I love broccoli. For as long as I can remember. Well, the cooked kind at least. I have only recently started enjoying raw broccoli. It took me a little longer to come around to that. Honestly, I don’t know why broccoli has such a bad wrap. Do you? Perhaps it is the offensive odor that it gives off when cooked? You know, like dirty socks on a wet rainy day? Yea, I guess that isn’t so tasty sounding. But really, when cooked well, not overcooked it is a magnificent vegetable. I can’t tell you how elated I was when my husband finally came around to broccoli. Our whole relationship changed! Okay, I am exaggerating. But our menu options sure did open up! At any rate, it is broccoli season so I thought we should talk about equivalents and yields for heads of broccoli. Keep in mind that head sizes vary but this is a rough estimate of what to expect from broccoli. 
Recipes Using Broccoli:
- Chicken Broccoli Casserole, “Real” Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, or Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole Cups
- Homemade Cheesy Rice
- Veggie Pizza
- Clean Eating Broccoli Soup
- Paleo Beef “Sausage” and Broccoli Egg Cups
- Chicken Divan
- Chicken Alfredo Casserole with Buttermilk Biscuits
- Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Chicken and Broccoli Quesadillas
- Light Lemon Chicken with Broccoli
- GFDF Teriyaki Chicken
5 Comments
Join the discussionWe went to a buffet resturant last night. My 9mo old son was sitting at the end of the table in a highchair. As I went to sit down he grabbed a huge piece of steamed broccoli off my plate and stuffed it in his mouth. When he moved his hands the little flowerets were all over his face and hands. He loved it!
I’ve always loved broccoli too. Good thing for my parents because it was basically the only veggie I would eat. Only problem was I couldn’t (and still can’t) stand overcooked grayish broccoli, and Mom boiled it so overcooking happened painfully often.
Broccoli is by far my favorite veggie! (Great by itself, goes with everything, and it’s a must-have for my “kicked-up ramen” lunches— drain the noodles, use half the spice packet, then add ginger, sesame oil and a ton of veg.) I probably eat if 4x a week or more. But I HATED it as a kid. That was one of the few foods that would get me left at the table to finish. I’d sit there for literally hours, staring at that ice-cold grey-green broccoli. Then, when no one was looking, I’d put it out on the windowsill! All done! (Then I’d retrieve it the next morning.)I think my mom just cooked it too much for my taste. And that’s how you get that nasty smell. Now I just steam in the micro for 2-1/2 minutes— no more. Just cooked, nice and crisp, and BRIGHT green. Even my militantly anti-veg niece loves it this way. I used to hate it raw too, but I recently found that if nuked for 30 seconds, it’s still basically “raw” (ie: appropriate for a cold salad), but the flavor totally changes into AWESOME. So good. Oven-roasted (another recent discovery) is also fantastic.
I have a book called Cook it Right! (by Barbara Nowak) that is purely a “directory” for equivalents and substitutions. It’s a great reference!
Thanks for letting me know about that! I will definitely check it out!