bowl and then add the broccoli for about 30 seconds. At that point, you’ll transfer the broccoli to a prepared ice bath to immediately stop the cooking process. This technique eliminates a bit of the starchiness and makes the broccoli easy to chow down on, all without losing out on flavor. Toss the blanched broccoli together with the rest of your ingredients and sauce, then dig in!