Roasted Broccoli with Brown Butter and Soy Sauce

Over the past few months my little family has been overwhelmed with the after school activities of my 6 year old. These are activities that I had signed him up for without fully understanding the chaos it would throw our evenings into. At one point he was in four different activities and we were going crazy. We have cut back and now he is down to two activities and soon t-ball will be over for the year which will just leave Kung Fu. Thank the Lord!

If he were still an only child it would all be a breeze, but our beloved one year old wild child puts a monkey wrench into the peace that having only one child was. My little Kit has an early bedtime and needs his dinner at around 5:30 or 6 – just as my husband gets home from work and about 20 minutes before Timothy needs to leave for whatever it is he has on that day. After being at home with me all day, Kit only has eyes for his daddy and there is hell to pay if he doesn’t get attention from him as soon as he walks in the door. This leaves about 15 minutes to eat dinner.

Only one of my kids is in activities so the families that have more than one child in different activities must be run off their feet. I can only imagine that they eat dinner at 9pm and have super-cranky younger siblings if they have to go to evening games or sit in a waiting area at their sister’s dance class. To those parents who are successfully navigating the after school activity world, and keeping your head from spinning, how do you do it? If you are like me and feel a little spun on game nights, do you have tips to manage?

As a stay at home mom and a food blogger, you might think that I make fantastic meals every night. Well, you would be wrong. There are lots of days that I don’t want to cook and the days where we have a busy night ahead of me, I embrace the box of chicken fingers wholeheartedly. Sometimes, if I’m feeling fancy, I reach for the box of breaded fish filets instead.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will have seen some of the lovely meals I do manage to produce but it is important to remember that that is my highlight reel. I don’t Instagram a meal of goldfish crackers, yogurt, and strawberries that I may or may not have given Kit last week.

So on those crazy busy nights where you are grabbing the saving grace that are boxed chicken fingers, and turning the oven on to 425F, you can make this roasted broccoli. It may be quick to make with very little clean-up, but it will feel like proper cooking. It is quite possibly the most delicious way I have ever cooked broccoli, if that helps sweeten the pot a little. It is so addictive that I can eat the whole pan of it which is quite a bit of broccoli. It is two broccoli crowns, or one of those bunches of broccoli, which is usually two good size heads of broccoli or three small ones. The trickiest part is making the brown butter but don’t worry, it is way easier than it sounds.

One last sales pitch on this: my broccoli-phobic 6 year old eats three pieces without having an emotional breakdown and the 1 year old eats about five pieces with glee.

Enjoy!!

Roasted Broccoli with Brown Butter and Soy Sauce

Christina Austin

Quick and delicious roasted broccoli with savoury brown butter and soy sauce.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 22 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Ingredients

  

• 300 grams broccoli florets* two mid-size broccoli heads/crowns
• 3-4 tbsp salted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 425F** and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
• Wash and dry the broccoli as best as you can. Cut the broccoli into bite size florets and put them in a large bowl.
• In a small pot, melt the butter and keep cooking it until it is a nutty brown. First it will melt, then splatter a little bit, then foam and while it is foaming, you will see the caramelizing milk solids start to appear in the centre of the foam. Swirl the pan gently and have a look at how brown the butter is. It should be a deep nut brown.
• When the butter is brown enough, immediately pour it over the broccoli, ensuring all the brown bits go into the bowl with the broccoli. Now quickly toss the broccoli with a large spoon so that the hot butter can get on as many of the florets as possible.
• Drizzle the soy sauce over the buttered broccoli and toss again to coat with the soy sauce.
• Evenly spread the broccoli over the lined baking sheet. Be careful not to crowd the pan or the broccoli will steam and get soggy.
• Roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes. The broccoli is done when there are visible crispy spots and is tender-crisp. Serve immediately.

Notes

this amount is approximate as it is the amount in a bunch of broccoli that had two mid-size heads of broccoli. If you have more broccoli it will still work fine. If you feel that there isn't quite enough butter or soy sauce then add a little more but be cautious with the soy sauce as it can be very salty and makes the broccoli steam a little bit.
*450F is good too if you are only cooking the broccoli - it will roast up crispier and quicker.