Easy Oven Roasted Broccoli

Broccoli is an amazingly healthy food which is full of minerals, vitamins, fiber, and it is low in calories.

Unfortunately it is usually pretty boring as well, unless you do something like add Hollandaise sauce to it which suddenly makes it very interesting but not very healthy at all.

Here is a very simple recipe that is delicious and healthy. An entire pound of broccoli prepared this way has only has 400 calories!

This recipe only needs five ingredients!

Broccoli - one pound of broccoli florets. If you buy whole broccoli, you will need to cut it up. I often use precut broccoli florets from the supermarket which make this super easy and fast. I usually buy two pound bags, and sometimes make a double recipe.

Garlic - One tablespoon of freshly chopped or pressed garlic is called for, and you can add more or less to taste. It is also possible to buy prechopped garlic (it usually comes in small jars). The prechopped is OK, but fresh is definitely better!

Salt - I usually use kosher salt, a common form of pure large crystal salt. You can also use ordinary table salt if that is what you have handy or sea salt.

Pepper -  A small amount of black pepper is required, and fresh ground is best.

Olive Oil - Preferably extra virgin. Quality does matter here.

Wash and cut the broccoli into small to medium size florets. The florets are the flower part of the broccoli as opposed to the large stem, which is discarded.

If you have bought precut broccoli as I did, there is far less to do. Simply wash it, cut any large florets in half, and if any parts have started to brown simply cut them off. This is very common on the base of the stem part of the floret if it is not super fresh.

You can definitely buy prechopped garlic for convenience but it simply is not as flavorful. I do occasionally use it although I greatly prefer chopping or pressing my own.

You will need approximately 1 tablespoon which is 3-4 large cloves or more smaller ones.

A great trick to make peeling garlic simple is to first crush the cloves slightly by putting them on a cutting board and then hitting them with the side of a large knife or other object. They peel very easily afterwards.

You can then chop them (slow) or use a garlic press (much faster).

You may want to start preheating the oven to 420 degrees now also.

Mix the one tablespoon of chopped or pressed garlic with two tablespoons of olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt, and a quarter of a teaspoon of black pepper. These are summarized below:

Garlic: 1 tablespoon
Olive Oil: 2 tablespoons
Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
Black Pepper: 1/4 teaspoon

Mix the broccoli florets with the olive oil mixture from the previous step.

There are lots of ways you can do this. I used to toss them in a large bowl.

I found an easier way is to put the broccoli in a ziplock bag, drizzle the olive oil mixture over it, and then seal the bag leaving plenty of air inside. Shake vigorously for a 2-3 minutes to evenly coat the broccoli.

Place the broccoli in a baking pan, arranging it to be one layer deep. Almost any kind of pan is fine and even a cookie sheet will work.

In the picture, I've covered the sheet pan I'm using with a layer of aluminum foil to speed clean up.

Assuming the oven has preheated to 420 degrees, place the pan in the oven. We will cook it for approximately 15-20 minutes.

It is done when the florets are just slightly starting to brown. Feel free to try one to see if you like how they cooked. I like mine slightly on the firm side.

I often will eat oven roasted broccoli alone, and also often have it as a side dish with main course.
It is also great as leftovers and I'll happily munch on it cold.

Notice it is still steaming hot in the picture.

Even my kids and uncle, non broccoli lovers, love this recipe!

Some hopefully helpful Internet resources:

Nutrition Facts for Broccoli

Kosher Salt

All about Olive Oil

Oven Roasted Broccoli that Rocks