No-Waste Broccoli Risotto

Are you guilty of wasting broccoli stems? Then give this easy vegan no-waste broccoli risotto a try! It’s packed with flavour, incredibly easy to make and helps you to cut down on your food waste! Pretty convincing right?

Why care about reducing your food waste?

Food waste is a growing problem all over the world. Did you know we throw away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste a year in the UK? In fact, the average person wastes approximately 20 pounds of food per month. What can you do to help reduce waste in your home? There are several ways to help reduce food waste in your home, including:

1. Plan meals better:

Planning your meals is probably the most powerful step in reducing your food waste. Making a shopping list for your planned recipes helps you buy only what you need. And probably the oldest trick of all: Never go food shopping when you’re hungry! You’ll end up with six avocados, three bags of Oreo cookies and too many Mr Kipling apple and blackcurrant pies (yep, they’re accidentally vegan).

2. Store food better:

Most importantly, when it comes to storing food, buy only the amount of fresh produce you will use in a week. A rule of thumb when storing food: The softer the vegetable or fruit is, the sooner you should use it.

3. Use your stems:

Don’t let the best bits go to waste! This no-waste broccoli risotto makes use of the whole broccoli and tastes absolutely delicious! Get creative and use veggie stems in any way you can. Think pestos, soups, hummus, stir-fries and much more.

Ingredients:

Total cooking time: 40 minutes | Serves: 2 | Easy

For the broccoli:

• 1 whole broccoli
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp water (or more)
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 100ml vegetable stock
• 1 tsp salt

For the risotto:

• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 150g risotto rice
• 500ml vegetable stock
• 50ml vegan white wine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped (more to serve)

To serve:

• Vegan parmesan
• Fresh parsley

Method:

1. Wash the broccoli and cut the florets and the stem into small pieces.
   
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan and add the broccoli. Add salt and water and sauté for about 7 minutes. Add more water if needed.
   
3. Transfer the broccoli stems and half of the florets to a food processor. Add 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp olive oil and 100ml vegetable stock. Blitz until smooth and set aside.
   
4. Now make your risotto! Bring the vegetable stock to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add onion and garlic and let cook until translucent.
   
5. Add the risotto rice, tossing to coat. Toast the rice for about 3-5 minutes, then add wine. Cook for 1 minute, stirring.
   
6. Add the stock 250ml at a time, continuing to stir until all the liquid is almost absorbed before adding more. Once all the stock has been added and cooked into the rice, stir in the broccoli mixture and parsley and cook for 2 more minutes.
   
7. Remove from heat and serve with broccoli florets, more parsley and vegan parmesan.

Did you make this no-waste broccoli risotto?

We absolutely love seeing your takes on our recipes! If you make our vegan no-waste broccoli risotto, tag us on Instagram as @weareveano. Also let us know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments!