Do you want to avoid eating boring vegetables but still take advantage of their nutritional benefits? Then, you should learn how to cook them and what to pair them with!
If you want to be healthy, eat more fruit and vegetables. You’re probably tired of hearing this all the time, but you know it’s true and you might force yourself (and your kids) to eat more varied veggies. Vegetables are often endured rather than savored. If you want to enjoy the veggies from your plate, especially the boring vegetables which are usually very nutritious, the key is the cooking method you choose. In a lot of cases, the go-to method is boiling, which is rarely the best option. It tends to leach out flavor and color.
So, you should learn to cook these veggies in different ways. Also, it’s a good idea to upgrade boring vegetables with spices, herbs, and sauces with strong flavors. Another general tip is to combine them with foods whose taste you truly appreciate, for example, cheese.
How to cook with boring vegetables
Broccoli
If you combine broccoli with other flavorful veggies, like mushrooms, you’ll make it tastier than it would be just boiled. Add cheese and eggs to make it even better. You can also add broccoli to quiches, frittatas, and omelets, to incorporate this healthy vegetable to your meals without getting bored of it.
Broccoli is also good in curries, stir-fries, or any dishes that need deep-flavored spices and sauces, to balance the stronger tastes. But we also recommend you try these broccoli tots. Then, you’ll probably want to make them again and again.
Cabbage
Thanks to its health benefits, cabbage is something we should try serving more often. It’s a good antioxidant and it has anti-inflammatory benefits. If you know how too cook it, it can be very flavorful. Otherwise, cabbage can be one of the most boring vegetables in existence.
You probably just use it in coleslaw most of the time. Still, cabbage can do more than a simple salad. For example, you can use it to make cabbage rolls, add it to your stir-fries, while pumping up the flavor with Asian spices or integrate it in pies, along with minced meat.
Among our recipes, you can find many that list cabbage as an ingredient. For example, in this one cabbage is the star of the plate!
Celery root
You may usually use celery root among other vegetables, in soups or stews. But have you ever tried it as a main ingredient in your dishes? It has a unique taste, a bit tangy when raw, but sweet when cooked, especially when roasted.
Celery root (also known as celeriac) is often used when making soups (you can enrich its taste by adding truffle oil), but also in mashes. You can use it on its own, with butter, milk, and spices, or by adding other ingredients too, like carrots, potatoes, and even apples, for a sweet taste.
If you’re looking for new and interesting celery root recipes, try these savory muffins. Celery root is the main ingredient and it’s paired with ricotta, chia and flax seeds.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is also one of the most boring vegetables. But this is the opinion of people who don’t really use it in different types of recipes. You may not know, but you can cook so many delicious things with cauliflower! You can even make a snack similar to popcorn.
Another tasty way to make delicious things with cauliflower is to use it in dips, muffins, fritters, soups, or make these incredible samosas, filled with cauliflower and carrots.
Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprouts are usually sautéed or roasted. They look pretty nice, you can eat them as bites, and they don’t taste that bad. But they get this reputation of being the most boring vegetable of all. If you’ve heard that too, you might change your mind if you use it in casseroles.
As we recommend you do with the other bald vegetables, the secret to cooking Brussels sprouts is to pair it with other ingredients, preferably with ones that taste good to you. For example, we like to make Brussels sprouts gratin, with a butter and garlic white sauce and lots of mozzarellas. But you can also pair the veggie with bacon, parmesan, walnuts, avocado (in salads), mushrooms, and the list goes on.
