Grilled Corn Broccoli Salad
on Jul 27, 2020, Updated May 28, 2024
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This grilled corn broccoli salad celebrates corn season because there is so much more than just eating corn on the cob. After grilling both corn and broccoli, you slice the kernels off the cobs and combine the vegetables with sliced scallions, pecorino cheese and fresh herbs. The salad is dressed in white balsamic vinaigrette. Since it doesn’t have lettuce, you can think of it as a side dish and a salad.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Salad
The salad has wonderful smoky flavors with crisp bites of grilled corn and broccoli. Even though this salad has cooked ingredients, grilling the veggies is about adding flavor and making the corn and broccoli more tender while keeping their crunch.
It’s both a side dish and salad in a single recipe. More than any other season, with grilled summer ingredients you don’t need lettuce for a great salad. Salads that don’t have lettuce last longer and aren’t at risk of wilting.
You can enjoy salad leftovers. Again, because this salad doesn’t have leafy greens, it holds on to most of its good texture and bite even after you store it in the fridge for a couple days.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Corn: Look for ears of corn that are tightly wrapped in their husks, so they aren’t dried out. Also, the silk threads at the top should be damp.
- Broccoli: The recipe calls for 3/4 pound of medium to large broccoli florets. I get bunches of broccoli and cut them myself. You can buy precut broccoli. Just avoid packages with florets that are small and would fall through the grates of the grill unless you are planning to use a grill basket.
- Scallions add nice mild green onion flavor. You can substitute with finely chopped red onions.
- Pecorino is a hard Italian sheep’s milk cheese. I like it when I want something similar to Parmesan, but that’s a little saltier and more pungent. You can use one or the other. To make the salad vegan, leave out the cheese or use a plant-based, dairy free parmesan.
- Parsley: I finish the salad with chopped fresh parsley.
- Olive oil: Use extra virgin olive oil for the best flavor. You will need it to toss the veggies in before grilling and for the vinaigrette.
- White balsamic vinaigrette: The dressing has minced garlic, whole grain mustard, salt, pepper, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I like the lightness of white balsamic, but you can use regular balsamic vinegar instead.
How To This Grilled Corn Broccoli Salad
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on medium high heat.
1. Toss the corn and broccoli with olive oil. I like to do this on a sheet pan because then I can can carry it out to the grill this way.
2. Grill the corn. You want the kernels to be lightly charred. Give it 5-7 minutes, turning it periodically as it grills.
3. Grill the broccoli. It will only take about 2 minutes per side for it to get a little charred at the edges.
4. Cut the corn off the cobs. Use a sharp knife to do this. Give the corn a few minutes to cool off first.
5. Make the vinaigrette. Whisk together the garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil in a small bowl.
6. Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl including the corn, broccoli, scallions, pecorino and parsley. Drizzle in the dressing and toss to combine.
Serving
If you already have the grill fired up for chicken, salmon or another protein, this is a great side dish/salad recipe. You can also serve it with grilled tofu shawarma, easy grilled halloumi or barbecue veggie tofu skewers.
Leftovers & Storage
You can keep the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Let it sit out at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving it. This gives the salad time to warm up a little, so it’s not as cold as when you take it straight out of the fridge.
More Broccoli Recipes
Lemon Grilled Broccoli
Fried Rice with Broccoli, Edamame and Peas
Broccoli Pesto Pasta
Roasted Broccoli Orzo
More Corn Recipes
Grilled Corn Couscous
Corn Avocado Salad
Fresh Tomato Corn Salad
Mexican Chopped Salad
Roasted Corn Salad
Blueberry Corn Salad
Grilled Corn Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
For vegetables
- 4 ears corn
- 3/4 pound medium to large broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For vinaigrette
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
For salad
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup shaved pecorino cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on medium high heat.
- Toss the corn and broccoli with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
- Grill the corn until it is lightly charred on all sides, about 5-7 minutes.
- Grill the broccoli about 2 minutes per side letting it get slightly charred on the edges.
- When the corn and broccoli are cool enough to handle, slice the kernels off the cobs. Also, cut the larger broccoli florets into smaller ones as desired.
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk the garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl, combine the corn, broccoli, scallions, pecorino and parsley.
- Drizzle the dressing into the salad, tossing to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excited about your recipes!
I made this tonight and added leftover diced chicken breasts. So good!
This is an excellent recipe. Everyone loved it! Omit the pecorino cheese and it’s still a tasty dish to serve for vegan guests.
Paige, you’ve created another excellent recipe. I tripled the recipe to bring for a large cookout. Everyone raved about it. I refer to your recipes so frequently I know I’ll always find what I need for luncheon, dinner, party ideas. Thank you!
Thank you, Niki! I so happy to hear the salad was a hit at the cookout!
Easy and delicious!