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This delicious recipe gives Broccoli Sesame Salad a low-sodium makeover. It’s quick to prepare and a fresh and tender low-sodium broccoli salad that’s bursting with sesame flavor. It’s a great summertime salad!
Low Sodium Broccoli Sesame Salad – Lots Of Sesame Flavor, Way Less Sodium
Over the last year or so, I have come to realize that salt and my body just don’t play well together. So, I’ve been on a mission to create lower-sodium versions of some of my favorite dishes.
The recent experiment to create a lower-sodium take on traditional teriyaki resulted in my Best Grilled Chicken with Coconut Aminos. It was a big hit at our house and inspired me to give a makeover to one of my other favorite Asian-style dishes, Broccoli Sesame Salad.
Loads of nutty, savory sesame flavor make Broccoli Sesame Salad taste so good. However, many recipes for this salad also include a lot of salt. With a few ingredient tweaks, I was able to create a lower-sodium dressing that’s so tasty you won’t miss the salt.
Before we discuss that, let’s get back to basics. Becuase a really good Broccoli Sesame Salad starts with properly blanched broccoli.
Blanching the Broccoli
Let’s face it, broccoli is one of those veggies that people love to hate on.
But I’m convinced that much of broccoli’s bad rap is less about the vegetable than the way people prepare it. And I get it. There’s nothing appetizing or tempting about a plate of limp, sickly green, overcooked broccoli.
However, properly blanched broccoli is tender but not soggy, has a gorgeous bright green color, and a slightly sweet taste.
When it comes to broccoli salad, blanching – briefly immersing the broccoli in rapidly boiling water, then in ice water to quickly stop the cooking – is the way to go. It’s an easy process, but there are a few tricks to it.
It all starts with a big pot of boiling, salted water. Yes, this is a lower-sodium recipe. But unless you’re supposed to eschew sodium entirely, you do want to salt the water generously.
A tablespoon of salt isn’t that much when diluted in 10 or 12 cups of water. And the broccoli will only be in it for a few minutes, so it won’t absorb much sodium, but a little salt will enhance the flavor of your low-sodium broccoli sesame salad.
While the water comes to a boil, trim the stem off the broccoli and cut the florets into bite-sized pieces. Then prepare an ice bath by putting lots of ice cubes into a big bowl of very cold water
(Pro Tip: If you peel off the woody outer layer to the pale green center, the stem is great to use in soup, stir fry, or shredded and tossed into a green salad or pasta.)
When the water has come to a rolling boil, dump the prepared florets into the pot. The water will stop boiling when the broccoli is added but will quickly begin boiling again.
Once it does, leave the broccoli in for 1-2 minutes, then drain off the water or scoop the florets from the pot using a sieve. (The broccoli should be bright green in color and tender but not soggy when you bite into it.)
Plunge the boiled broccoli immediately into the ice bath for a few minutes. Use your hands to push it down into the ice water. When the floret’s stems, feel cool to the touch, remove the blanched broccoli from the ice bath.
Lay the florets out on a kitchen towel to dry. This is important. If the broccoli isn’t thoroughly dry, the dressing won’t cling to the florets properly.
While the broccoli is drying, you’ll prepare the dressing.
Broccoli Sesame Salad – Making The Lower-Sodium Dressing
As the name implies, sesame is an important ingredient in the salad. Much of that wonderful, mellow and nutty sesame flavor comes from freshly toasted and partially ground sesame.
To toast the sesame, you’ll just place it in a dry pan on the stove over medium heat, stirring gently and frequently until the sesame seeds turn slightly golden brown.
Next, crush the toasted seeds with a mortar and pestle or by giving then a couple of quick pulses in the food processor. You’re not trying to create a paste, just partially crush some of the seeds so the oils are released.
Once that’s done, you’ll simply whisk the rest of the dressing ingredients together in a bowl.
But let’s talk about those ingredients. Soy sauce and miso are what make most broccoli sesame salads so salty.
The soy sauce and white miso paste in my frig have 960 and 830 grams of sodium per tablespoon, respectively. That is a LOT of sodium! Definitely too much for me.
I replaced the soy sauce with coconut aminos, which have only 230 grams of sodium and are gluten-free (I prefer the Coconut Secret brand.) You could also use a low-sodium soy sauce if you prefer.
Also, I used organic tahini in place of the miso. It really ups the sesame flavor of this salad and has zero sodium!
When the dressing is ready, place the blanched, well-dried broccoli into a big serving bowl. Pour on the dressing. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and a folding motion to coat the broccoli evenly with the dressing.
Serving Your Low-Sodium Broccoli Sesame Salad
In my opinion, this low-sodium Broccoli Sesame Salad tastes best on the day it is made. It’s great as a dinnertime side dish or to bring to a summertime potluck or picnic.
If there are leftovers, you can still eat them as is the next day. They will still be good, but the texture will be less firm.
Another way to use up leftovers is to toss the sesame a bowl of cold spaghetti or yakisoba noodles with some chicken, green onions, and touch of extra oil and coconut aminos or low sodium soy sauce.
Print
Low-Sodium Broccoli Sesame Salad
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- Kosher salt (see recipe notes)
- 1 Large head broccoli, about 1.5 pounds
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- 2 T neutral oil (vegetable, canola, safflower, etc._
- 1 T tahini paste
- 1 T coconut aminos (can sub low-sodium soy sauce)
- 1 T rice vinegar
Instructions
- Place 10 to 12 cups of generously salted water in a large, heavy bottomed cooking post. Bring to a rolling boil on the stove. (A good tablespoon of kosher salt is recommended but can lower or leave out if severely restricting sodium. See blog post for more info.)
- While water is coming to a boil, trim the stem from the broccoli and cut the head into bite-sized florets. Also, create a water bath in large bowl with very cold water and a lot of ice.
- When the water is boiling, place the florets into the pot. Blanch the broccoli for 1-2 minutes, until it is bright green and tender-crisp. Remove blanched broccoli from pot with a sieve or drain out the water. Plunge broccoli immediately into water bath to halt cooking. When cool, lay blanched broccoli onto a kitchen towel single layer to dry. (See blog notes for tips on blanching). While broccoli is drying, make the dressing.
- Place sesame seeds in a dry skillet on stove over medium-low heat. Stir for 1-2 minutes, until the seeds begin to turn slightly golden brown. Remove from stove. Partially crush some seeds, either with a mortar and pestle, or by pulsing briefly in the food processor.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the crushed toasted sesame seeds, oil, tahini sauce, coconut aminos, and rice vinegar. Pour dressing over dry, blanched broccoli. Stir gently with spatula or wooden spoon to evenly distribute dressing.
