?
The Best Roasted Broccoli Dish You
Eat Well Aug. 14. 2018
Sides & Snacks

The Best Roasted Broccoli You’ll Ever Need

Aug. 14. 2018
Sides & Snacks
McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

Founder of Nutrition Stripped® and the Mindful Nutrition Method™

This roasted broccoli dish is so good, it’ll make you want to eat more broccoli even if it’s already something you enjoy.

We all know someone, or maybe it’s us we’re talking about, that are picky eaters especially when it comes to vegetables — while also encouraging the picky eaters in your life who don’t like to eat their “greens”. Then you’ll love this roasted broccoli side dish that’ll make you want to eat more broccoli.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Broccoli?

Talk about these little green trees and digestion —  in one cup of cooked broccoli, you’re feeding your digestive system about five grams of fiber. Broccoli may help your digestion by protecting your gut microbiota (or the mix of healthy bacteria in the gut). In an experiment done on mice, researchers found that broccoli activated a receptor in the gut that helped reduce inflammation (1). This is especially beneficial for people with digestive conditions, like colitis.

Most of my clients who come to me with digestive issues often can’t tolerate eating cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, raw. It causes a lot of bloating, gas, and sometimes makes their stomachs very bloated and distended. In order to combat that and still get the nutrition punch and fiber boost broccoli has to offer, simple flash steam or cook it!

Roasted Broccoli In Your Meal Prep Rotation

Roasting a sheet pan of your favorite vegetables to use in your meals throughout the week is key to squeezing in more vegetables, saving you tons of time, while eating nutritious and delicious foods that are homemade. Something as easy as roasting broccoli can add important vitamins and minerals to your diet along with the fiber we need to keep our digestive systems healthy, moving along, and create favorable gut health.

Use roasted broccoli in a big Nourish Bowl for lunch, add it into a quick stir-fry with other vegetables, proteins, healthy fats, and carbohydrates and boom, you have a quick and easy meal! Not to mention, a lot of people aren’t huge fans of broccoli so by roasting this nutrient-dense cruciferous vegetable, you’re changing up the texture and flavor in a way that’ll change your mind about ole’ broccoli.

A meal-prep hack with roasted veggies:

  • If you’re adding the roasted broccoli to something like a cold salad or Nourish Bowl, then enjoy it chilled! It still has the roasted flavors, but if you really want that crisp texture you’ll be forgoing it in this application if you just add it to a salad. The alternative way would be to put it in the oven for a quick heat blast to crisp it up — but remember, the whole point of meal prep is to save you time to enjoy it how it is!
  • If you’re adding the roasted broccoli to a hot meal or stir-fry, just add in the pre-cooked roasted broccoli and heat until warm. Again, if you’re looking for the specific roasted texture (a little crispy) then the only way to achieve this again, is to put it in the oven for a bit until you get the texture you’re after. Otherwise, I enjoy it just the same!
  • If you’re using pre-cooked roasted broccoli as a snack, try enjoying it chilled and dipping it into Creamy Sweet Onion Dip or the Cashew Kimchi Dip!

Stripped

Broccoli

Broccoli has brothers and sisters in the cruciferous vegetable family — kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and more. All cruciferous vegetables have similar health benefits — broccoli, in particular, contains fiber compounds that bind very well to bile acids in our digestive systems, which ultimately help to lower cholesterol, especially when cooked.

Broccoli is also great for overall anti-inflammatory benefits in our bodies as well as providing an extra boost in detoxification support (especially from ITC’s), protection against oxidative stress, cardiovascular support, digestive support, and protection from certain cancers. Broccoli has powerful overall health benefits from their antioxidants, sulforaphane, minerals, vitamins, and fiber.

For cancer protection, it’s recommended cruciferous vegetables, in general, be consumed on average of 1/2 cup a day or 2 cups per week at minimum. As with most fruits and vegetables, broccoli contains great amounts of fiber which help our digestive system moving, keeps us fuller for a longer period of time, and releases a steady flow of energy into our bodies.

1 Cup Of Broccoli Contains:

  • Fiber — 1 cup of raw broccoli contains 2g fiber
  • Protein — 1 cup of raw broccoli contains 3g protein
  • Vitamin A — 11% DV
  • Vitamin C — 135% DV
  • Vitamin E — 4% DV
  • Vitamin K — 116% DV
  • B vitamins — B6, B2, B1, B5
  • Folate — 14% DV
  • Calcium — 5% DV
  • Iron — 5% DV
  • Magnesium — 5% DV
  • Phosphorus — 6% DV
  • Potassium — 8% DV
  • Manganese — 10% DV
  • Antioxidants

The Recipe

Serves 4-6

Print

Ingredients

6 cups raw organic broccoli

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, optional but recommended

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Pinch of ground cayenne pepper

Garnish options: red pepper flakes, fresh chopped parsley, lemon zest, and pine nuts

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and have a lined baking sheet pan ready to go. In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients to coat the broccoli in the oil and vinegar, etc.

Step 2

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, about halfway through (at 10 minutes), stir everything around making sure the broccoli is cooked on both sides, you can do a taste test here as well to potentially add more salt or pepper to your liking.

Step 3

After the broccoli is crisp on the outside and fork tender, take out of the oven and serve immediately or if you’re making this for meal prep, then allow it to cool before putting into a glass container for storage.

Step 4

If serving right away, try adding a couple of the garnish options to jazz it up — fresh chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, or pine nuts are really good.

Have Leftovers? Here’s What To Do With Them:

As always, store in an airtight glass container that we recommend from the NS Shop for up to 5 days. Enjoy as a component to your meals in a quick lunch or dinner.

Can’t wait to see you try it!

Did you know that you can submit your own photo of whatever recipe you make from NS? Scroll down to the bottom right and you’ll see a section for you to show off your creations from home!

Can’t wait to see how you make these and share your meal with me! Tag us on Instagram @nutritionstripped #nutritionstripped

References:
  1. Troy D.Hubbard, Iain A.Murray, Robert G.Nichols, Kaitlyn Cassel. Michael Podolsky, Guray Kuzu, Yuan Tian, Phillip Smith, Mary J. Kennett. Andrew D.Patterson. Gary H. Perdew. (2017, October.) Dietary broccoli impacts microbial community structure and attenuates chemically induced colitis in mice in an Ah receptor-dependent manner.

Reclaim Peace With Food

Break free from dieting and overthinking with our proven 3-part method, designed to help you take charge of your eating habits for life. Be confident, calm, and in control with food for life!

🌿 Feel confident and in control with food
🌱 Break free from food rules
🥑 Enjoy food without stress
🧠 Stop overthinking food choices
🕯️ Reclaim your focus and energy
🔄 Ditch the dieting cycle for good
🫶 Trust yourself with food
💫 Achieve freedom with food
TAKE THE FIRST STEP →