What the heck do I do with broccoli leaves?
Short answer – make this vegetable broth and eat them!
Edible Broccoli Leaves – Eat Them!
Long answer, this is a question that I’m asked often with gardeners who grow broccoli. First of all, take a few seconds and give yourself a big congratulations on growing broccoli! It’s not the easiest plant to grow so CHEERS! Now let’s check out that broccoli plant. Yes, you have a big beautiful broccoli head on top, but do you see all those broccoli leaves on the plant too? Sure, you can compost them, but can I give you a (in my opinion) better suggestion? How about you cook with those broccoli leaves? Did you know you’re growing a gold mine in terms of a plant? Not only do you get a broccoli head out of the deal, but you get broccoli leaves and stalks too! What can you do with the broccoli leaves? My favorite recipe is…Vegetable Broth! You guys – broccoli leaves make the best vegetable broth! Do you remember how I made Vegetable Broth with carrot tops? Well I basically use this same method with broccoli leaves. And let me tell you – it makes one heck of a delicious broth!
Broccoli Vegetable Broth Ingredients
1 pound broccoli leaves + stalks 8 cups water 2 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon salt 2 bay leaves other vegetable scraps (optional)
What other vegetables can I add to vegetable broth?
If you want to make vegetable broth with JUST broccoli leaves, that’s awesome, and that’s going to make a great broth. But if you have a few other vegetables scraps available, you can really boost up the flavor of the broth. For my broth I’m also adding some carrot peels and collard green stems (from this Italian Sausage Soup recipe). Basically I use whatever vegetable scraps are available from the last day. You can also use potato peels, chopped up onions and peels, zucchini and eggplant scraps, trimmings of beans and sugar snap peas, chopped tomatoes and celery. Honestly, the options are endless, so use what you have!
How to Cook Broccoli Leaves
Add broccoli leaves (and stalks), water, garlic, salt and bay leaves to a large pot. If you’re adding other vegetable peels, throw them in the pot too. Bring to a boil over high heat.Once boiling, cover with a lid and turn to low. Simmer for 1 hour. As you can see the broccoli leaves broke down quite nicely. Pour the broth through a colander, catching the liquid broth in a bowl below. Discard (or compost) the broccoli leaves. You can use the vegetable broth immediately or freeze for later use. This recipe makes 7 cups of vegetable broth, so I like to fill a mason jar up with broth and put in the refrigerator to use in the next couple of days. Then I’ll freeze the remaining broth.
What you can do with Vegetable Broth?
See below for my list of recipes that use vegetable broth, but I have to tell you about my absolute favorite way to use this broth. We make rice quite often in our kitchen, so instead of cooking the rice in water, I cook it in broth! The rice gets SO flavorful. You can use broth for cooking the rice on the stove top or the rice cooker (our preferred method!).
Vegetable Broth Recipe Video
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Recipes That Use Vegetable Broth
Here’s some of my top recipes that use vegetable broth. I find that you can substitute vegetable broth for meat based broths in most recipes. Stuffed Pepper Casserole Cheeseburger Soup Cheesy Vegetable Soup Hot and Sour Soup Roma Tomato Soup Kielbasa and Cabbage Pin for later:
