Steamed Broccoli
Skip the frozen bags of Steamed Broccoli at the grocery store, and steam your own fresh broccoli instead, for cheaper. This easy recipe is perfect to serve with a simple protein or main dish. A light and delicious side dish for a quick and easy meal!
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Steamed Broccoli Recipe
Oven roasted broccoli is one of my favorite ways to prepare this crunchy green veggie, but steamed broccoli is great to make when I need my oven space open.
Microwave-steamed broccoli is good in a pinch, but steaming fresh produce always tastes so much better. Mushy broccoli is never an appealing sight, nor is it appetizing at the dinner table.
Homemade steamed broccoli, however, always turns out crisp, tender and flavorful.
Why You'll Love this Recipe
This simple and delicious recipe is low calorie and low fat but packed full of flavor. A great dish for a simple dinner, fancy dinner, and everything in between!
- It only takes about 10 minutes to make this recipe. The cooking method of steaming veggies is one of the fastest ways to prepare them.
- Clean up will not be difficult, making this a great dish to make on busy evenings when you're short on time. It's the best way to eat healthy really quickly.
- This is a tasty way to get in a good serving of vegetables with fresh flavor. Picky eaters will even enjoy this dish!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Everyone needs to try this steamed broccoli recipe! It is so easy, and you likely have most of what you need already.
You'll want a head or two of fresh broccoli, which you can cut into florets. You can also buy it pre-cut, but I prefer to do it myself. It's a lot cheaper and so fast!
If you use frozen broccoli: Follow the instructions on the bag for steaming. The "steam-in-bag" kind is great too!
You'll also need olive oil, salt and black pepper. You can use any other mild flavored oil, like avocado oil, in its place. Also, water provides the steam, but you can use tap water or filtered water.
Want more flavor? You can add some extra flavor to these crispy little veggies with garlic powder and onion powder. Or seasoned salt would taste yummy, too! There's always room to add a little pat of butter to your serving of freshly steamed broccoli. Or add some Asian flair by tossing it with sesame oil and soy sauce. You can add some sesame seeds to it as well!
How to Make Steamed Broccoli
Here's how to make this Steamed Broccoli recipe:
Hot Tip: Wash your broccoli thoroughly before steaming it! You can rinse the florets in a strainer and then spin in a salad spinner (affiliate) to drain quickly.
- Begin by trimming the broccoli stalks from a head of broccoli into individual florets. Make sure to cut the florets roughly the same size so that they all cook evenly.
- Place freshly washed and cut florets into a steamer basket and place over a large pot with 2 inches of water in the bottom. Then bring the water to boil over high heat on the stove top.
- Once the water reaches a rolling boil, cover the steamer and pot with a lid. Steam the broccoli for about 5 minutes until it's tender and has a bright green color.
- It's important to watch the broccoli closely while steams. It can quickly switch from that beautiful vibrant green color to a limp dark green broccoli pretty quickly.
- Once cooked, drain the broccoli and season with olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Serve immediately and enjoy!
How to Store Leftover Steamed Broccoli
What to Serve with Steamed Broccoli
You can use this steamed broccoli in so many ways.
Main dishes: I love to pair this tender and flavorful broccoli with a healthy main dish of pesto salmon or grilled chicken drumsticks. And another simple side like Instant Pot brown rice is great to go with it. Or even these roasted rosemary potatoes would be a great pairing. Broccoli is also lovely to pair with cheese sauce or some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Asian cuisine: It's delicious in the classic Asian dish beef and broccoli stir fry or as a side with kimchi udon.
With other sides: Fresh vegetables are a delicious side dish with pasta too. Serve this simple steamed broccoli alongside baked rigatoni or lemon ricotta pasta. You could also make steamed veggies to save calories at your cook-out filled with juicy grilled chicken burgers, New Orleans BBQ shrimp and oven roasted green beans.
Tips for Success
Here are some tips and tricks for making this recipe:
- Use filtered water to ensure the best flavor! Tap water works fine, but can sometimes lend unusual flavor.
- Make sure you measure out the amount of salt and pepper used so that you don't make your steamed veggies too salty. You can always add more!
- Cut each broccoli stem short enough so that they aren't too thick. The stalks won't take on as much flavor as the top of the florets, but they'll still be tender and tasty.
FAQ
If you don't have a steamer, you can still make this easy steamed broccoli recipe. Add broccoli to a a large skillet with about 1 inch of water, cover, and heat for a few minutes until the broccoli is bright green. Drain the water off and enjoy!
Use whichever is your favorite. A bamboo steamer and silicone steamer basket are two of the easiest varieties to use. Stainless steel steamers work great as well!
Store leftovers in an airtight container or plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freezing leftover steamed broccoli can become quite mushy when reheated from frozen. Reheat in the microwave or oven until warm, it won't take long to heat! You could also very quickly make a fresh batch since it's so easy to make!
More Side Dish Recipes
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Steamed Broccoli
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2-3 heads broccoli about 1½ cups florets
- ½ cup water
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Trim 2-3 heads broccoli into florets. You want these to be roughly the same size so they cook evenly!
- Add broccoli florets to a steamer basket and place over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of ½ cup water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
- Once boiling, cover steamer and pot with lid and let steam for 5 minutes until broccoli is bright green and fork tender. Keep a close eye on it as steamed broccoli can go from bright green and delicious to dark green and sad quickly!
- Drain broccoli and season with 2 teaspoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper.
Nutrition
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This turned out perfectly! Easy to follow instructions.