How to Steam Broccoli in the Microwave, a quick step by step tutorial.
One of the earliest recipes I shared on this blog was my Butter and Garlic Green Beans recipe . At the time, it was my ultimate no-fail lazy-bones vegetable side recipe, and I still love it. It’s also one of the most popular recipes on the site, so clearly you guys love it too.
But since then, I’ve found an even EASIER, LAZIER vegetable side, one that requires me to turn on neither oven nor stove: Microwave-Steamed Broccoli.
Yup, did you know you can steam broccoli in the microwave? Because you can, and it’s GREAT. It’s great freshly steamed, with nothing on it or even better, tossed in a little butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper.
On many a night, it has saved me from just eating a slab of meat with nothing else on my plate, because it’s basically zero effort and takes fewer than five minutes to make.
Here’s How to Steam Broccoli in the Microwave:
Place chopped broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and pour 3 tablespoons of water over the top.
Cover with a plate and microwave on high for 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, until broccoli is tender.
Be careful when you remove the broccoli from the microwave. The steam will be hot!
Transfer broccoli to a serving dish and serve plain or toss with butter and a little salt and pepper.
And enjoy!
How easy was that!?
For more vegetables in the microwave recipes, try Green Beans in the Microwave , Corn on the Cob in the Microwave , and Cauliflower in the Microwave .
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 large head broccoli chopped
- ▢ 3 tablespoons water
- ▢ 1 tablespoon salted butter optional
- ▢ Salt and pepper to taste optional
Instructions
- Place chopped broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and pour water over the top.
- Cover with a plate and microwave on high for 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, until broccoli is tender. Be careful when you remove the broccoli from the microwave. The steam will be hot!
- Transfer broccoli to a serving dish. If desired, top with butter, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Easy Chicken in Cream Sauce for Two, crispy breaded chicken served over orzo or rice with a two-minute basil and Parmesan cream sauce.
I’ve shared a few of my favorite date-night or special-occasion meals on the site already. These are dishes taste great, look a little fancier than your average dinner, but are secretly incredibly easy so you don’t have to stress about them. Those dishes include my Bacon and Feta Stuffed Chicken , Chicken Parmesan , and Broiled Steak in Mustard Sauce . I have another one for you today, Chicken in Cream Sauce for Two.
This is a perfect dinner for special occasions because it looks fabulous and fancy on a plate, but is very simple to make. The chicken is just cut into cutlets (you can also buy cutlets if you prefer) and coated in seasoned bread crumbs and then pan-fried on the stove.
Since you are working with very thin cuts of chicken, they cook quickly and are much easier to fry than larger pieces of meat. Once the chicken is cooked, you deglaze the pan with a little chicken broth and make a quick pan sauce of cream and Parmesan with toasted red peppers and basil.
You end up with a rich and creamy sauce that looks fabulous poured over your sliced chicken breast and takes literally 2 minutes to make. I always serve this dish over orzo because I love orzo, but if you are a rice person, it’s also fabulous over rice. You slice your chicken, lay it over a bed of the carb of your choice, and spoon the sauce over the top.
The chicken looks and tastes like a million bucks, but really takes very little effort, and isn’t that the perfect dinner?
Chicken in Cream Sauce Recipe Tips
- If you’ve never cut a chicken breast into cutlets before, it’s super easy and I give instructions for it in the recipe, but here’s a good video tutorial if you want to see it done.
- I don’t recommend cutting the butter too much in this recipe. It helps to keep the breading on the chicken from burning in the pan. If you want to cut the butter completely, instead bake the breaded chicken on a lightly greased baking sheet for 8 to 15 minutes at 400°F, until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- If you have a keto guest, this recipe is really easy to make keto-friendly! Just skip the milk and breading on the chicken and instead sprinkle with a little salt and Italian seasoning, and cook according to recipe instructions. Then replace the half and half with heavy cream, and serve over cauliflower rice.
- This recipe calls for half and half. Check out my post What to Do With Leftover Half and Half for freezing instructions and ideas on what to do with the leftovers.
Ingredients
Peppers
- ▢ 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ▢ 1/2 red bell pepper finely diced
Breaded Chicken
- ▢ 1/4 cup milk
- ▢ 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning *
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- ▢ 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast or 3 small cutlets
Basil Cream Sauce
- ▢ 3 tablespoons ( 1.5oz ) butter
- ▢ 1/4 cup chicken broth
- ▢ 1/2 cup half and half *
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 1oz ) shredded Parmesan cheese
- ▢ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ▢ Salt and pepper to taste
Serve Over
- ▢ 4 ounces ( 2/3 cup ) orzo or rice
Instructions
Peppers
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and grease lightly with cooking spray or 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Cook diced bell peppers for 3 to 5 minutes, until the peppers just start to lose their crunch (this is all the cooking they will get, so if you prefer softer peppers, cook them longer). Transfer to a plate, set aside, and wipe out the pan.
- Place a medium pot of lightly salted water on to boil for the orzo.
Breaded Chicken
- Cut your chicken breast into 3 even cutlets by placing one hand flat on top of the breast and running a sharp knife horizontally through the breast 1/3 of the way down and then again with halfway through the bottom piece of the meat so you have three thin, even pieces.
- Place two containers on the counter large enough to fit your chicken breast pieces for dipping. To the first add the milk. In the second, stir together bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Dredge the first breast piece in the milk and then coat in the crumbs. Repeat with the remaining pieces.
- Start orzo and cook according to package instructions. Drain and keep covered when finished.
- While your orzo cooks, heat your skillet over medium heat and melt butter. Add chicken breasts to the hot pan and cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the breasts reads 165°F.
- Transfer chicken breasts to a cutting board and tent with foil to keep warm.
Basil Cream Sauce
- Over medium heat, add chicken broth to the pan and use a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape the cooked bits of breading and chicken off the bottom. Add half and half and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 1 minute until slightly reduced.
- Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan, bell peppers, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cut chicken into strips and serve over the orzo. Spoon sauce over everything. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe Adapted From AllRecipes
This Chai White Hot Chocolate is smooth and creamy with a warming chai flavor that makes it just about the coziest drink ever.
Happy Halloween Eve Day, my friends (that’s a thing, right?). As we sit here on the evening of our most chocolate-filled holiday, I hope all of your Halloween plans are falling into alignment. I hope your costume is just the right level of creepy/cute/ironic, your bags of candy are yet unplundered, and your enthusiasm for the night not dimmed by poor weather or obligatory party appearances (<–my worst nightmare).
But before we all candy ourselves out tomorrow night, you should take a minute of me-time today and make yourself a cup of this Chai White Hot Chocolate (or pin this recipe and come back to it in a week when the candy coma has worn off.) 😉
I have quite a few drink recipes on the site for when the weather turns colder. Pumpkin Spice Lattes are classic October, White Chocolate Peppermint Mochas and Eggnog Lattes are a must for December, but Chai White Hot Chocolate? This is the perfect drink for heading into November.
It’s smooth and creamy, with a warming chai flavor that makes it about the coziest drink ever. It’s the sort of drink you’ll want to pour into a travel mug and take along on a rambling walk some chilly November morning.
This Chai White Hot Chocolate also couldn’t be easier to make and needs only three ingredients: milk, good-quality white chocolate, and a chai tea bag.
To make the hot chocolate, you just heat the milk on the stove, steep the tea, and then melt in some of your favorite white chocolate. In about three minutes, your cozy perfect November drink is ready to go.
More Warming Fall Drinks
- Hot Chocolate
- Homemade Mocha
- White Chocolate Mocha
- Chai Latte
- Rich and Thick Hot Chocolate
- Baileys Hot Chocolate
Chai White Hot Chocolate Recipe Notes
- As with my Pink Hot Chocolate , good quality white chocolate is a MUST in this recipe. Cheap white chocolate chips don’t make for good hot chocolate (trust me).
- This recipe makes 1 cup of chai white hot chocolate, enough to fill a standard 8-ounce mug. If you want to fill an over-sized 12 to 16-ounce mug, one and a half or double the recipe.
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 cup milk any percentage*
- ▢ 1.5 ounces good-quality white chocolate chopped
- ▢ 1 chai tea bag
- ▢ Whipped cream optional for topping
- ▢ Ground cinnamon optional for topping
Instructions
- Heat milk in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add tea bag (make sure to keep tag away from the burner!). Once milk begins to steam and bubbles start to form, turn heat off.
- Let tea bag steep for 2 minutes. Press tea bag between a spoon and the side of the pot to wring any liquid from it and dispose of bag.
- Turn heat to medium and stir in white chocolate until melted and drink is smooth.
- Transfer to an 8-ounce mug and top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
How to Steam Broccoli in the Microwave, a quick step by step tutorial.
One of the earliest recipes I shared on this blog was my Butter and Garlic Green Beans recipe . At the time, it was my ultimate no-fail lazy-bones vegetable side recipe, and I still love it. It’s also one of the most popular recipes on the site, so clearly you guys love it too.
But since then, I’ve found an even EASIER, LAZIER vegetable side, one that requires me to turn on neither oven nor stove: Microwave-Steamed Broccoli.
Yup, did you know you can steam broccoli in the microwave? Because you can, and it’s GREAT. It’s great freshly steamed, with nothing on it or even better, tossed in a little butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper.
On many a night, it has saved me from just eating a slab of meat with nothing else on my plate, because it’s basically zero effort and takes fewer than five minutes to make.
Here’s How to Steam Broccoli in the Microwave:
Place chopped broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and pour 3 tablespoons of water over the top.
Cover with a plate and microwave on high for 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, until broccoli is tender.
Be careful when you remove the broccoli from the microwave. The steam will be hot!
Transfer broccoli to a serving dish and serve plain or toss with butter and a little salt and pepper.
And enjoy!
How easy was that!?
For more vegetables in the microwave recipes, try Green Beans in the Microwave , Corn on the Cob in the Microwave , and Cauliflower in the Microwave .
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 large head broccoli chopped
- ▢ 3 tablespoons water
- ▢ 1 tablespoon salted butter optional
- ▢ Salt and pepper to taste optional
Instructions
- Place chopped broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and pour water over the top.
- Cover with a plate and microwave on high for 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, until broccoli is tender. Be careful when you remove the broccoli from the microwave. The steam will be hot!
- Transfer broccoli to a serving dish. If desired, top with butter, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Notes
How to Steam Broccoli in the Microwave
Ingredients
- 1 large head broccoli chopped
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon salted butter optional
- Salt and pepper to taste optional
Instructions
- Place chopped broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and pour water over the top.
- Cover with a plate and microwave on high for 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, until broccoli is tender. Be careful when you remove the broccoli from the microwave. The steam will be hot!
- Transfer broccoli to a serving dish. If desired, top with butter, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
