Broccoli cheese

This easy broccoli and cheese recipe is made with frozen broccoli spears and a simple sauce made with American cheese. Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should broccoli cheese considered an estimate.

You can use either frozen or fresh broccoli spears or florets. Frozen broccoli often comes in spears, which consist of the florets with a section of the stem. The recipe gives you the choice of steaming the broccoli or boiling it. You can steam broccoli in a pan, a steamer basket, or in the microwave. If you are using fresh broccoli, make sure that you cut or break the broccoli into evenly sized pieces or sections. If you don’t want to use the broccoli stems, there is no need to throw them out. Peel them and use them for another dish, such as a stir-fry.

This recipe calls for American cheese, a super performer when it comes to melting. This is because American cheese contains emulsifiers that prevent the milk proteins from separating from the milk fat when the cheese is heated. It is a processed cheese with a very low melting point, and that’s why it is often the first choice for grilled cheese sandwiches or cheeseburgers. The use of onion powder in this recipe is not only convenient—it saves you chopping the onion and possibly tearing up—but it is also a way to get a subtle onion flavor into the dish without risking rejection by picky young eaters who don’t like little bits of onion in their food. For a little added heat, add a pinch of cayenne pepper or a dash of hot sauce to the cheese sauce, but that’s optional. Serve the broccoli and the cheese sauce separately so everyone at the dinner table can spoon as much sauce over the broccoli as they like.