Gordon Ramsay Broccoli Salad

Gordon Ramsay’s broccoli salad recipe is a warm North African-style dish made with charred broccoli florets, bulgur wheat, fresh mint, and a spicy buttermilk and harissa dressing. It serves four and takes about 20 minutes.

The recipe appears as “Chargrilled Broccoli and Bulgur Salad” in Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking, where he pairs it with his Aromatic Lamb Cutlets with Minty Yoghurt. He says “the flavours really complement one another” and notes the salad works “great warm or cold.”

What makes his version different is charring the broccoli in a completely dry pan with no oil. Most roasted broccoli recipes call for a drizzle of olive oil, but cooking it dry on high heat for 6 to 10 minutes forces the florets to brown and caramelise on their own. The result is a deeper, smokier flavour that holds up against the harissa in the dressing.

FAQs

Why does Ramsay char broccoli in a dry pan with no oil?

Oil helps vegetables brown, but it also steams them slightly as it heats. A dry pan forces the broccoli to make direct contact with the hot surface, which creates deeper, more concentrated char marks without any greasiness.

The smoky bitterness from the charring is what makes this salad work with harissa. If you roasted the broccoli in oil instead, it would taste milder and sweeter, which wouldn’t stand up to the heat of the dressing. It’s the same principle behind charring peppers directly over a flame rather than roasting them.

Why buttermilk instead of yoghurt in the dressing?

Buttermilk is thinner and tangier than yoghurt, so it coats the bulgur and broccoli more evenly without clumping. Yoghurt tends to sit in thick pockets when tossed through a grain salad.

Ramsay includes a tip in the same book: “Buttermilk is the thin, slightly sour liquid left after churning butter. It is often used in dressings, baking and to tenderise meat.” If you can’t find it, he suggests mixing “two parts plain yoghurt and one part milk” as a substitute.

What does harissa add that regular chilli doesn’t?

Harissa is a North African paste made from roasted red peppers, chilli, garlic, and spices like caraway and coriander. It brings a smoky, complex heat rather than just raw spiciness.

Ramsay starts with 1 teaspoon and lets you adjust up to 2. That range matters because harissa brands vary wildly in heat level. A rose harissa from a jar is gentle and floral, while a Tunisian tube harissa can be fierce. Taste the dressing before adding more, because the buttermilk won’t dilute the heat as much as yoghurt-based dressings would.

How is this different from his Broccoli Slaw?

The Broccoli Slaw appears in the same book but takes the opposite approach. It uses raw broccoli chopped into small pieces, tossed with toasted almonds, currants, and diced banana shallot (echalion shallot) in a yoghurt and cider vinegar dressing.

That version is designed to pair with pulled pork, so it’s crunchy and slightly sweet. This chargrilled version pairs with lamb, so it’s smoky and spicy. One is raw and cold, the other is charred and warm. Same vegetable, completely different results.

How does his Fit Food broccoli salad compare?

The Smoked Mackerel, Beetroot and Broccoli Salad in Ultimate Fit Food also chars the broccoli florets, but pairs them with raw grated beetroot and flaked smoked mackerel instead of bulgur. The dressing uses creamed horseradish and lemon juice rather than harissa and buttermilk.

That version is built as a high-protein post-workout meal at 611 calories per serving, while this bulgur version is a lighter side dish. The Fit Food salad also keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days, making it better for meal prep than this one, which is best eaten fresh.

What should you serve this with?

Ramsay designed it specifically for his Aromatic Lamb Cutlets with Minty Yoghurt from the same chapter. The harissa and mint in the salad mirror the spicing on the lamb, so the two dishes taste like they belong on the same plate.

It also works alongside grilled chicken, roasted cauliflower, or beet salad for a mezze-style spread. The buttermilk dressing is cooling enough to sit next to anything spicy without competing for attention.