Broccoli is one of the most popular cruciferous vegetables. Full of fiber and vitamins, broccoli is seriously good for you. It’s also a great example of healthy foods that taste great. You can roast, bake, boil, steam, blanch, and even air fry broccoli, making it a super versatile ingredient to keep on hand. Use these tips to store broccoli and keep it fresh for a week or longer.
Choosing Fresh Broccoli
When you buy fresh broccoli and store it properly, it can last up to five days in the refrigerator. It can also last up to 12 months when you freeze it. To get the longest life span out of your broccoli, look for uniformly green and tightly packed florets with no noticeable odor, discoloration, or softness.
Storing broccoli largely depends on whether or not it's whole or cut. Here's how to store fresh broccoli you haven't used yet, as well as how to store broccoli that you've cut up into smaller pieces.
Storing Whole Broccoli
Fresh broccoli should be stored in the refrigerator. However,it’s important to avoid crowding your broccoli. Broccoli is sensitive to ethylene gas. Trapping broccoli in tight spaces can speed up the process of this gas breaking down the fresh vegetable, causing it to go bad faster.So try not to wrap it too tightly in the produce bag or place it in a crammed drawer with many other fruits and vegetables. If you have a crisper drawer in your fridge, that’s a good place to keep it.
If your broccoli is damp from the store, or if you’ve rinsed it, ensure it’s completely dry before refrigeration.
Place the clean, dry broccoli loosely in the plastic bag it came with—with or without paper towels to soak up excess moisture. Then stash it in the crisper drawer or the back of your refrigerator, where it can stay cool and have a little breathing room.
You can also store fresh, whole broccoli in a glass container or jar. Sure, it will look like you have a bouquet of broccoli in your fridge, but this option keeps the stem hydrated, which keeps the broccoli crisp.
After you’ve rinsed and dried the head of broccoli, fill a glass or jar with an inch of water.
Place the broccoli stem in the jar (and cover the head loosely with a plastic bag if you want).
Place the whole thing in the fridge, and be sure to change out the water each day
Storing Cut Broccoli
Washing, drying, and cutting your produce after a big trip to the grocery store is the time-saving meal prep hack we could all benefit from. To store cut broccoli, start by thoroughly washing and drying it.
Place a paper towel at the bottom of a glass container to absorb excess moisture, and fill it with your chopped broccoli pieces.
Cover the container with plastic wrap tightly so that air cannot get in (which can dry out the broccoli), and place the whole thing in the fridge to stay cold.
You can also store cut broccoli in an airtight food storage container, such as a mason jar. Stored this way, broccoli will last for about two or three days.
How to Freeze Broccoli
If you know you won’t use all of your whole or cut broccoli before it spoils, you can freeze it. Cut broccoli will be easier to freeze, so if it’s not cut already, go ahead and chop up your head of broccoli into small florets. Then, follow these steps.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and add the broccoli pieces to the tray in a single layer.
Place the entire thing in the freezer until the pieces are frozen solid (this should take about one to two hours).
Remove the tray and transfer the broccoli pieces to a freezer-safe container or bag, where it will last for about a year.
When you’re ready, you can whip out your bag of frozen broccoli for a variety of recipes. Add it to soups, casseroles, stir fries, and more. You can also roast frozen broccoli to get that crispy texture.
Cover the container with plastic wrap tightly so that air cannot get in (which can dry out the broccoli), and place the whole thing in the fridge to stay cold. You can also store cut broccoli in an airtight food storage container, such as a mason jar. Stored this way, broccoli will last for about two or three days.
Place your broccoli stems into a bowl or container with a half-inch of water at the bottom. The broccoli heads should be sticking out of the container. Cover the heads loosely with plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator. Change out the water each day, and the broccoli will keep for a week in the fridge.
Stash the broccoli in a cold part of your refrigerator — like the crisper drawer — preferably away from fruits and that produce excessive ethylene gas like apples. If there's no room in the crisper, store it on a shelf near the back of the fridge.
Don't thaw frozen broccoli in the fridge or on the countertop. The pieces will get too soggy. Even though there is no need, if you really want to thaw the broccoli, add to a large bowl, cover with hot water and let it sit for 2-3 minutes.
Lay the broccoli in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined sheet tray or plate. Place in the freezer until completely solid, 1 to 2 hours. Once frozen, transfer to a plastic container or resealable freezer bag. The broccoli should stay fresh-tasting and free of freezer burn for 6 to 8 months.
At home, place whole broccoli heads in a microperforated plastic bag and put it in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator, says Lyon. You can also store it in a container with a bit of water at the bottom, with the heads sticking out, and loosely wrap the container in plastic wrap, notes Weintraub.
Make sure you don't use more water, otherwise the broccoli will boil rather than steam, making for soggy results. Add your broccoli to the skillet and cover it with a lid. Cook until the broccoli reaches your desired level of tenderness, about 3 to 5 minutes.
You can soak the broccoli in a bowl of ice water for 30 minutes or more to help it regain its firmness. Another method is to slice off a portion of the stem and place the remaining stem and crown in a pot with a cup of water. Store it in the fridge overnight, and the broccoli will be crisp and fresh in the morning.
Use one teaspoon salt per 1 cup of water. Salt provides a “barrier” against carbon dioxide, which prevents chlorophyll from changing color. Make sure that you have enough water in your pot so that all of the broccoli is floating in it.
This is because broccoli is mostly water; when it's frozen, the water turns to ice, and the crystals expand.When the crystals melt slowly, the water seeps into the vegetable, creating a soggy mess.
Fresh broccoli lasts between 3 to 5 days in the fridge when properly stored. “For cut-up broccoli, I would say no more than 4 days for optimal use,” Amidor says.
Like most vegetables, if frozen raw, the texture and taste of broccoli will deteriorate into a mushy, grey and unpleasant shadow of its former self, with the goodness leeching away. So, do make sure you blanch it to preserve its colour, flavour and nutrients.
Research suggests that freezing produce “locks in” nutrients, while fresh veggies slowly lose nutrients between the time they're picked and the time they hit your table. Once harvested, fresh produce often travels thousands of miles before it arrives at the store.
Enzymes are naturally occurring substances in plants that control the ripening process. Freezing only slows enzyme activity. Most frozen vegetables will lose quality in the freezer unless they have been blanched.
To maintain the crispness, store broccoli in a plastic bag in your refrigerator's crisper drawer and use it within three to five days. Not sure whether you'll use the produce that soon? You also have the option of freezing broccoli, which prevents it from turning yellow too quickly.
Fill a glass or small pitcher with ice water and place the entire stalk of broccoli in the water. There's no need to cover it—broccoli requires air circulation so that it can breathe, so let it all hang out. The other way to store broccoli is by loosely wrapping the broccoli stems in damp paper towels.
Leafy greens stay fresh longer if they're rinsed, wrapped in a paper towel or tea towel, and refrigerated in a container or sealed plastic bag. You can do this with lettuce greens, bok choy, Swiss chard, kale and spinach.
Green vegetables get their colour from chlorophyll, a pigment in the chloroplasts of plant cells. Usually, gases in the gaps between plant cells slightly cloud chlorophyll's green colour. During cooking this air expands and escapes, making the green colour more vibrant.
Introduction: My name is Duane Harber, I am a modern, clever, handsome, fair, agreeable, inexpensive, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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