Recipe for steamed broccoli with sauce. Calorie, chemical composition and nutritional value.

How long to cook broccoli

Not every housewife knows how long to cook broccoli; the basic principle of cooking in a saucepan is constant control over the process and time of its preparation.

If a vegetable is cooked for too long, it will not only become mushy, but also acquire an unpleasant odor. The processes for preparing fresh and frozen cabbage of this type vary greatly.

This vegetable is unique, perfectly absorbed by the body, it is an indispensable food product for those people who have problems with the digestive tract.

Broccoli contains calcium, zinc, fiber, magnesium, zinc, manganese, iron, sulfur, potassium, vitamins A, PP, B, C, K, E. But in order for broccoli not to lose its beneficial properties, it must be cooked properly. As a rule, the vegetable is cooked for no more than five minutes.

How to cook fresh broccoli tasty and healthy (steamed)

Steaming will help preserve the nutritional benefits of the broccoli. Start by rinsing the cabbage under clean water. Dry on a clean cloth or paper towel. Then cut into small bouquets. Place them in a steamer basket. Fill the water compartment with steam and cook. It only takes 5 minutes for the vegetable to remain slightly crispy. If you want a softer texture, steam for another 2 minutes. Once cooking is complete, plunge the florets into a cup of ice water.

A saucepan and a colander will help replace the steamer

Poll: How do you cook fresh broccoli?

Total votes: 1221. Total participants: 1221.

Broccoli is a rather interesting vegetable that belongs to the cabbage family. This cabbage contains a sufficient amount of useful substances, which makes it even more attractive in the eyes of chefs. In addition, there are plenty of recipes themselves, and you can choose the cooking method according to your own preferences: stew, fry or boil. But not everyone knows how to cook broccoli correctly.

How to cook fresh vegetables

Cooking fresh broccoli is easy and doesn't take long if you follow some rules. Before throwing it into the pan, the cabbage must be thoroughly rinsed under running water.

When buying a fresh vegetable at the market or in a store, you should pay attention to whether it is really fresh, as it seems at first glance.

Broccoli should be a rich green color, yellow, brown spots, signs of lethargy, indicating that the head of cabbage has been lying on the counter for more than one week, or even a month. The main stem of the vegetable should be tough and hold its shape.

How much and how to cook fresh broccoli?

How to cook broccoli in a saucepan? It's quite simple, but first you need to choose the right vegetable. Broccoli for cooking should be fresh, bright green, without yellow or brown spots. As for the stem, it is also worth paying attention to. A good stem is always hard, and if it is soft, it means that the vegetable has already been stored for more than a month.

Before cooking, we cut it this way: cut off the main stem with a knife, and then each inflorescence.

1. Take a pan and fill it with water.
2. Salt in proportions: two dessert spoons per 1.5 liters of water.
3. As soon as the liquid boils, carefully lower the buds.
4. Cook covered for no more than five minutes. The fire should be medium.

How to cook frozen broccoli

Frozen cabbage, bought in a hypermarket or the one you froze yourself in the summer or autumn after harvesting, can be prepared just as easily as fresh.

It is important to consider that a frozen product does not require defrosting before cooking, otherwise it will not only lose its beautiful shape, but also some of its beneficial properties. Cook frozen vegetables as follows:

• Boil one and a half liters of water;

Add one tablespoon of salt to the water;

• Cook the product for no more than 10-12 minutes;
• Remove the vegetable from the pan using a slotted spoon.

After the cabbage is cooked, pour ice water over it.

Freezing broccoli for the winter

Since broccoli is a seasonal vegetable that cannot be stored for a long time, they learned how to freeze it. With this storage method, all useful properties are preserved.

During all seasons, frozen food can be purchased in stores. However, homemade frozen cabbage is no worse than store-bought if you know how to do it correctly.

1. The collected vegetables must be carefully sorted, separating the inflorescences for freezing without damage or dark spots;
2. Thoroughly rinse the fruits from dirt and insects;
3. Remove all leaves from each fruit and divide it into small inflorescences;
4. Pour cold water over the fruits until it covers them, add the juice of half a lemon;
5. After 6-7 minutes, pour the liquid into a saucepan in which the cabbage will be blanched;
6. After the water boils, lower the inflorescences and boil for no more than 5 minutes;
7. After this, drain using a colander, then place in cold water with ice for a few minutes;
8. Dry the cabbage a little, place portions in bags or plastic containers for freezing.

In order for the vegetable to retain its taste and beneficial properties, repeated freezing is not allowed.

How to cook broccoli with cauliflower

The combination of broccoli and cauliflower in one dish will bring undoubted benefits to the body. As a rule, these two varieties of cabbage can be found in a variety of recipes for salads, soups, casseroles and side dishes.

I bring to your attention a couple of recipes for preparing dishes from broccoli and cauliflower. To prepare a delicious pureed vegetable inflorescence soup, follow these steps:

1. To begin, lightly fry the onions, garlic, broccoli and cauliflower florets in a frying pan with vegetable or olive oil. Vegetables should be seasoned with marjoram, thyme, and bay leaf. Fry for no longer than five minutes.
2. Next, add flour and chicken broth, which is brought to a boil.
3. At the end of cooking the soup, add milk or cream to the pan, let it boil again, let it cool and grind with a blender.
4. Then the puree soup is poured into another container, placed on the stove, Dijon mustard and grated cheese are added to it. When the cheese has melted, the dish is ready and can be served.

If your household doesn’t like soups, then you can cook a wonderful side dish from vegetables in the oven. To do this you need to go through the following steps:

• Cauliflower and broccoli are boiled until half cooked, then placed in a baking dish.
• The dish is poured with a mixture of eggs, cream and grated cheese and placed in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Vegetable side dishes are a very tasty dish that even children enjoy eating, but very rarely our beloved men.

Healthy combinations and recipes with broccoli

Combinations with other types of complementary feeding purees

If your child does not like the taste of broccoli puree, you can recommend mixing it with sweet apple or pear puree.

Starting from the age of 8 months, you can start combining vegetable purees with each other; for example, combinations of broccoli with potatoes, pumpkin, and cauliflower will be very useful. In this case, you can add a drop of vegetable or olive oil to the puree.

A little later, cabbage puree can be combined with meat purees (turkey, veal, rabbit). To do this, the meat and inflorescences are boiled separately, after which they are mixed and crushed in a blender with the addition of a drop of vegetable oil.

Vegetable casserole

At a slightly older age, making broccoli casserole can be an excellent option for a little gourmet.

To make it, you need to grate potatoes and carrots, chop the cabbage, add oatmeal soaked in boiling water to the vegetables, add a little salt and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. It turns out very tasty!

How to cook broccoli for first feeding

Many mothers try to prepare this vegetable for their child, as it is healthy and considered hypoallergenic. This variety of cabbage is useful for babies because it improves bowel movements, helps strengthen the immune system, strengthens muscles, and removes harmful substances from the body.

Vegetable puree from broccoli can be given to children from the age of six months; to begin with, only half a teaspoon is given for testing; by the age of one year, the baby can already eat about 200 g of this vegetable.

Weaning puree is made from fresh broccoli, but you can also use frozen cabbage for complementary feeding. It is important to remember that children can only eat vegetables prepared by boiling; fried foods can be bad for children’s digestion.

To make puree for a baby, you need to rinse the cabbage thoroughly; if it is fresh, leave it in cold water for a couple of hours, during which time the vegetable will have time to cleanse itself of nitrates, pesticides, other harmful substances and small insects.

Next, the broccoli can be steamed or boiled in lightly salted water for 5-7 minutes. After the vegetable has cooled, you can mash it with a fork or chop it with a blender. Before each feeding, it is worth preparing a new puree, since the product is stored in the refrigerator for no more than a day in a tightly closed jar.

Mashed potatoes prepared in this way should be introduced into the baby’s diet, and when the baby grows up and gets used to the new food, you can add carrots, potatoes, milk, onions and a little more salt to the broccoli.

When and how to start complementary feeding

Broccoli may be the first vegetable in a child's life. It is recommended to give it from 6–7 months.

However, if the baby does not like the new aroma and taste, it is advisable to start complementary feeding with other fruits: zucchini, pumpkin, carrots. Later, you can gradually mix the cabbage with vegetables.

For the first time, the child is offered no more than 0.5 tsp. broccoli puree. Or 1 tsp. mix it with zucchini. If allergies, stool disorders and other signs of harm do not occur within 24 hours, the volume is doubled. Gradually, in the first week, the portion is increased to 40–50 g. If the baby refuses to eat cabbage in its pure form, it is allowed to combine it with potato, carrot, and pumpkin puree.

It is healthier to eat broccoli for breakfast than in the late hours.

At the age of up to 1 year, it is enough to give children cabbage 2-3 times a week, replacing one feeding with vegetables. At 1.5–2 years, it is advisable to double the usual portion, offering broccoli daily or every other day. It is useful to eat it yourself, prepare soups or casseroles.

Children over 2 years old can make salads from various types of young raw cabbage and serve them as a side dish for meat or fish dishes.

Blanching

This method of cooking broccoli is often used in restaurants to add it to cold appetizers or salads. The vegetable not only retains all its beneficial properties, but also remains crispy. The method is as follows:

1. The cabbage is washed and the inflorescences are separated from the stem.
2. Next, the pan is filled with cold water, which is brought to a boil.
3. A large container is filled with ice water and ice cubes.
4. The stems of the vegetable are immersed in boiling water for 90 seconds, and the inflorescences in ice water.
5. After the stems are removed from the boiling water with a slotted spoon, and the water is drained from the inflorescences using a colander, they are connected.

Broccoli is not particularly popular in Russia. This undeserved ignorance of a healthy vegetable does not in any way affect its excellent taste. Anyone who cares about their own health should definitely include this noble vegetable in their diet. The composition of the presented type of cabbage includes a huge number of different vitamins and microelements. Fresh cabbage is not always found on store shelves, but frozen products are always on sale. But how to cook it? Are there any differences between fresh and frozen vegetables?

Not everyone knows how long to cook frozen broccoli. Usually the manufacturer provides information on the packaging, but, as a rule, almost no one reads the instructions. In addition, the inscription itself may be printed so small that it is not legible. Or it simply wore off during long-term storage in the refrigerator.

So, frozen broccoli should be cooked for no more than 10-12 minutes until tender. There is no need to defrost the cabbage, otherwise the inflorescences may be ruined.

The sequence of cooking the vegetable is as follows:

1. Place the required amount of vegetable in a pan of boiling and salted water and wait for the water to boil again. From this stage the countdown of the time specified for cooking begins.
2. Place the cooked broccoli in a colander and let the water drain for 5 minutes. If there is a large amount of cooked vegetable, the time can be increased - it will not hurt, but the presence of water in the inflorescences is not to your taste.

Cabbage cooked in this way retains all its beneficial properties and taste, although it does not emit an appetizing appearance or aroma. In most cases, it is simply subjected to further processing - poured over sauces, added to hot salads.

How to cook broccoli for a 1 year old child

Broccoli - benefits for children

This cabbage is best digested by babies and is ideal for first feeding. Broccoli contains a lot of vitamins A and C, fiber, and beneficial microelements (iron, copper, selenium, calcium, phosphorus, iodine). In addition, this is a very nutritious product, it contains proteins, fats and carbohydrates that are so necessary for a growing body. Thanks to its unique composition, broccoli helps the digestive system, relieves the baby from constipation, and strengthens the immune system.

Important! If your child often suffers from intestinal disorders or pancreatic diseases, he should not be given broccoli as a first food.

How to properly introduce broccoli into a child’s diet?

Children begin to be given cabbage at about 7 months, immediately after zucchini. It takes a week for a child to adapt to a new product. During this time, portions gradually increase - from 5 to 50 grams. It is better to feed your baby cabbage for breakfast, first offering him a spoonful of broccoli puree, and then feeding him with zucchini. The first product “displaces” the second day after day. If the child responds well to broccoli, after a week you can offer him a combined puree, for example, from potatoes and cabbage.

How to cook broccoli for a child?

Before cooking, rinse the broccoli thoroughly, separate the florets from each other, then add cold water and soak the vegetables in it for about 20 minutes.

How long should you cook broccoli?

To prevent cabbage from losing its beneficial properties, it needs to be steamed. This can be done without a double boiler. Simply place the broccoli in an enamel bowl, add a small amount of water, cover with a lid and place on low heat. Broccoli cooks for 7-10 minutes. They don't need to be boiled too much!

How long to cook frozen broccoli?

It is better to give babies fresh foods. However, if this is not possible, frozen broccoli will also work. Just remember to feel the packaging before purchasing: there should be no ice inside. Such vegetables are prepared in the same way as fresh ones, but they do not need to be thawed and washed.

How to store broccoli?

Place the cabbage in a container of water if you plan to cook it within the next 12 hours. If not, the broccoli is placed in the refrigerator on a separate shelf for vegetables and fruits. Before doing this, you should clean the cabbage from wilted inflorescences and place it in a paper or plastic bag. It doesn't need to be tied. Store at 0 – 10 °C. Do not keep near tomatoes, apples and carrots. Such proximity will cause broccoli to spoil faster. Cabbage should remain in the refrigerator for no more than five days.

You can freeze broccoli yourself. To do this, disassemble it into inflorescences, rinse, and soak in salted water (a tablespoon of salt per liter of water). The cabbage is kept in this solution for about two hours. Then they are washed again, immersed in boiling water for three minutes, then taken out and immersed in ice water. The cooled inflorescences are dried and placed in the freezer. They are stored at -18 – -23 °C. In this form, cabbage can be kept at home for a whole year. However, do not forget that fresh vegetables are much healthier for your baby.

The best broccoli recipes for kids

• Broccoli puree This dish is used at the beginning of complementary feeding. To prepare it, you need to take 100 grams of cabbage, rinse and divide into inflorescences. Cook in a small amount of water over low heat. Broccoli is steamed for 10 minutes (in a double boiler - 15 minutes). The water does not drain. The cabbage must be blended with a blender to the required consistency or mashed with a fork. To make the puree more liquid, add a spoonful of boiled water or breast milk. The dish does not need to be salted!

• Broccoli soup for a baby The baby starts feeding cabbage soup at 8 months. There are two equally good recipes for creamy broccoli soups:

Broccoli and potato puree soup for children

Ingredients:

Broccoli – 300 grams Potatoes – 300 grams Carrots – 1 piece Water – 1 liter

Cooking: Wash the vegetables thoroughly and cut into pieces. Place carrots and potatoes in boiling water, after 10 minutes add broccoli. Cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes. Then remove the pan from the stove and beat the contents with a blender until smooth. Add a little sour cream before serving.

Broccoli soup with rice

Ingredients:

Broccoli - medium head Rice flakes - 2 cups Carrots - 1 pc. Onion – 1 pc. Water – 1 liter

Cooking: Wash the broccoli thoroughly and separate it into florets. Chop the onion, grate the carrots. Add rice flakes to boiling water and cook for 15 minutes. Then add carrots and onions, after 5 minutes – broccoli. Cook for another 10 minutes. Blend the prepared vegetables with a blender until smooth.

• Broccoli casserole

This delicious dish can be offered to your baby when he turns one.

Ingredients:

Frozen broccoli – 1 package Eggs – 4 pcs. Cheese – 200 g Sour cream – 250 g Breadcrumbs

Cooking: Wash the cabbage. Place in lightly salted boiling water. Cook over low heat for 6-7 minutes. Then strain and separate the broccoli into florets. Using a whisk, mix the eggs with sour cream. Add finely grated cheese to this sauce. Grease a baking dish with vegetable oil and sprinkle the bottom with breadcrumbs. Spread the broccoli in an even layer and pour over the egg sauce. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 180-200°C until golden brown.

For feeding a baby

How long should you cook broccoli to feed your baby? This question interests all mothers who use healthy vegetables in feeding their baby. If for adults cabbage can be undercooked or overcooked, then for a baby it should be cooked until tender so that it turns out to be a tender puree and not an unpleasant mass with hard lumps.

To feed a baby, frozen broccoli must be cooked in salted water for at least 15-17 minutes until ready - a little longer than the standard prescribed time. Then the cooked vegetable is removed from the pan with a slotted spoon and rubbed through a sieve. You can simply grind it in a blender.

Steaming

The method of preparing the presented type of steamed cabbage is suitable for people who care about their health, as well as for children, both infants and those with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

How many minutes to cook broccoli in a double boiler depends on the purpose for which it is intended. If you cook cabbage for a side dish or salad, then you may not need to cook it a little, 11-12 minutes is enough, after which the vegetable will be ready. The advantage of steaming vegetables is that they do not absorb a lot of water, making it unsuitable for further cooking in batter or as an ingredient in a salad.

To prepare the baby’s puree, keep the broccoli in the steamer longer – 15-17 minutes. Please note that the steaming time is the same as the previously described boiling in water.

Cooking broccoli in a slow cooker

Broccoli cooked in a slow cooker retains all its beneficial qualities and vitamins. It is not difficult to prepare and does not take long. To do this you need:

1. Pour one tablespoon of vegetable oil into the multicooker bowl and add frozen cabbage.
2. Add 100 ml of water and put 3 tablespoons of butter in the middle. Add salt, pepper and other additional spices to taste.
3. Select the “Pilaf” cooking mode and cook for 20 minutes; do not stir during cooking.
4. After the time has passed, place the prepared broccoli on a plate, serve as a side dish with meat or use as an independent dish.

Creamy cheese sauce for broccoli

Broccoli goes very well with dairy products. Salted milk or heavy cream brings out the best flavor of cabbage and gives the gravy a delicate consistency.

For cooking, it is better to choose hard varieties with a pronounced taste. Parmesan, Cheddar, Maasdam or Gouda are perfect.

You will need the following list of products:

• 200 gr. hard cheese;
• 50 gr. butter;
• 3 tbsp. flour;
• 1 glass of milk;
• 350 ml cream 20%;
• salt, spices - to taste.

Advice! Broccoli is combined with spices such as marjoram, cumin, oregano, nutmeg and rosemary.

Step-by-step cooking method:

• Grate the cheese on a fine grater.
• Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the flour in it until caramel-colored.
• Pour milk into the pan and add grated cheese. Stir continuously, avoiding the formation of lumps.
• As soon as the gravy boils, pour cream into it and add spices. Stirring with a spatula, simmer until the mixture thickens.

The dressing can be served either hot or cold. The main thing is not to store it for a long time, even in the refrigerator.

Broccoli in the microwave

How long it should take to cook a vegetable in the microwave depends on the amount of cabbage being cooked. If you take a standard package weighing 400 g, then cook in the microwave for no more than 6-8 minutes at a power of 800 W. The preparation method is as follows:

1. Place undefrosted cabbage in a microwave-safe bowl.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of water to the container, add salt and cover with a lid, place in the oven.
3. Pour oil over the finished cabbage and sprinkle with fried breadcrumbs.
4. Serve as an independent dish, indispensable for dieting and for those who are fasting.

So we figured it out - how much you need to cook broccoli, in what ways and for what purposes. This vegetable rightfully belongs to the healthy and necessary food products. In addition, it has a delicate and pleasant taste.

Steamed vegetables in a slow cooker will become a healthy and tasty side dish for meat and fish. The vegetables turn out very tasty, not overcooked. This dish will be a godsend for people on a diet, fasting or following proper nutrition. This time I decided to steam cauliflower, broccoli and carrots in a slow cooker, although, of course, you can use other vegetables. This tasty and healthy dish will surely appeal to many, try it!

Cooking steps

We will separate broccoli and cauliflower into inflorescences. Cut the carrots into slices or circles (no need to cut them large).

Place the cauliflower and broccoli inflorescences and carrot pieces in a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste, and add vegetable oil. Mix thoroughly so that the oil, salt and pepper are evenly distributed over the entire surface of the vegetables.

Pour 3 cups of water into the multicooker bowl. Place the substrate with vegetables in the multicooker, close the multicooker lid, select the “Steam” mode, and the “Vegetables” product type. For me, this mode lasts 10 minutes, but since cauliflower and broccoli are quite tender and disassembled into small pieces, 5 minutes from the time countdown will be enough to cook vegetables. Turn off the multicooker manually.

Vegetables steamed in a slow cooker turn out bright, beautiful, and will have a firm, not mushy consistency, which is very tasty!

Such vegetables are perfect as a side dish for meat or fish, and during Lent they will become a wonderful main dish. Vegetables steamed in a slow cooker retain a lot of vitamins and microelements, which means the dish is not only tasty, but also healthy.

Broccoli is a valuable dietary product that is invariably on the list of the most important vegetables in a diet. This cabbage is not used raw; it is an excellent base for delicious vegetable stews and soups, and is also delicious simply steamed. This cabbage contains more vitamin C than lemon, and its pleasant green color pleases not only the eye, but also the delicate taste of gourmets. Steamed broccoli, which can be made in different ways, retains the most vitamins. Due to the content of many beneficial substances in broccoli, it is recommended to use it when caring for weakened hair.

Caring for weakened hair If you do not regularly consume broccoli, then there is a possibility of developing various chronic diseases, which you will learn more about on the website.

What vitamins and minerals does fresh broccoli contain?

Broccoli belongs to the cruciferous family, which includes all cabbages: green, red, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, as well as turnips, watercress and radishes. With a huge amount of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, fresh broccoli is extremely useful in cooking.

Broccoli contains almost 90% water . Its energy value is only about 35 calories per 100 g, which is about the same as fennel or asparagus. This vegetable is very low in carbohydrates, and the protein level reaches almost 3 g per 100 g.

It is a rich source of vitamin C, vitamin K and vitamin B9 (folic acid). For the same weight, broccoli contains twice as much vitamin C as an orange. There are also other B vitamins, vitamin E and provitamins A.

The water contained in the vegetable is rich in minerals:

Attention! Broccoli is one of the richest vegetables in calcium! Only leafy vegetables contain more calcium.

It also contains many microelements:

• iron;
• zinc;
• manganese;
• copper;
• nickel;
• fluorine;
• cobalt;
• iodine;
• selenium.

Dietary fiber is present in large quantities and consists mainly of insoluble fiber, as well as soluble fiber - pectin, which, when cooked, gives the vegetable a soft consistency.

Steamed broccoli in a slow cooker

If you do not have a special steamer, you can use a multicooker to steam broccoli, which has this cooking mode as standard. Broccoli is cleaned, washed, and the roots are cut off and the leaves are removed, after which they are disassembled into inflorescences of approximately the same size. Pour ¾ of water into the multicooker bowl, add bay leaves and herbs and allspice to the water to taste. Place the cabbage on the steamer grid, close the lid, set the “Steam” mode and steam the broccoli as indicated in the instructions for 7-10 minutes.

How long to cook fresh broccoli

Fresh broccoli is quick and easy to prepare. However, it is better to limit time to keep the vegetable crispy. It depends on the cooking method:

• Steam for 5 minutes to maintain a slight crunch;
• 7 – 10 minutes in boiling salted water for soft texture;
• 6 – 8 minutes in the microwave.

Chef's tip: "Immerse the boiled vegetable briefly in ice water to maintain its beautiful green color."

Calories in steamed broccoli

This dish can be safely recommended to all those who like to eat tasty and satisfying food even at two in the morning - it’s a joke, of course, but the calorie content of steamed broccoli is so low that if you don’t snack on it with fatty mayonnaise, you can happily eat this cabbage at any time of the day, without worrying about your figure. 100 grams of steamed broccoli contains only 25 kcal, 3 grams of protein, 0.3 grams of fat, only 5 grams of carbohydrates, so enjoy this dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And to make steamed broccoli even tastier, we offer you original and dietary sauces for this dish.

Sauces for steamed broccoli

50 grams of olive oil, 3-4 cloves of garlic and a sprig of rosemary, or dried, beat with a blender attachment until smooth. Pour the sauce over the finished hot broccoli and serve.

Mix 50 ml soy sauce with 1 teaspoon of curry paste, add a couple of drops of vegetable oil to taste and mix thoroughly. This sauce goes well with steamed broccoli and other vegetables.

It also goes well with broccoli; this cabbage has a special delicate taste that will complement any of your dishes.