Alton Brown’s Pan-Steamed Broccoli method cooks up vibrant green, fork-tender florets (and stalks!) to become your new go-to veggie strategy. Plus, the finishing sprinkle of salt and drizzle of melted butter lends a luxe seasoning that completely resuscitated my usual cry-for-help broccoli routine (I finally got the memo).
I love broccoli. It’s my favorite vegetable and I eat it almost every day. But my non-Alton Brown cooking method usually involves dumping a bag of broccoli florets into a bowl and nuking it within an inch of its life. The result is less of a fresh, snappy veg vibe—and more like a steaming, stinky, green mess that someone would have called the original Ghostbusters to exterminate. But, hey, when I’m making a quick lunch at home by myself, it does the job.
Luckily, Alton’s technique results in a fine-dining veggie side, with about the same effort as work-from-home sweatpants. It’s 10 minutes total from raw to ready-to-eat. And the dab of butter brings out the slightly peppery, vegetal notes in the broccoli; each bite tender, seasoned with just enough salt, and smelling like comforting home cooking—not, y’know, broccoli.
How To Make Alton Brown’s Perfect Broccoli
All you need to do is gather your fresh broccoli, 1/3 cup of water, a pinch of salt, two tablespoons of butter, and a medium saucepan. Peel the stalks (this was new to me, but it was definitely worth removing the impossible-to-chew exterior), then use kitchen shears or a knife to remove the florets. Slice the stalks into bite-sized bits, pop them into your pan—followed by the water and salt—and place the florets on top.
Secure the lid, cook over high heat for three minutes, then decrease the heat to low and cook for another three minutes. Toss the broccoli with the butter, and Bob’s your uncle: Al dente broccoli is served.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Why I Love This Broccoli Cooking Method
I really noticed a difference in the notoriously terrible-to-eat broccoli stalk. (Florets are easy! You could toss them like a raw wedding bouquet, and people would elbow each other to catch the stalk first and dunk it in ranch dressing.)
Stalks never fail to remind me that I’m eating broccoli. But while Alton’s strategy maintains the stem’s signature structure, it also somehow allows the insides to become deliciously tender in just six minutes on the heat. How? I don’t know. Steam is magic. It removes wrinkles from clothes, cleans pores, and puts the “cool” back in broccoli.
Real talk: This method takes 10000% longer than my lackluster microwave “steaming” method, and carving broccoli heads involves more effort than store-bought florets—but just barely. And instead of being something I wouldn’t even serve to my mortal enemies, Alton Brown’s broccoli steaming method would delight even my most broccoli-hesitant besties.
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