6 Ways to Use Broccoli Stems

One  of the veggies we eat the most is steamed broccoli. I buy fresh broccoli and steam it in a pot with my steam basket. All three of us love it with a little butter, salt and pepper. The only problem with  buying fresh broccoli is there’s usually quite a bit of stem on the broccoli. I keep some of the stem on the broccoli when I steam it, but I also cut a lot of it off and used to just throw the extra stems away. In my effort to waste less food I stared chopping the leftover stems up and tossing them in a bag in the freezer. Here’s some ideas for using those broccoli stems instead of wasting them:

• Freeze – Like I just mentioned I like to cut them up into bit sized pieces and freeze in a bag. It probably would be best to only freeze them if you plan on cooking them before eating.
• Use in Soup – This is my favorite way to use them. I make a veggie soup using whatever veggies I have, including broccoli stems. The last time I cut up broccoli I had a whole cup of broccoli stem pieces, that’ll really help stretch my next soup!
• Juice in a juicer – If you have a juicer you could juice your stems in a veggie drink.
• Peel the tough outside and cut the inside into sticks and enjoy as a tasty snack (idea from The Complete Tightwad Gazette).
• Shred the stems and use in a coleslaw (idea from my mother-in-law).
• Another idea my mother-in-law suggested was if you do want to cook all of the steams, but the outer skin is tough, just peel it off and cook up the rest.

Broccoli Leaves: You know those little dark green leaves that are often on broccoli stems? I remember reading once that they’re really nutritious, so leave those on and cook them up too!

This post is shared at Tammy’s Recipes for Kitchen Tip Tuesday.

A whole cup of broccoli stems for soup!