Bonus Recipe: Roasted Frozen Broccoli
A simple technique turns frozen broccoli into a vegetable you actually want to eat
Frozen veggies are convenient, affordable and healthy, but often disappointingly mushy and flavorless. When I bought a giant bag of frozen broccoli at Costco last month, I thought, “there must be a way to make this stuff taste good.”
I was right! There is!
It took numerous pans of roasted broccoli, but I’ve finally cracked the code. There is a simple way to roast frozen broccoli so that it’s both crispy & tender actually tastes good.
What I’m sharing here is more of a technique than a recipe. The only ingredients you need are frozen broccoli, olive oil and salt. But there are a few simple things you can do so that frozen roasted broccoli turns out flavorful and not completely mushy.
Follow the simple instructions below exactly, and your next batch of roasted frozen broccoli should turn out better than it ever has before.
Roasted Frozen Broccoli
Ingredients
Frozen broccoli, any amount
Olive oil, about 2 tablespoons for every 1 pound of broccoli
Salt, to taste (be generous!)
Instructions
Heat the oven to 425F.
Spray a baking sheet with oil. If you don’t have cooking spray, you can lightly brush the sheet-pan with oil.
Spread out the frozen broccoli. Give each floret a little bit of space. Use more than one sheet-pan if necessary.
Roast the frozen broccoli for 15 minutes. Stir it once during this time, to keep it from sticking to the pan. During this cooking time, the broccoli will defrost and some of the moisture in the florets will evaporate.
After 15 minutes, use a spatula to loosen the broccoli (it might stick a little bit) and push the florets together. This makes it easier to drizzle olive oil over the broccoli and season it with salt.
Once you’ve lightly coated the broccoli with olive oil and salt, spread it out evenly again. Let it roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice. You can even roast it for slightly longer, if you like really browned broccoli.
When it’s ready the broccoli should be nicely browned and crispy on the edges, with a tender but not overly soft texture. Taste it and add more salt if needed. The broccoli can be served warm or at room temperature.
Helpful Tips
Remember, this is frozen broccoli - it will never be as crisp and crunchy as fresh broccoli. It will always have a slightly softer texture. But, this method will keep it as firm and crispy as possible.
Because the texture is softer, this broccoli really soaks up vinaigrette well. Try serving it at room temperature drizzled with your favorite salad dressing.
Don’t line the sheet-pan with parchment, foil, Silpat, etc. . .Using any sort of liner will trap moisture as the frozen broccoli defrosts and make it soggy.
Don’t defrost the broccoli first. Put it on the sheet-pan completely frozen.
When you dump out the bag of frozen broccoli, try to avoid having any large chunks of ice from the bag drop on the sheet-pan.
Make sure to let the frozen broccoli roast for 15 minutes, then add the oil. You want the broccoli to be defrosted and you want most of the moisture to have evaporated before adding oil.