Grilled Broccoli With Soy Sauce, Maple Syrup and Balsamic Vinegar

By Sam Sifton

Grilled Broccoli With Soy Sauce, Maple Syrup and Balsamic Vinegar
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Rating
4(1,881)
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This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen.

This is good one to have in your back pocket when you’re cooking burgers and dogs on the grill; it’s a no-recipe version of a dish that I first learned of from the Brooklyn restaurateur Joe Carroll. Toss broccoli florets in equal parts soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, a generous dash of maple syrup and a splash of neutral oil, then grill (or broil) until they’re soft and crunchy. Serve them under a scattering of red-pepper flakes and sesame seeds, or use furikake, a Japanese seasoning blend that contains, in addition to sesame, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt and, occasionally, monosodium glutamate. Never mind hot dogs or anything else, actually. I could go for that broccoli on white rice and call it dinner, full stop.

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Comments

Chrissy

It would be nice to also give an actual recipe for those who might need it. For some folks, even a 4 ingredient recipe might be daunting. Something like: -2 tbsp soy sauce + 2 tbsp balsamic + 1 tbsp maple syrup + 1 tsp oil-- or something like that, for those who might need a little more rails around them. It would make a good cheat sheet for those of us trying to cook off the rails a little, but who are worried we might be far off the map.

Courtney

Is it wrong to start eating the smaller florets right out of the pan while waiting for the larger ones to cook? Do I have to share?

Tim

I love these no-recipe recipes but it would be SUPER helpful if you formatted the text (bold the amounts and ingredients). Very hard to skim while planning/cooking.

Amanda M

2 -3 heads of broccoli cut up. Used 1/3 c soy and 1/3 c balsamic, avocado oil to coat and a good drizzle of maple syrup. Gave it a good shake in a bowl w a lid to coat every piece. Spread coated broccoli in single layer using tongs on a parchment covered baking sheet and put into a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes then broiled for 1 minute to crisp up. Pulled from oven and sprinkled with red pepper flakes and toasted sesame seeds. Flavor packed bunch of broccoli!

Alison

made this with 3T balsamic, 3T golden mountain sauce (pretty similar to soy sauce but with more of a rounded flavor?) and 1 heaping T of maple syrup, plus some ginger paste, garlic powder, and onion powder as per one of the comments. baked at 400F until dry. my kitchen smells incredible, would recommend for that alone

David B.

Easy and tasty. Added mushrooms and birdseye chilis. Took 14 minutes in the broiler. Flipped about halfway. Added a little more sauce at the end.

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