Roasted Broccoli Recipe

As a child, your parents forced you to eat it much to your dismay. As an adult, it's the perfect side dish that's easy and quick to whip up for a midweek meal or elevated with a golden char at your favorite steakhouse. It's broccoli. Extremely versatile in nature, this green goddess is chock full of iron, potassium, calcium, and basically everything good you should be putting into your body.

Healthy eating advocate Maren Epstein of Eating Works is introducing our palates to a simple recipe for the vegetable that you can bet we'll be adding ASAP to our weekly rotation. The Florida-based professional chef told Mashed, "This dish really goes well with anything. Most often, I serve it as a side with a beet and goat cheese salad. The cold leftovers are even perfect for placing in a salad for lunch." 

We hope this approachable recipe becomes a staple in your kitchen as well! Bon appetit. Enjoy our simple roasted broccoli. 

The best part about this tried-and-true recipe? You likely have all the ingredients you need already in your pantry. In addition to the broccoli, you'll only need olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and lemons. As you're gathering the ingredients, now would be a good time to go ahead and preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. While fresh or frozen broccoli would work in this recipe, Epstein told Mashed, "I prefer to use fresh broccoli. Frozen broccoli is fine as well, but it is less firm in texture, so it won't crisp up in the oven as easily." In a pinch and only have frozen broccoli on hand? No worries. Just know, if you do happen to use frozen broccoli, you'll have to cook it a bit longer, and the results may be a little different.

Here's the part that requires just a wee bit of elbow grease. In a mixing bowl, you're going to combine the broccoli florets with the olive oil, pepper, salt, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. In order to achieve the perfect crisp from roasting, massage the broccoli and ingredients together with your hands. This is going to break down the broccoli a bit and soften it up. This will also ensure that the flavor of the oil and seasoning is locked into the veggies and each piece is evenly coated for uniform flavor.

While the recipe calls for olive oil, you could also use butter in its place. Occasionally, Epstein likes to even mix the two together. Olive oil does have a higher smoking point than butter, but it is also significantly lower in saturated fat. If you're looking to keep this dish healthy-ish, you may want to stick with the olive oil. 

Next, you're going to arrange the broccoli for roasting on a foil-lined baking sheet in a single layer. The foil will make cleaning a breeze and ensure that your efforts don't get stuck behind on the pan. It's crucial in this step that the pan not be overly crowded. If the pan is too crowded, it will cause the broccoli to steam instead of roast, resulting in a sad, soggy result. Once you've arranged the broccoli, it's roasting time, baby! You'll bake for 15 minutes, then flip the broccoli over and cook for an additional ten minutes, give or take. Keep an eye on the broccoli, as you'll want the edges to be golden brown but not burnt.

That's it! With minimal effort, you'll have this truly satisfying accompaniment alongside your favorite chicken, beef, or even fish dish. Epstein explained that this wonderfully fragrant pairing could hold its own alongside anything for a quick meal. If you're going for something light, this works great with a simple salad. Roasted broccoli also keeps well as a leftover and can be consumed cold on its own or as a delicious additive to your lunch salad. If your goal is to have leftovers, this recipe produces four serving sizes, but you could always add extra servings with the addition of one cup of broccoli per desired additional serving. 

We hope this recipe will add some convenience and flavor to your kitchen!