Oven Roasted Broccoli

Oven Roasted Broccoli is a super easy side dish and healthy too! It’s easy to make and goes with just about any dinner you can think of. The combination of the right amount of heat in the oven, along with a few ingredients for flavor will keep you coming back for more.

How do you eat more veggies? This is a question I’ve been working on solving in our house for years now! And we have quite a number of recipes now to help with that. From tasty salads to roasted veggies, it’s all about making veggies super flavorful. This simple roasted broccoli is one of our favorites that we make over and over again because it’s just so yummy.

However I realized I’d never written it down before. It’s really so simple it’s hardly a recipe, more of a technique. You just toss a few ingredients together on a cookie sheet and roast to golden browned perfection. And that’s what makes this broccoli taste so good – it’s all about getting the roasting process right!

This recipe makes use of fresh broccoli, but if you’re looking for how to roast frozen, check out my Lemon Herb Roasted Broccoli. It has a different a temperature and tips that will help you get a better result from frozen.

Let’s get started by talking about the ingredients for this Oven Roasted Broccoli!

• Broccoli – This recipe is for fresh broccoli as I mentioned above, but you can use frozen in my Lemon Herb Broccoli recipe. Tip: make sure your broccoli has dried after you wash it. It’s hard for veggies to properly caramelize while roasting if they start wet. It also really helps to keep your broccoli florets as even as possible. Evenly sized pieces roast perfectly, while a combination of large and small florets with leave you with overcooked and crunchy broccoli at the same time!
• Olive oil – provides a nice flavor, but I’ve also used avocado oil as well when I do the Asian version from the variations listed below.
• Garlic – just a touch of fresh minced garlic goes a long way towards making this broccoli a side dish you’ll make weekly. If you’re not a fan of mincing up garlic, try using a garlic press. It really speeds things up, and it has unbeatable flavor compared to a jarred garlic, (which I really don’t recommend). If fresh garlic is completely out of the question, try using 1/2-1 teaspoon garlic granules to your taste.
• Sea salt & pepper – are key to bringing out the wonderful roasted broccoli flavor.

Ok… now let’s make this recipe step by step:

Step 1:

Start by prepping the ingredients you’ll be tossing together with the broccoli.

Step 2:

Cut up the heads of broccoli into even sized florets. For the stems, use a vegetable peeler to remove the tough outer layer. Then thinly slice the broccoli stems about 1/4″ thick.

Step 3:

Place the broccoli onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and toss it together with the olive oil, garlic, sea salt, and pepper.

Step 4:

Roast the broccoli until crisp tender and browning around the edges, 15-20 minutes. Finally serve with anything you’d like! Or check out the variations below for more fun flavors to add to the mix.

Roasted Broccoli Variations:

1. Italian version: After the broccoli is done, sprinkle with 1/4 cup grated parmesan and squeeze a touch of lemon over the top. This is Tyler’s favorite variation, and I always make it whenever I’m making something Italian inspired. In all seriousness though, he always eats 2 large bowlfuls when I make this parmesan broccoli.
2. Asian inspired: Before you roast the broccoli add 1 teaspoon minced ginger and 2 tablespoon coconut aminos or soy sauce to the pan. You will need to reduce or omit the sea salt for this one. Toss together and roast. You can also use sesame oil in place of the olive oil if you have it. If you’re using toasted sesame oil, try using half the amount called for and then use avocado oil to make up the rest.
3. Mexican variation: Add 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 teaspoon chipotle powder or ancho chili powder when you’re tossing the broccoli together with the other ingredients. I also like to sub in avocado oil for olive oil for this one. When the broccoli is done roasting serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.

What to serve with this roasted broccoli:

• Creamy Tuscan Chicken.
• Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
• Rosemary Pork Ragu with Cauliflower Polenta
• Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
• Instant Pot Paleo Butter Chicken
• Healthy Orange Chicken
• Easy Pizza Stuffed Chicken
• Thai Coconut Lime Chicken

And finally some of our favorite side dishes to pair with this broccoli are my Simple Mashed Sweet Potatoes or Best Mashed Potatoes. For an extra veggie, try my Garlic Butter Sautéed Mushrooms which are super good with the parmesan version of this broccoli.

Also for even more side dish inspiration, you can head over to the recipe index for the whole side dish lineup. I really hope you enjoy this super simple side dish! If you have any requests for what you’d like to see next, let me know with a comment below.

And if you do get a chance to make this, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/rating below. I always love hearing from you here!

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