These vegetarian Broccoli Quinoa Cakes can be made in 30 minutes flat & are a delicious healthy meal that your whole family will love! Serve them up with Simple Sauteed Greens or a beautiful Mediterranean Chard Salad and top them with your favorite sauce! Easy Peasy!
Do not try to save the world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then, will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue.- Martha Postlewaite
Here’s an easy healthy recipe for Broccoli Cakes that are made with simple ingredients you probably have on hand. It’s a quick and healthy nutritious meal that really satisfies! Filling yet light, I love these best served with a generous side of salad or simple sauteed greens.
If you’de like to add a flavorful sauce, the possibilities are endless here and I’ll list a variety of options in the recipe notes. Here I’ve served them with this Vegan Cilantro Crema that I had from leftover tacos.
Also, I intentionally left the seasonings pretty basic here, to make them easy and accessible- and I know you will find ways to jazz these up to your liking.
To get this started, cook 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup water. This will take about 15 minutes.
While the quinoa is cooking, steam 8-10 ounces of broccoli florets, which is about 4-5 cups, packed tight.
Add the steamed broccoli (pat it dry), scallions, seasonings, egg, optional cheese and quinoa to the food processor. Pulse until combined. Add almond flour or bread crumbs to bind.
You’ll end up with a coarse mixture that can be formed into patties.
Sear the broccoli cakes up in a well-oiled skillet over medium-low heat.
FYI: If you don’t fiddle with them, they won’t stick, naturally releasing from the pan as they form a crust.
Cook them until slightly puffed and store in a warm oven until ready to serve.
At this point, the Broccoli Cakes can be refrigerated and reheated for lunches.
So as you can see I did not have to coat the broccoli cakes in flour. Using a metal spatula helps here (it has a thinner edge) as well as being patient, letting them release themselves from the pan as they from the crust, very gently flipping.
The crispy quinoa edges add great texture! Feel free to add a sauce (see notes) or leave them plain!
Let us know what you think of these Broccoli Cakes. I’ve made several batches this week and all have quickly disappeared. Always a good sign. 😉
Have a lovely weekend.
Sylvia
Broccoli Cakes
These vegetarian Broccoli Quinoa Cakes can be made in 30 minutes & are a delicious healthy meal that your whole family will love!
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 patties 1x
- Category: main, vegetarain
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked) or 1 1/2 cups cooked (see notes)
- 1 cup of water
- 4 –5 cups broccoli florets (8 ounces) packed
- 2 scallions, diced
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced (or 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic)
- 1/4 cup almond flour (or usse regular flour or bread crumbs), more as needed
- 1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar, jack, mozzarella or vegan cheese)
- 2–3 tablespoons oil for searing.
Instructions
- Bring quinoa and water to boil in a very small pot, cover, lower heat to low and cook 12-15 minutes or until all the water is gone. Turn off heat, let stand 5 minutes covered.
- Steam broccoli (at the same time) until just tender and drain well, and pat dry.
- Combine: Place broccoli, scallions, quinoa, egg, salt, pepper, garlic, and cheese into a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Pulse in the almond flour, mixing in well. The mixture should easily mound on a spoon and just be slightly wet, but easily forming a patty. If the mixture seems very wet, continue adding almond flour a tablespoon at a time until manageable. Form 4 large patties. You shouldn’t need to coat these in flour, but do as you like.
- Sear: Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Carefully place patties in the skillet, lowering heat to medium-low– resisting the temptation to move or fiddle with them. As they form the deep golden crust, they will naturally release themselves from the pan, and not stick- making flipping much easier. (I like to use a thin metal spatula here. Rubber spatula have thicker edges, much harder to get under delicate things.) Flip when golden and releasing, about 5 minutes. Cook the other side until slightly puffed in the center, lowering heat more if need be.
- SERVE: At this point, you could refrigerate if making ahead, and reheat down the road. Or keep in a warm oven until serving. Serve with a side salad or sauteed greens. Top with a flavorful sauce if you like (see options in notes).
Notes
Feel free to sub 1 1/2 cups cooked rice for the quinoa.
Making sure the steamed broccoli is as dry as possible (pat it dry) will allow you to use less flour or bread crumbs. The first time I made this, I did not pat dry the broccoli, and it needed 1/2 cup almond flour. The second time, I patted the broccoli dry, and only needed 1/4 cup flour, if that.
Make sure the quinoa is dry and not watery.
Pick a sauce to serve these!
Keywords: broccoli patties, broccoli quinoa patties, broccoli cakes, broccoli quinoa cakes, broccoli burgers,
Hi! I’d like to make these, but I’m confused about the broccoli amount. 4-5 cups does not seem like the same as 8oz. What am I missing? Thanks!
Hummmm… I think it is right? I broke the broccoli into tiny little florets first, pressed down ( slightly) in a 4 cup measuring container, then weighed, = 8-9 ounces.
5 stars if you parboil sweet potatoes first, then brush patties on both sides with minimal olive oil and bake instead of fry. Yum yum! Might steam and mash a yellow potato to use as binder with less flour.
★★★★★
Made these last night and my teen son and I went crazy over them! So easy and healthy and filling. I used half goat Gouda and half Parmesan, and whipped up a little cilantro chili mayo and served them over a bed of fresh greens. Thank you for the new recipe to add to my growing vegetarian repertoire!
★★★★★
Thanks Angie!
Guessing you could substituted cauliflower for broccoli, as I’m serving brocolli in another dish?
Give it a try?
Turned out perfectly. Save the leftovers for lunch and they held up well and reheated nicely in our toaster oven. Do you think these would freeze well?
★★★★★
Made these last night and they were very good and quick and easy. The only thing I would do differently next time is make them much smaller so that they crisp up more.
★★★★★
This recipe is really delicious. I served it with the Vegan cilantro crema.
I must say that I don’t write a comment every time I cook one of your recipes but we always enjoy our meal. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Thanks for taking the time to write. Especially helpful to me with newly posted recipes- lets me know if the recipe is working, typos etc., or if there are issues. So thanks!!! I appreciate you!!!
I made this today and enjoyed it. The patties were crispy and tasty. I think I would make this again but make the patties a lot smaller and thinner so there would be a lot more crispiness.
Yum! Thanks so much for this recipe. I had to add more flour, my broccoli was dry but the quinoa wasn’t (noted on my printout for the next time). I made these into Greek-style patties (a splash of lemon juice, dried oregano, feta) and served with tzatziki and sliced cucumber & tomato in whole wheat pitas. Delicious!
And do you think air frying would work well for this?
I bet it would! Cakes are kind of delicate but if you put on parchment then in the air frier, I bet it would work!
As a vegan, what should I use in place of the egg?
Looks delish!
Hi Deb. I’m still experimenting with this. I tried these with ground flax and no cheese, and really didn’t love the outcome- too heavy. Next time will try vegan cheese, nutritional yeast, flax and a little baking powder. If you experiment, will you let me know?
At what point does the egg get added in? Assume it’s in the “Combine” section; I read through the directions three times and still didn’t spot it.
Many thanks!
Opps, sorry, fixed it! Add in the food processor- thanks for catching this June!
Sylvia
Have you ever baked these in the oven?
Sandra
I haven’t! I will try next time and report back.