Broccoli bites double as a crowd-pleasing appetizer or a kid-friendly lunch. Really, they’re quite clever. Who doesn’t love broccoli surrounded by melted cheese? Broccoli bites serve up both broccoli and cheese, but packaged as a finger food! Paired with a maple-dijon dipping sauce, they quickly become a favorite.
Inspired by the popularity of a similar appetizer served at Bennigan’s restaurants, I wanted to adapt it to be 1)actually healthy, and 2)easy. The Bennigan’s version contains bacon and onions and is served up fried in nasty vegetable oil. While I’d normally be all over adding bacon and onions to just about anything, I also wanted to keep this simple so that I could throw it together quickly.
So, this recipe for Broccoli Bites was born.
Broccoli Bites Recipe
(adapted from Stacey Snacks)
Broccoli Bites: The Players
- 1 lb broccoli, chopped
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (where to buy cheese from grass-fed cows)
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded (where to buy cheese from grass-fed cows)
- 3 eggs (why from from pastured hens?)
- 1 cup almond flour (where to buy almond flour)
- 1 tsp. oregano
- salt & pepper to taste (where to buy real sea salt)
Broccoli Bites: The How-To
Preheat oven to 375F. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Use your hands to roll the mixture into 1 inch, bite-sized balls. Place balls on lightly greased parchment paper.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until brown. Serve with the Maple-Dijon Dipping Sauce.
Maple-Dijon Dipping Sauce
Maple-Dijon Dipping Sauce: The Players
- 6 tbsp sour cream
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise (where to buy soy-free mayonnaise)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (where to find organic, grade-B maple syrup)
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- salt to taste (where to buy real sea salt)
Maple-Dijon Dipping Sauce: The How-To
Simply stir all ingredients together and serve! YUMMILICIOUS!
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(photo by staceysnacks)
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Gonna try these tonight I think!
Katy Costa — Wondeful. Let me know if you enjoy them!
I will!!
Can’t wait to try these. My kids would LOVE this!!!
Looks great! I love the idea of finger-food-izing veggies!
Heavens….I am envisioning all KINDS of adaptations to this! Cauliflower! Well drained cooked spinach! I can hardly wait to race home and make some!
I know! Bacon and onions do really well in it, and different kinds of cheese make for interesting takes on it as well. I’ve even stirred in some sun dried tomatoes!
This looks great. Broccoli + fat is a great combination. We just posted (our first blog post) a recipe for poutine with fried broccoli! http://foodsmithsgeneralstore.com/blog/with-apologies-to-quebec
Can I sub coconut flour???
Yes, but not in the same quantities. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid, so you’d want to use a lot less of it. I’d start experimenting with 1/4c. instead of a full cup and transition from there.
Also, you’ll probably need to add more eggs if you use coconut flour.
Yes!! Success!! Thanks for tips on getting the flour and eggs right. I used 1/3 C. coconut flour and 6 eggs. Plus I think I had closer to a pound and a half of broccoli. These were the surprise hit at dinner time with my hubs and 4 and 2 year olds!! Thank you!
Good to know! Thanks for sharing.
Wow, looks so tasty, looking forward to trying this!
I’m dying to make this. However, I’m allergic to almonds. What other type of flour would you recommend?
You could use any kind of sprouted grain flour. They’d have a slightly different texture, but would be basically the same.
They sound wonderful. How are they at room temperature. Sounds like they would be a nice lunch box treat to take on my traveling job.
I like them warm, but not hot. Room temperature is okay, just not as awesome. 🙂
These look yummy, I’m going to try these later this week.
Well, after watching my 4 1/2 year old look like I served him Drano tonight when I put two pieces of broccoli on his plate, this looks like a good bridge for him as I try to work more veggies into his diet.
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome. Hope he enjoys it!
Sounds awesome! Stupid question: Do I cook the broccoli first or not? I’m guessing not, but I’d hate to ruin them! Gonna try this asap with sprouted wheat flour. My kids actually love broccoli, so they might love these too. Thanks!
Did you end up making these; and did you cook the broccoli first? I was questioning that as well.
So happy to have stumbled upon this website. thank you so much.
Ok, so I thought what a wonderful way for me to get my fat % up and still get a vegie! LOL…I didn’t have almond flour so used coconut flour. Dry and odd and I don’t know…didn’t turn out well…they look so good in the picture!
Also, any chance someone knows the calories/fat/carb dietary info on them???
Thanks!
PS, my husband liked them oddly enough!!! LOL
Did you do what I suggested to Carolina above for adapting the recipe to use coconut flour? Because coconut flour is so dry, you need to radically reduce the amount of flour used AND increase your eggs.
nope! LOL…I didn’t see this til today rats!
So I didn’t use as much flour..but still used 3/4 cup…and next time will use more eggs! I also noted that in the Stacy site, she used Mozzarella…so that is why the picts look different. Any particular reason you chose cheddar instead???
I’m new to all this eat more fat idea…really good with the eat whole food, the way it was created and get away from all the grains and processed food! I’m so happy to have found this site!
Going to try these broccoli bites tonight. Thanks for the recipe, it sounds great and I’ll let you know how the family likes it.
Wow, those sound great. We have been avoiding grain and needing some new inspiration. These are just what we were looking for. Thanks.
Just made these and WOW! They are great! I really like the maple Dijon sauce. It would be excellent on chicken!
Mmmmm! Just made these tonight for my husband and I. I think even broccoli haters will like them; they also would be good to serve to lacto-ovo vegetarians, as they are rather “meaty” in texture. My husband said these were very much like falafel, but much, much better. The sauce pairing was perfect, too.
I probably didn’t chop the broccoli quite fine enough on this first attempt, so next time I’ll cut the stems and florets coarsely, then pulse them in the food processor. And for those wondering, no, the broccoli isn’t cooked first. Rolling the semi-crumbly/sticky mixture into balls didn’t work well for me, but gently squeezing them into ball shapes worked fine as long as I placed them very gently on the baking pan. Next time I might use a cookie dough scoop to make sure they are more uniformly sized. They can be spaced rather close together, too – almost touching. I baked them in a large convection toaster oven and they fit perfectly on a 12″ square baking pan.
I’m also thinking this mixture would be very good pressed into a buttered casserole or loaf pan.
These look divine! We are gluten free and also allergic to tree nuts. What would you recommend replacing the almond flour with? Can I use brown rice flour? Thanks!
I left the flour completely. I used quinoa flour. It was tasty. Hopefully this helps.
I made these tonight and they were very good! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Could these be made in advance, frozen, and then baked just prior to serving? If not, maybe made & baked and then frozen? Looking for crative and fun ways to have a healthy lunch, but don’t always feel like doing much work mid day. TIA!
Mine tasted great, but fell apart, suggestions?
Mine fell apart also, even after another egg.
We’re drowning in Broccoli from our CSA…
Came here to see what I could find.
Looks like a winner!
If you were here in front of me I would kiss you! Thank you for this recipe! Before they shut down, my husband and I loved the broccoli bites from Bennigans. I’ll surprise him with this recipe this week. He’ll be so happy.
We have a nut allergy in our family, is there a substitute for almond flour for this recipe?
Oh I see a comment above with the suggestion of coconut flour and more eggs. Thanks!
What is it about broccoli and cheese?
Heather Powers….it made me think of you!
I simply must do this. this also sounds like it would be good as sort of a casserole instead of bites, layered in a pan.
Karla Sofia Yon
I like it roasted with EVOO salt/pepper and garlic powder.
Just made this. It was great!
I love these. I add a little bacon too.
Diana, this looks yummy for Super Bowl. 🙂
making these tonight for a get together… how many does one batch make? thanks! 🙂
oh and can you use frozen (thawed) broccoli instead if fresh?
Do these freeze well?
YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! It only took me 2 days to eat all of these (okay, so I shared 2 with my daughter), they are so good and so addicting. Thank you for this and all your other great recipes. We have just eliminated a lot of foods in our house, and these recipes are making my life so much easier.
Parmesan cheese in this recipe is not sold on the website. Where can we find the raw Parmesan cheese?
Thanks
Trish Dugas Courtney Terrell
Stu Dowell great idea!
What can i substitute for almond flour? (Nut allergy)
Look great, but with maple??
Blackeyed peas with ham hocks and bacon is everyone’s favorite.
Thanks for posting, made them yesterday, trying them later today but they do look good.