To some, vegetables are even more flavorful than meat, but they're also more sensitive—overcook them and they go from extremely delicious to extremely icky real quick. They generally require very little prep, and the best recipes are the simplest. A little salt, olive oil, and garlic—just watch them close, and make sure you time it right. Print out this handy drawing, set your timer, and you'll never have soggy, ill-cooked veggies again.
- Don't Miss: When to Use What Kind or Potato & Why
- Don't Miss: Which Type of Garlic Goes Best with What?
- Don't Miss: Which Onion Goes Best with What & Why
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13 Comments
Nice cheat sheet, i never thought of steaming a potato!
Wonderful reminder for preparing good vrggies. Thanks
Nice Chart, might I suggest a column for roasted?
This is great. Thank you! I'm a bit confused as to how boiling could take longer than steaming, as indicated for some of the vegetables. Also, I agree with a previous poster that a roasting column would be helpful. Thanks again!
Roasting column sounds like a great idea for a future post. Thanks for the suggestion! As for the times listed-- from what I've read, while it is true that for most vegetables it IS faster to steam, but there are a few exceptions to this rule.
Good chart, but adjust your asparagus boiling time. It will turn to mush in 10 minutes. If you boil 2 to 3 minutes it turns out tender-crisp. Yumm!
I agree with most of this, but I thought that if you over boil broccoli it turns mushy. I steam my broccoli for 5 mins max.
Agreed that it would be nice to see a roasting column in a future post.
Cool chart, but I think the corn cooking time is a little too long. Corn only needs to be boiled a couple of minutes if it's out of the husk. Today's varieties of corn are so tender that it's really only necessary to heat up the cobs, not cook them to death. However, you can make some really tasty corn by leaving the cobs in their husks and boiling for about 10-15 minutes. This steams the corn and keeps the kernels from getting water-logged.
Thanks for all your comments, everyone! Really good to know what time works best from everyone's personal cooking experiences. Readers, take note.
Is this chart for a gas or an electric stove?
Is the time including time for bringing water to a boil or is it for after the water is already boiling?
Is the stove on "medium-high" or all the way "high"?
My stove is electric and I boil all of my veggies on "high".
For steaming:
Personally, I add broccoli in a steamer basket to already boiling water after which it only takes 2 minutes until testing with a knife yeilds butter-softness. (I like bright green broccoli btw; only olives should be "olive green" :)
A friend of mine was over at my house one day and while we were cooking dinner, she asked me to boil the broccoli and set the timer for 5 minutes... At my hesitance, she clarified that she puts her veggies in a steamer on the stove burner and then turns the burner and timer on, which therefore includes heating up time. The results were the same as mine! Hope this helps! I agree that cooking times are somewhat subjective according to personal taste.
Kristen, boiling would take more time than steaming because steam (vaporized H2O) has more heat energy than boiling water (liquid H2O), which has more heat energy than ice (solid H20). The more heat energy that molecules contain, the more scattered they become. Then since the hotter H2O weighs less it rises above the denser cooler (in comparison) boiling H20. I just learned that water boils at 212 F (100 C) at which stage it begins to vaporize and become steam. If contained, steam can continue to increase in temperature up to 700 F!
Thank you, Yumi, for the chart!
Hi Jaya, I believe this chart is geared more towards a gas stove, and the time is for when the water is already boiling / medium high. Thanks for sharing your veggie-cooking experiences!
This is a great chart (and very helpful!), but I don't know why potatoes and corn are both x'd out for the sauté category? Is this personal preference, or do you know why they shouldn't be sautéed? I sautéed potatoes only yesterday and I always sauté corn for my corn chowder recipe.
(note the image attached is for corn chowder after the corn has been sautéed, but the broth / cream has just been added) http://www.clearlydeliciousfoodblog.com/2013/corn-chowder-2/
For this particular post, i was working with text and information that was provided to me. (This is not the case with current posts.) I am in full support of potatoes and corn being sauteed!
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