If you love healthy and quick to cook side dishes, you’ll love this sauteed broccolini with almonds and garlic! This side dish compliments roasted meats, grilled poultry or any main dish. I use it similarly to asparagus or broccoli. This side dish is also gluten free, low carb and Mediterranean Diet friendly.
What is the Difference between Broccoli & Broccolini?
Broccolini looks like a mini broccoli, some people call it baby broccoli but it’s not a smaller version of broccoli. In fact it is a hybrid between broccoli and Chinese broccoli. Its florets are a lot smaller than the broccoli. It tastes a little sweeter than broccoli too. In fact, the stems taste more like asparagus (to me) than broccoli.
I read somewhere that you can eat it raw. I guess you can, but it’s not too appealing to me to eat it raw. I love it cooked, either roasted, sauteed or grilled.
Easy Recipe with Few Ingredients
Who doesn’t love quick to put together dishes? If you’re meal prepping and cooking roasted chicken breast or a tray of meatballs on the weekends, then you can add a side of broccolini to one of your proteins and you have a quick dinner ready on weeknights.
This recipe only uses olive oil (evoo), garlic, raw broccolini, lemon and shaved almonds plus salt and pepper. So none of these ingredients needs any time consuming prep.
Tips & Notes
Here are some of my tips for getting delicious broccolini on your plate.
- Cooking Method 1 – I boil broccolini for about 2 minutes, remove with slotted spoon and add to a shallow, wide bowl with ice water. Using the slotted spoon again, then I remove the broccolini within 15-20 seconds and add to a colander. Once drained, then I add to hot cast iron skillet. This step might seen complicated, but it’s very easy and takes few minutes. To me, it ensured high quality taste and texture each time!!
- Cooking Method 2 – If you would like to skip the step above, then you add the broccolini straight to the hot skillet with olive oil and garlic. Sautee on both sides, add lemon juice and seasonings. Then finally, add few tbsps of water, lower temperature and cover skillet with a lid and let cook for few minutes. Remove and serve warm.
- Seasonings – I keep this recipe simple, garlic, lemon juice, some lemon zest and salt/pepper. However, you can add seasoning to taste. Additional seasonings you can add are red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme etc. My preference on salt is on Mediterranean Sea Salt.
- Almonds – use slivered or shaved or sliced almonds for added crunch. You can skip almonds if you’re allergic to nuts.
How to Serve Broccolini?
I serve broccolini with chicken, shrimp, fish, meatballs, rice and salads. First time I tried broccolini was in an Italian restourant and it was served as part of a risotto dish. I still haven’t tried cooking risotto with broccolini yet but it was delicious.
We also grill broccolini when we are grilling on Sundays. It’s great as a side vegetable to any grilled foods.
Lastly, if I grilled too much broccolini, I save the leftovers in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. Then next day I roughly chop them and add them as an ingredient to the salad of the day. It works great with most veggies and greens.
Sauteed Broccolini with Garlic and Almonds
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 bunch broccolini about 8 ozs
- 1 lemon
- 3 garlic cloves add more if you like the taste
- 2 tbsps shaved almonds
- pinch Mediterranean sea salt
- pinch black pepper freshly cracked pepper adds a nice touch
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
Instructions
- In a sauce pan boil water. Add broccolini in and let boil for 2 minutes.
- Use a wide bowl with water and ice. Remove broccolini from sauce pan with a slotted spoon and add to ice water. Remove in about 20 seconds and let drain in a colander.
- In the meantime, heat cast iron skillet in medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil and minced garlic. Use a wooden spoon to sautee garlic until aromatic.
- Add broccolini to cast iron skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cook for about 1-2 minutes then flip to the other side. Drizzle freshly squeezed lemon juice (I estimate about 1 tbsp or so, I eyeball as I squeeze straight from the lemon). Add almonds and let cook for about 1-2 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm with any meal!! Enjoy:).
Notes
- Store leftovers in refrigerator for few days in an airtight container.
- 1 bunch broccolini is about 2 servings, so for a family of 4 I need 2 bunches.
- Skillet – I prefer using cast iron but any non-stick skillet will do.
- You can skip blanching broccolini but then you have to add few tbsps of water to skillet and cover with a lid for the steam to finish the cooking process.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save the below image to your boards in Pinterest. Please let me know in comments if you have any questions or feel free to tag me in social media if you made this recipe. Thank you so much for reading my recipes!!
Other Side Dishes
Feel free to check some of my other side dishes:
- Marinated Cherry Tomatoes
- Air Fried Mini Sweet Peppers
- Red Pepper Dip with Feta Cheese
- Ajvar – Roasted Red Peppers and Eggplant Dip
Lizzie
Broccolinis are not easy to find where I live, but I always cook them using your recipe when I can find them:)). Such s delicious & easy side dish! Love that it’s effortless but tastes gourmet! Thank you:).