Broccoli Gratin is an excellent vegetable side dish recipe!
If you’re planning a special meal where you were hoping to serve broccoli along with it, consider this Broccoli Gratin. The broccoli is coated lightly with a creamy mustard sauce, and it’s baked with plenty of mustard-infused toasted breadcrumbs on top. I like to call this a good side dish for a Sunday night dinner, and it’s perfect for holiday meals too.
How to make Broccoli Gratin:
The first step is making the breadcrumbs. Don’t use store-bought breadcrumbs for this recipe as it just won’t be the same. Making fresh breadcrumbs is important to the delicious outcome. You’ll toast fresh breadcrumbs in a skillet with butter, onion and garlic. Dijon, dry mustard, salt and pepper are added in for flavor.
How to make fresh breadcrumbs:
You can use any type of bread to make fresh breadcrumbs, but I like to use sourdough for this recipe. Remove the crusts from the bread. Tear the bread into pieces and put them in a food processor fitted with a blade. Pulse the bread in bursts until you have breadcrumbs the size you want.
The best way to cook broccoli:
Cut the broccoli into florets, and drop into boiling water. Cook for just 3-minutes, until crisp-tender. Alternately, you can steam the broccoli in a steamer basket. Remove the broccoli from heat and cool on paper towels.
If you have the time and energy, you can plunge the cooked broccoli into a bath of ice water before moving to paper towels. This will ensure that the broccoli cools off quickly and doesn’t continue to cook and become mushier than you want it to be.
If you enjoy the taste of the breadcrumbs in this recipe, consider using them as a topping the next time you make macaroni and cheese! Try this same recipe using cauliflower florets too. Either way, you’ll have a delicious vegetable side dish to serve with your dinner.
Here are a few more broccoli side dish recipes you might like to try:
- Broccoli with Toasted Garlic Crumbs
- Broccoli with Hot Bacon Dressing
- Sautéed Broccoli with Carrots and Pecans
- Broccoli with Cheddar Cheese Dunk
- Roasted Broccoli
- Broccoli with Two Cheese Sauce
- Lemon Butter Broccoli
- Broccoli with Black Olives, Garlic and Lemon
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Broccoli Gratin
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (½ stick) butter
- ⅓ cup minced onion
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
- 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (see recipe notes below)
- 3 ounces (1 cup packed) Parmesan cheese, divided
- 12 cups broccoli florets (about 3 pounds full crowns)
- ¾ cup whipping cream
Instructions
- In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; sauté until the onion is soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in the dry mustard, then 2 tablespoons of the Dijon, blending well. Add the breadcrumbs; sauté until the crumbs are crisp and golden, stirring and pressing with the back of a fork to separate, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; cool completely. Mix in 3/4 cup of the cheese.
- Cook the broccoli florets in large pot of boiling and generously salted water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain. Transfer to paper towels; cool. (Streusel & broccoli can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and refrigerate.) It's important that you don't over-cook the broccoli- you don't want mushy broccoli!
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 13x9-inch glass baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the whipping cream, remaining 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, and 1/4 cup cheese. Place the cooked broccoli in a large bowl, and add the cream mixture; toss to coat evenly. Arrange the broccoli in the prepared dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumb streusel over the broccoli. Bake until the broccoli is heated through and the streusel is browned, about 30 minutes.
Notes
- To make fresh breadcrumbs: I like to use sourdough for this recipe. Remove the crusts from the bread. Tear the bread into pieces and put them in a food processor fitted with a blade. Pulse the bread in bursts until you have breadcrumbs the size you want.
- If you're counting WW Points, be sure to use light whipping cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This dish sounds delicious. Looking forward to making it but I do have a question. Why remove the crusts from the bread? I usually just throw the entire slice into a food processor.
You can do that, if you’d like. The bread only just forms more fluffy crumbs.