These vegetarian Broccoli Quinoa Cakes can be made in 30 minutes flat & are a delicious healthy meal that your whole family will love! Video. See 20+ Fresh Yummy Broccoli Recipes or our 20 Best Quinoa Recipes!
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.
Broccoli Quinoa Cakes! |30-sec video
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.
***The key to this recipe is NOT overcooking the broccoli (you want it al dente) and patting it dry.
Add the steamed broccoli (pat it dry), scallions, seasonings, egg, 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.
It should look like this! A dry, sticky mix.
Form patties with damp hands. If they feel wet, you could coat in bread crumbs, but I don’t usually need the bread crumbs.
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 or bread crumbs.
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. 😉
More recipes you may like:
- Amaranth Cakes w/ Lentils, Kale & Chipotle Aioli
- Crispy Mashed Potato Cakes
- Crispy Vegan Quinoa Cakes with Tomato-Chickpea Relish
- Savory Teff Cakes with Wilted Chard & Fresh Tomato Relish
- Broccoli Stir Fry
- Chickpea Quinoa Veggie Burgers
- Jalapeño Broccoli & Cheddar Soup (Vegan)
- Creamy Vegan Broccoli Salad
- Garlic Chili Tofu with Sesame Broccolini
- Broccoli Manicotti with Burrata
Have a lovely weekend.
Broccoli Cakes
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 patties 1x
- Category: main, vegetarain
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These vegetarian Broccoli Quinoa Cakes can be made in 30 minutes & are a delicious healthy meal that your whole family will love!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (or sub 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa)
- 4–5 cups fresh broccoli florets (8 ounces)
- 1 scallion, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped herbs- basil, dill, Italian parsley, or cilantro (use what you have)
- 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 use bread crumbs), more as needed
- 1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar, jack, mozzarella or vegan cheese)
- 2–3 tablespoons oil for searing.
Instructions
- Cook Quinoa: Rinse quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer. Drain. Bring quinoa and 1 cup water to boil in a very small pot, cover, lower heat to low and simmer 10-12 minutes until tender and all the water is gone. Turn off heat, let stand 5 minutes covered.
- Steam broccoli: While cooking the quinoa, steam the broccoli until tender, being careful not to overcook. Drain well, let cool, and pat dry. (It is imperative that broccoli is not overcooked and is patted dry in order for cakes to stick together.)
- Combine and Pulse: Place broccoli, scallions, herbs, cooked quinoa, egg, salt, pepper, garlic, and cheese into a food processor and pulse repeatedly until finely ground. Pulse in the almond flour, mixing in well. The mixture should easily mound on a spoon and just be slightly sticky, easily forming a patty. If the mixture seems very wet, continue adding almond flour a tablespoon at a time until manageable. With damp hands, Form 4 large patties, pressing them together. You shouldn’t need to coat these in flour or breadcrumbs- but if they feel very wet, feel free to.
- Sear: Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Carefully place patties in the skillet, lowering heat to medium-low or 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 so much easier. (I like to use a thin metal spatula here. Rubber spatulas have thicker edges, much harder to get under delicate things.) Flip when golden and releasing, about 5 minutes. Pan-sear the other side until slightly puffed in the center (indicating the egg is cooked through) lowering heat more if need be. You can also finish cooking these through in 350F oven after pan-searing if they are getting too dark on the stovetop.
- 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 slaw, 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 short-grain brown 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!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Broccoli Cake
- Calories: 255
- Sugar: 2.6 g
- Sodium: 743.5 mg
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 23.5 g
- Fiber: 5.1 g
- Protein: 13.2 g
- Cholesterol: 43.5 mg
I swear everytime I make quinoa patties I do it differently!! This is a wonderful twist and I didn’t just put some ingredients together, but actually learned a few things I will keep beyond this recipe!! Yum
Thanks for sharing! Can you pre make the patties and store them in the fridge before cooking?
I would cook first, then store. I think they might get soggy in the fridge without cooking.
Ok will do thank you!
I am thinking about going vegetarian and these look delish! I think that these will taste very good.
I must say, I am thrilled to have found your website. The ads are driving me a bit crazy, but it is worth the journey and hey… you need to make some $ too! Just finished making these cakes. I had to do in 2 batches as 5 cups of broccoli overfilled my food processor. Ending up having to add and extra egg as my batch was actually dry as I was hypersensitive about having a runny batch. Worked great and tasted fantastic. Added my personal Chipotle Mayo recipe and the family destroyed these. Yesterday, I made the Mushroom Wellington and it was the best thing I have every made, according to my family. Added goat cheese and spinach. Took forever to reduce the mushrooms, but many glasses of wine helped me pass the time… COVID’s fault. I’ve also made the Butternut Risotto (meh – probably my fault), Indian Spiced Shepards’ Pie (awesome), Corn Bread Casserole (insanely good), Emerald Dah (gawd so good) and tomorrow is the Eggplant Lasagne. I am going through the whole “20 Best Vegetarian Meals”. My wife and girls were a little tired of my vegetarian meals as of late (how many Stir Fries can you eat!). Love your site and a loyal follower (groupie).
Love it, thanks!
I misread the instructions. What tripped me up was the ingredient 1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa seemed like one ingredient so I added an additional cup of water to the batter. They were too thin so I added more bread crumbs and they turned out more like pancakes than cakes.
That said, they were still really delicious! I used a shallot (oops, another misread on my part) cooked in a little
oil before adding to the batter. I also left out the cheese because I don’t eat dairy. The taste was great and I will definitely make them again. Thanks for a great recipe.
I see the confusion and fixed the recipe. Thanks for pointing this out Kathy!
I roasted my broccoli (because I swear by roasted broccoli) and I think it really helped with the wetness issue. Overall, very happy with it.
I tried this but I did not work out for me at all. Mine was too wet and wouldn’t form into pucks. I cooked it forever but they all broke apart. I think I would have had to add double or triple the amount of almond flour. I think it has promise, though, and might attempt it again but I ended up having soup from a can for dinner
Sorry about that, you need to get the broccoli really dry before making the cakes.
Yup, made this a second time paying much closer attention to the dry/wet consistency of the ‘batter’ and it turned out much better.
My family and I we all love it. Even my non vegetarian husband:)
Thank you!
This is my new favorite way to eat broccoli. The crisp on the outside was a great texture compliment to the soft inside. They are surprisingly substantial and flavorful! I’d rather eat these than a beef hamburger. Can’t wait to make them again. Thanks Sylvia!
Thanks and glad they worked for you!
Great recipe, delicious! I patted each top with panko crumbs before cooking in the oven on the grease proof paper. they were crispy, in shape and will definitely be made again, 😊 thank you
Made this for the first time and it came out with the consistency of a crab cake, which is fine. Seared nicely on a cast iron skillet. I didn’t have a food processor so I chopped up the broccoli after steaming and combined the ingredients in a bowl. I paired the seared cake with a drizzle of Japanese spicy mayo and that made it even better.
The only thing I’d change for next time is sauté or roast the shallot and garlic prior to combining, as the flavor of raw shallot wasn’t to my liking. This is a fantastic dish that can be made fairly quickly, will make again.
loved it!
I’m sorry but it was a pretty. bad recipe. I followed everything exactly and it was just a horrible texture. It tasted not bad but it didn’t look like the photos for sure. I won’t be doing them again
Oh dear, sorry about that. What do think when wrong here for you? Can you be more specific about the texture? Did they hold their shape?
These were lovely – followed the recipe and they turned out nice. I served them with some plain yoghurt but we did not even need anything as they tasted nice even without any dip. I will add some green chilli next time to give them a nice kick.
Made this last night. Very good but next time I’m considering coating them with panko before cooking to get a crispier crust. This was one of the first times I’ve followed a recipe without any changes! Made a chipotle aioli for the topping.
Lovely recipe. Even my South African, meat loving husband enjoyed these.
I did struggle to keep their shape whilst cooking though.
Too grainy
Oh dear, sorry. Yes, they are grainy, maybe not the right recipe for you. 😉
Can it be baked istead of frying?
I havnet tried baking these Patrycja, so not sure how they would work. Pan searing gives a good crust which kind of holds it all together.
These were very good. I made them with the tzatziki sauce on the side. Good flavor and they are very filling and low calorie. I would make them again. And I didn’t fiddle with them, too much… so they flipped over relatively easily.
I’ve made this more than once and my family enjoy’s even without a dip/sauce but with plain curd. Thank you for this easy to make deliciousness!
Just made these. Used red onion, as I didn’t have scallion. Otherwise followed instructions and they’re really good. I intend to re-heat in my air fryer, as I prefer a crispy outside.
Looking forward to making this! Doesn’t 8oz = 1 cup, though? Just making sure I’m using 4-5 cups, not 1!
IN this case, of broccoli, the ounces are in weight. I changed the recipe to 1/2 a pound to be more clear. 1/2 cup = 8 ounces in volume, not weight. 🙂
Delicious! Thanks for the recipe. Mine were a bit wet, added 3 extra tablespoons of flour and it was much better. Loved trying it with different sauces from Trader Joe’s too, like the avocado/cilantro and the cashew dressing. Gonna make these regularly from now on!
Great to hear and glad you were able to adapt with the flour. I’m not sure why but some batches are wetter than others.Good job on adapting!
These were really good! I had to use more flour, maybe because I used (cooked) frozen broccoli? I did pat dry it… A little messy going into the pan but they cooked nicely and were delicious. Thanks Sylvia!!
Can I substitute edamame for the broccoli, in the broccoli pattys?
I bet that would work fine!
I made these again yesterday. I didn’t have eggs then I prepared a ”chia seed egg”. The cakes are a little bit more fragile and difficult to flip but it was again delicious. Next time, if I use this method I will try adding a little bit more almond powder and make the patties smaller. It should help.
Thanks, Marie- helpful!