After spending WAAAY to long cooking dinner back when we did the Whole30, I felt the need to get back to the basics.
I shared our go-to recipe for roasted potatoes, and everyone LOVES them.
What’s weird though (although I’m not complaining!!), is that they love this recipe for roasted broccoli just as much!
Every week I ask my family two questions:
- What would you like to have for dinner this week?
- What vegetable would you like to have?
These two questions help me in a few ways…
- I’m cooking foods my family likes, which means less food wasted.
- It also means less whining when I answer the inevitable, “What’s for dinner?”
- I’m cooking VEGETABLES that my family likes – including the picky eaters!
- They actually ENJOY eating dinner and the aforementioned vegetables.
- It helps me see the trend as a whole for what my family likes, so I can keep doing more of that and less of what they don’t like.
Believe it or not, when I ask my people what vegetable they’d like for dinner that week, both my husband and my daughter ALWAYS pick roasted broccoli. I’d say we have a winner!
If you have people in your family who hate broccoli though (which is traditionally steamed), hear me out. Roasted broccoli is NOTHING like steamed broccoli.
Steamed broccoli is mushy, soft, kind of bland and really vegetable-y. It’s just not pleasant to eat, to smell or to eat.
ROASTED broccoli however, is completely different.
It’s firm, has a good bite to it and it has a depth of flavor that can only come from roasting in the oven.
We love roasted broccoli so much, that we actually stopped steaming vegetables and now roast them instead. Even if we’re making kung pao chicken or Instant Pot beef and broccoli or 30 minute cashew chicken – we roast the vegetables very time!
The recipe for roasted broccoli is pretty straightforward, but I do have a few words of wisdom to pass on.
Broccoli
Fresh broccoli works best. In fact, I’m willing to say that I’d ONLY use fresh broccoli for this recipe.
I tried frozen broccoli once and it just wasn’t the same. It was like steamed broccoli from the oven. Which was mushy, flavorless and not appetizing at all.
Go fresh, all the way.
With that said, you can use big broccoli crowns OR you can go the easy route with the bags of pre-cut broccoli florets.
Know though, that 90% of the time the bags of pre-cut florets will cost more than the broccoli crowns.
And really, having some extra stem in roasted broccoli is a good thing! It gives some extra body and volume to a vegetable that really does feel like you’re eating little trees.
Seasoning
Salt and pepper are the requirements here. There’s no need to get all fancy if you don’t want to…
… BUT…
I sometimes like to get fancy!
I’ve added every spice blend in my pantry to roasted broccoli and they’re all great… Italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, Greek seasoning, Cajun seasoning, Chinese 5 Spice, an Ethiopian blend and even a Japanese blend…
Use whatever seasoning you’re in the mood for, or what compliments the other things you’re making!
How to Make Roasted Broccoli
The “how to” for roasted broccoli is pretty simple and straight-forward:
- Cut the broccoli into florets, keeping as much stem as possible attached. (This is simply because the stems are edible and it gives more food to chew when you take a bite. If your family doesn’t like the stems of broccoli, save them for something else, like stir-fry or broccoli soup.)
- Spread the broccoli in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
- Drizzle with olive oil.
- Season with salt and pepper and additional spices as desired.
- Roast in the oven until the broccoli florets start to char.
When it comes to roasted broccoli, you WANT the florets to be nearly burned. Obviously you don’t want to actually burn the food, but getting the florets to the point of dark brown and nearly black in several places makes them irresistible!
Roasted broccoli is best the day it’s made, fresh out of the oven. It doesn’t make for bad leftovers, but it’s certainly not as crisp.
You can re-heat in the oven to crisp it up again, or you can chop up leftovers and add them to scrambled eggs or quiche or any other “kitchen sink” dish that uses up whatever leftovers you have.
I prefer to make “just enough” broccoli to cover dinner and leftovers for maybe a breakfast hash or reheated lunch. For us right now, that’s about 3 big heads of broccoli. Feel free to scale down or up as you need to!
Roasted Broccoli
Make oven roasted broccoli for an easy weeknight side dish. Perfectly crisp with just the right amount of char, everyone will want seconds of the veggies!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Sides
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Wash and dry the broccoli. Cut the heads into florets, keeping as much stem as possible attached.
- Spread the broccoli into a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Drizzle evenly with olive oil.
- Season with salt and pepper and additional spices as desired.
- Roast in the oven until the broccoli florets start to char, about 15-20 minutes.*
Notes
* Roasted broccoli goes from lovely char to flat out burned pretty quick. I recommend setting the oven timer to 15 minutes, and then adding additional cooking time in 2-3 minute increments if needed. Don’t leave the kitchen on the additional cooking time though!
Nutrition
- Calories: 838
Adrianne
We love roasted broccoli! Redmond Real Salt makes a wonderful season salt, and that’s what we use on all our roasted veggies. It’s delicious!
Tiffany
I agree – it’s the best salt!
Charlotte Childers
Yesterday I found a recipe for pumpkin pie. I wrote down the ingredients I would need to buy. My printer ran out of ink so I didn’t print the recipe out. I bought what I needed but now I can’t find where the recipe was. I have tried Epicurious and Allrecipes which are the two I usually use (plus Don’t Waste the Crumbs, of course) and I can’t find it. Here is what I remember. The crust was made of graham crackers but she also suggested using ginger snaps, which I purchased this a.m. The recipe called for a 15 oz can of pumpkin (purchased after hitting 2 stores to find it) , dark brown sugar (3/4 cup I think) (which I had) 4 T of fresh grated ginger (purchased this am, recipe suggested grating a 4″ piece and not using the fiber and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, eggs (I don’t remember how many), 1 cup of heavy cream. Can anyone help?
Tiffany
Hi Charlotte! If you google “ginger snap pumpkin pie,” I get lots of suggestions. You can even add “ginger snap pumpkin pie 15 oz canned pumpkin” and that should help!
Paula Stone
This sounds wonderful, don’t know why I never thought of it myself. I do the same thing with brussel sprouts. I know just what you mean with the char, same with the sprouts can go from charred to burnt in a matter of like 30seconds. Looking for ward to this recipe!! Thank you.
Paula M Stone
Tiffany
You’re very welcome Paula!
Tamara MacGinty
I tried this today. Unfortunately I didn’t find the broccoli tender after 15 minutes and by the time it was tender it was a little too charred. I like the idea of it but I think I’ll steam the broccoli a bit first and then roast it.