The Best Grilled Broccoli Recipe is Magic Grilled Broccoli

This isn’t just the Best Grilled Broccoli Recipe it’s a Magic Grilled Broccoli recipe! And this needs to be your next favorite vegetable side dish for your cookouts!  Also, it’s vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free!

Try Grilled Side Dishes

Summertime means the grill is king. We cook just about everything on the grill this time of year including our vegetables. If you haven’t tried grilling broccoli you are in for a real treat. It comes off the grill crisp-tender and is slightly charred with just a hint of smoke.

Keep it simple! The flavors are amazing so don’t try to overwhelm this delicious grilled vegetable with marinades and heavy sauces. Just add the garlic oil after grilling and get ready to dig into the good stuff.

Favorite Vegetable Side Dish Recipes

If you don’t have a favorite vegetable side dish for this summer let me introduce you to this broccoli grill recipe.  It is full of colorful vegetables, loaded with fresh flavor, and is a quick dish that doesn’t heat up your kitchen.

What is not to like?

Make this amazing grilled broccoli and no doubt it will become one of your top favorites for cookouts.

And if you like cauliflower try my Grilled Cauliflower Salad!

How to Grill Broccoli

If you have a grill pan or a vegetable basket you can cut your broccoli pretty small.  You can also use pre-cut broccoli florets and save some time.

Alternatively, a larger cut will allow you to place broccoli pieces right on the grates.  Just cut the broccoli with 3 – 4 florets on a 2 – 3 inch stem if you want to grill broccoli this way. 

This Magic Grilled Broccoli recipe calls for a quick blanch of broccoli.  This step helps it soften ever so slightly so you have the crisp crunch without the hardness of being almost raw in the middle of the stalk.  You can certainly skip this step if you want.

Two quick minutes in the hot water followed by a plunge into ice water will set the broccoli up for the grill. Let the broccoli dry for a bit. A tea towel-lined baking sheet can help finish the drying process. You can speed it up a bit by using a salad spinner to get rid of excess moisture as well.

Get Your Broccoli on the Grill

Once the broccoli is mostly dry, it’s time to prepare it for the grill. Toss it with some olive oil and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Place a grill pan over high heat for about 5 minutes. Depending on the size of your pan you may have to grill the broccoli in several batches as you don’t want to crowd the pan. We want grilled broccoli not steamed broccoli.

Turn the florets as they grill to get a good char all over. Then remove from the grill.  Tada!

Ingredients for the Magic Grilled Broccoli Recipe

The ingredient list for this recipe is pretty simple.  Some of these items you probably have in your pantry. Shop there first then make your list and head to your grocery store!

• 3 Heads Broccoli
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Fresh Garlic Cloves
• Mild Red Chiles
• Sea salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Almond Slivers
• Lemon

Anytime you are grilling veggies focus on quality produce. You can cook a simple dish when using quality produce, but no amount of sauce is going to make shoddy produce taste good.

So if the produce section of your grocery store isn’t all that hot, check out your farmer’s market for local, fresh from the field quality produce.

Should I Buy Organic Broccoli?

Also, when it comes to broccoli, should you buy organic? It honestly depends on who you ask.

Some suggest if you are not going to peel your produce you should buy organic. Others state washing produce helps eliminate some of the pesticides.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) publishes an annual Clean Fifteen™ list which ranks the fruits and vegetables lowest in pesticide residues. This list is based primarily on USDA testing.  Broccoli and cauliflower are among the Clean 15 in testing.

According to Insider.com, “Just one in 10 broccoli samples contained more than one pesticide residue, while 70% of broccoli samples had no detectable pesticide residues at all.”

Healthline.com also gives a nod to the Clean Fifteen.  They state “if your budget makes it challenging to buy organic produce but you’re concerned about pesticide exposure, the EWG’s Clean Fifteen are good conventionally grown choices with relatively low pesticide contamination.”

In the end, you should buy what you can afford and feel comfortable eating. Even when I shop at farmer’s markets or buy organic produce, I still wash it with a natural ingredient solution that I make at home.

 How to Make Magic Grilled Broccoli Recipe

• Pour 6 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan with the garlic and chiles. Cook over medium heat until the garlic barely begins to hint at a golden brown. Do not brown – they will keep cooking off the heat. Set aside and keep warm.
• The recipe calls for you to cut the broccoli into small florets with some stems 1 – 2 inches long. 
• Then, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and blanch the broccoli for 2 minutes. Stop the cooking by plunging the broccoli into an ice bath. Then remove the colander from the water and allow the broccoli to dry completely. It is important to grill dry broccoli so you have the crisp char on the florets rather than steaming them. It also preserves the heat of your grill.
• Toss the dry broccoli in a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Heat a grill pan over high heat for at least 5 minutes or until very hot. Depending on the size of your pan grill the broccoli in several batches making sure not to crowd the pan. Turn the florets to get a good char all over. Transfer to a bowl and continue to grill all of the broccoli.
• Pour the oil, garlic, and chile over the hot broccoli and toss together well.
• Season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.
• You can garnish the broccoli with almonds or lemon just before serving. You can also put a little parmesan on top, but it is great without the cheese.

Make it a Meal!

Serve this as part of the Grill Out for Labor Day menu! 

However, you could serve this side dish with just about any kind of cookout food.  Try this with grilled chicken or grilled steak. And it is excellent with fish, so swap it out with the zucchini in this Date Night Menu from the grill.

This Magic Grilled Broccoli Recipe is Easy!

Go ahead and plan to make it for your next barbeque. Or if you are headed to a friend’s potluck, bring it along to share.  This might just be your next favorite side dish for all of your summer cookouts.

Cheers Y’all!

P.S. Caring is Sharing! Add this to your Pinterest boards, Facebook page or Instagram! Thanks!

Magic Grilled Broccoli

LoneStarGatherings.com

The “magic” is how this recipe brings fairly boring broccoli to tasty life!

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 8 servings

Calories 93 kcal

Equipment

• grill

Ingredients

  

• 3 heads broccoli 1 ½ pounds
• ½ cup + 2Tbsp olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic thinly sliced
• 3 mild red chiles thinly sliced
• Sea salt and ground black pepper
• Toasted almond slivers or lemon sliced thin with skin for garnish

Instructions

 

• Cut the broccoli into small florets with some stem 1 – 2 inches. Bring a large saucepan (that can hold the broccoli) of water to a boil. Blanch the broccoli for 2 minutes, no longer. Using a large slotted spoon, quickly transfer the broccoli to a colander and plunge into a bowl full of ice-cold water. This should stop the cooking process. Remove colander from water and allow broccoli to drain in the colander. Allow it to dry completely before proceeding. (See note.)
• When the broccoli is dry and you are ready to proceed, toss it with 4 Tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Heat grill to high. Place a grill pan over direct heat and leave it there for at least 5 minutes or until very hot. Depending on the size of your pan grill the broccoli in several batches making sure not to crowd the pan. Turn the florets as they grill to get a good char all over. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and continue with another batch.
• While grilling the broccoli, place the remaining 6 Tbsp oil in a small saucepan with the garlic and chiles. Cook over medium heat until the garlic barely begins to hint at a golden brown. Do not brown – the garlic will keep cooking off the heat in the pan so transfer oil mixture to a heatproof bowl.

  When broccoli is finished on the grill, pour the oil, garlic, and chile over the hot broccoli and toss together well. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. Garnish the broccoli with almonds or lemon just before serving.

Notes

Note: For faster drying, place a tea towel on a rimmed baking sheet. After draining the broccoli, spread it out on the towel to dry. You can complete the recipe to this point and store dried broccoli in a sealed container in the refrigerator overnight. Continue recipe with step 2 the next day.

Adapted from Ottolenghi, The Cookbook.

Keyword broccoli, easy, grilled