Two of the most common questions we hear are:
Can I get the recipe for Joan’s Broccoli Madness? And Is Joan a real person?
The answer to both is YES!
A little background. My name is Joan Scharff and I am the executive director of brand and menu strategy for GFR. As part of my job (and what we’ve put together in my 19 years with GFR), we love creating new recipes to bring to our Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants.
The recipe for Joan’s Broccoli Madness is one I had from a friend and brought to GFR six years ago. I played around with the ingredients a bit to incorporate my own style and after adding it to our menu, Joan’s Broccoli Madness quickly became a guest favorite.
We’ve kept it in the restaurant ever since and just recently, we’ve started selling Joan’s Broccoli Madness kits in select warehouse stores on the West Coast (and hopefully soon nationwide).
We rarely make this recipe public, but right before Super Bowl we thought it’d make a great side dish for the big game!
Here’s the recipe…
Serves 6-8.
1 bunch uncooked broccoli*
½ cup crumbled cooked bacon
½ cup cashews
1/3 cup raisins
¼ cup chopped red onions
Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Mix the first five ingredients in a large bowl.
In a second bowl, beat dressing ingredients together gently until smooth.
Toss the salad with the dressing approximately 10 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld. Serve on chilled salad dishes.
*The broccoli is a loose guideline: often people have to make it a few times before they get it just the way they like it.
© 2010 Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Joan – I love your picture! You look great! great idea with the blog!
~Jill C.
Thanks for the recipe. The broccoli salad is one of my FAVORITES!
The broccoli salad looks wonderful, and many of my friends love it. Could Souplation make it without the bacon? Not everyone eats bacon, and it is ashame that several of your best food items contain bacon. There are bacon bits that could be put on if a person wants to have it. I love your vegetarian chili soup, not made very often in Northridge.
Your healthier selections are very good. And I like your varied menus, especially the Lemon ones.
Thanks a million for sharing your broccoli recipe with the public! This is my absolute favorite! We have been clients with my husband over 7 years now and eat at your Perimeter location in GA 3 times a week.
It is my favorite restaurant in town. Thanks again.
karin ashby
Thi is my all-time favorite at Sweet Tomatoes!! It’s even better than the speciality salads, I think. Thank you for sharing this receipe!!
I too, love Joan’s Broccoli Madness, but I don’t like raisins. Because the rest is so yummy I just avoid the raisins! There are just so many wonderful dishes at Sweet Tomatoes it’s really hard to pick a favorite. Thanks for posting the recipe!
This is one of the main reasons why I go to Sweet Tomatoes! Your Broccoli Madness is my favorite dish!
Thank you for posting the recipe. I’ll make it at home.
A simple recipe, brava! I look forward to experimenting with a yogurt based dressing to see if I can take out some of the calories and still fulfill my madness for this dish
) Keep up the delicious offerings and thank you for sharing.
Awesome! My husband <3 <3 Loves Joan's Broccoli Madness. The sweet tomatoes closest is across town but we seem to make a trip over as often as possible. Now to help feed my husbands cravings between trips I can make him some madness (Although I am sure it won't taste as sweet as Sweet Tomatoes JBM). Ya'll better get some stock on farmer's broccoli bc with this recipe out I am sure the demand for fresh broccoli is gonna rise. lol.
This recipe has been circulating a LONG time among the pot luck set, probably 10 years or so. Normally it is made with sunflower seeds in the midwest and spanish peanuts in other parts.
Take your pick.
My husband and I are winter in Tucson, AZ. We probably eat at the Tucson Mall Sweet Tomato location at least 4 times per month. We live in Cleveland, OH and would love to see one of your restaurants “sprout” there. The Sweet Tomato is always the first restaurant we visit when we arrive in AZ.
Thanks for the great variety of soups and veggies and the pleasant atmosphere and friendly staff.
Joan,
Howdy from Sugar Land, Texas. I’m so excited to get this recipe. I’m going to check out the new website next. Hope you and your family are doing great. Please tell everyone hello for me.
Arleen, somebody special, former GFR Kitchen Cabinet Member
So glad I finally found this recipe. I’ve asked fellow diners before if we could figure out what goes into the dressing and we always come up short. Look forward to trying it soon.
So, I made the recipe last night and it was a hit. My husband was oh so ‘mad’ to get some broccoli over the weekend.
This is absolutely my favorite thing on the menu; The cashews really make the dish for me! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
How long is the salad good for? we purchased a Joan’s Bbroccoli Madness Salad Kit at Costco it had a weird use by date of 100191?? is that a typo for 100131? it also had a date at the top of 07 10 but I can’t imagine a salad being good for that long. Help!
Joan’s Broccoli Madness should be good for about two weeks within the purchase. Not sure what those numbers mean. I will let our Costco rep know and make it more clear for future shipments. Thanks for the email. Hope you are enjoying your Joan’s!!
I’d make this; altho’ being vegetarian, I’d use soy-based Bacos instead of using real bacon.
The pictures and recipes are great and tasty!!!
I agree with Charlotte about how unfortunate it is that there’s bacon in the broccoli madness. There’s not nearly enough vegan options, and the rice is always white, not brown, and the pasta choices are almost always refined white flour. Also, there are no healthy salad dressings. I do however appreciate the fresh, raw vegetables. I did prefer the sliced tomatoes rather than the cherry tomatoes because they’re easier to digest.
I agree with Charlotte & Susan about how unfortunate it is that there’s bacon in the broccoli madness. I also wish there was brown rice which is much healthier than white rice. I’m thrilled that you offer sweet baked potatoes which to me taste better & are definitely healthier than white ones. Sweet Tomatoes has become my absolute favorite restaurant! I wish I could eat there more than I do!! Thanks for all the great food you provide!
We LOVE LOVE LOVE the Joan’s Broccoli madness! That is awesome that you posted the recipe, we get so much each time we go to Souplantation! yummmmmmmmy!
Having been a vegetarian since the 70’s,I was happy to read charlotte’s post. I, too, love that salad but its REALLY hard to pick out the bacon. Could you just keep it on the side? Or use a good brand of “fake bacon”? There is a disconcerting trend everywhere of adding meat to salad…..
I’ve been wanting this recipe for so long, glad I ran across it. This is my main course when I go as well as the Oriental Chicken salad. Everything is awesom & delicious. I too love the cornbread, made just the way I like it. I top my meal of with everyones favorite the Chocolate brownie, mmm mmm good.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe. My favorite is the cream of mushroom soup.
I would really love to have the mushroom soup recipe. I go to Sweet Tomatoes often. I love it there.
Love the broccoli salad. I get a second plate for jus the broccoli salad.
i was at the raleigh retaurant last satyrdayand had the pastaw/lemon cream sauce. it was one of th e bestthings i ahve evereaten.. as i can onlyget to raleigh about once a month would it be possible to get the recipe? thank you for aonderful place to if onlr we had one in the pinehurst are. think about it. we are a huge tourist area.
sincerely
bobbie miller
Bobbie- I emailed you the recipe but your email was returned. Can you leave another comment so I can get your email address?
I’m not Bobbie but I’d love to have the pasta with lemon cream sauce also. There is a Sweet Tomatoes in Arlington TX and it is a favorite of mine. I love the cream of mushroom soup. Do you have that recipe available? With Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution getting our attention I think more people are trying to eat healthier. Thanks, Sweet Tomatoes for sharing your recipes.
I love the Tuna Tarragon salad, Can I get the receipe??? I would really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Sharon
Great food! Would love the lemon orzo soup recipe & the lemon cream sauce pasta recipe.
Love eating at Sweet Tomatoes.
I’d love to have the recipe for the lemon cream pasta with capers too. I’m a senior citizen and I’m worried about not being able, next year, to get back to Sweet Tomatoes to have it again. That would be criminal.
We LOVE everything about Sweet Tomatoes! My very favorite is Joan’s Broccoli Madness!
I even think it’s popular with people that don’t think they like broccoli !! ( I love broccoli)
I’d love the recipe to share at pot-lucks and family reunions.
Thanks, Soup Plantation for being our favorite place to eat on San Vicente in Los Angeles and now the brand New one on Tropicana and Ft. Apache in Las Vegas!
Hey Nancy from Texas! Sweet Tomatoes is the BEST! And Here’s to Jamie Oliver’s food Revolution too. Jamie and Sweet tomatoes should join up and create the best place to eat Healthy food BAR-NONE!!
My boyfriend and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe….we go to souplantation all the time just for it. However, i tried making it at home with this recipe and it does not taste the same. its not sweet enough…is there a certain type of mayonaise to use???
Regarding the bacon, PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE the real bacon from the recipe. It’s so much better than the fake bits, and I don’t want to go to Sweet Tomatoes to ingest all that MSG. Thank you.
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times, and I always find that it’s not as “juicy” as the salad at Sweet Tomatoes – any thoughts on why? The dressing according to the posted recipe seems so incredibly thick compared to how it is at the restaurant.
Blueberries, raspberries and strawberries
HEY!! We are regulars at the Sweet Tomatoes at Alpharetta, Ga, so much so that most of the employees recognize us!! Our favorite item and many others since it is part of the favorites month is the Grilled Cheese Foccacia Bread. Is there any way to get a recipe for that so that i can make it the other 47 weeks that it isnt offered at Sweet Tomatoes?!?!? Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing the broccoli madness….sooooo good.
Loved the broccoli salad I had last week in LA, thanks for that recipe. Also, loved the Crunchy Island Pineapple tossed salad. Do you have that recipe? I live in Iowa and we don’t have a Souplantation here.