Buttery, Sautéed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic & Red Onion

Name: Buttery, Sautéed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic & Red Onion
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 1 pound broccoli rabe (- about 3 bunches); 1 small red onion (- sliced); 3 garlic cloves (- minced); 2 tbsp. olive oil (- and a drizzle more for garlic); 2 tbsp. salted butter; salt & pepper (- to taste); crushed, sliced almonds (- a sprinkle (optional))

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This buttery, sautéed broccoli rabe with garlic and red onion is such a simple, impressive vegetarian side dish! With a bitter, nutty, earthy flavor, broccoli rabe is a perfectly tasty recipe for a cozy Fall or Winter dinner, or chopped cold and added to salads!

It makes a perfectly flavorful side for just about any protein, and takes just 20 minutes to make!

A plate of sautéed broccoli rabe on a lace tablecloth, beside 2 small bowls of garnish and 2 antique forks.

Contents hide

1 Why This Recipe Is Special

2 Ingredient Notes

3 How to Make This Recipe

4 A Few Common Questions

5 Buttery, Sautéed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic & Red Onion

I try to fill my late-winter menu with green vegetables (to apologize to my body for all the cheese, sugar and empty carbs I fed it from September to January).

Vegetables like Swiss chard, perfectly baked asparagus and tender, seared baby Bok Choy are some of my favorites, but broccoli rabe is just so easy to prepare that I tend to make it more than any other side-dish in Winter.

Why This Recipe Is Special

It’s an incredibly tasty way to eat healthy – It’s packed with so many vitamins and minerals and can be made in a snap!

It’s just as yummy cold as hot – I always make more than I need for dinner because I like to refrigerate it, add some pearl couscous to it, and have it for lunch the next day.

It’s gluten-free, vegetarian and can easily be made vegan – Just substitute olive oil or vegan butter to make this a perfectly tasty, vegan recipe.

A bunch of raw broccoli rabe on a wooden cutting board with a small red onion and head of garlic.

Ingredient Notes

broccoli rabe – If you can’t find broccoli rabe, you can substitute broccolini and use the same recipe instructions to get a similar result. You’ll find a few notes on the differences between broccoli rabe and broccolini below, but they’re similar enough to swap one for the other.

red onion – You just require a tiny one for this recipe. You can also use a large shallot if you don’t have an onion.

garlic – I added 3 garlic cloves to this recipe, but if you’re a garlic lover, you can certainly add up to 6 minced cloves and it will be perfectly delicious.

How to Make This Recipe

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to prepare ingredients for sautéed broccoli rabe.

1. Set a pot of water to boil that’s large enough to cover your broccoli rabe. While it’s heating up, Slice the thick ends off of your pound of broccoli rabe. Set aside.

2. Thinly slice a small red onion and slice the rings in half. Set aside.

3. Mince 3 cloves of garlic. Set aside, separate from onions.

4. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to a sauté pan and sauté sliced onions for 4 minutes until brown. Add a tiny bit more oil to the pan, and sauté minced garlic with onions for just 1 or 2 minutes more, until brown. Watch carefully. Minced garlic can go from “perfect” to “burned” pretty quickly. Once finished, remove onions and garlic from the pan and set aside.

2 numbered images showing how to make sautéed broccoli rabe.

5. Once the pot of water is at a rolling boil, place broccoli rabe in for 1 minute. It’s OK if it floats to the top. Just push it down with a spoon so it evenly blanches. Once done, strain water from the pot and remove broccoli rabe.

6. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and 2 tbsp. salted butter to the pan, melt, mix and add broccoli rabe. Sauté in butter and oil until the ends are a little crispy, about 4-5 minutes. Add back onions and garlic, mix in, sauté for just 1 more minute, sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper, crushed, sliced almonds and serve.

A plate of sautéed broccoli rabe on a lace tablecloth, beside a small bowl of salt, with salad tongs.

A Few Common Questions

1. What’s the difference between broccoli, broccolini and broccoli rabe?

Although they all have similar names, and look similar too, they’re not all in the same family. Broccoli and broccolini are in the same family as cabbage, but the closest relative to broccoli rabe is actually turnip.

Visually, broccoli rabe has longer, thinner stalks than broccoli and its florets aren’t as dense. It has leaves like a mustard green or kale and also, sometimes, has pretty, tiny, yellow edible flowers. Broccolini looks more similar to broccoli rabe than broccoli, but it’s actually a hybrid between broccoli and Chinese broccoli, and doesn’t have leaves like broccoli rabe.

2. What part of broccoli rabe do you eat?

You can actually eat the entire thing, flowers and all! Although, you might want to slice off the ends of each stalk, as they tend to be dry and a bit woody. But otherwise, you can eat every part, and don’t need to shave the stalks before cooking.

3. Do you have to blanch broccoli rabe?

Blanching (placing the vegetable in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute) both reduces some of the bitterness of broccoli rabe and ensures it’s more tender when sautéed. I wouldn’t skip this step, as it really does make it taste so much nicer than if you were simply to toss it in the pan right away.

4. How long will it last when cooked, and how do I reheat it?

Cooked broccoli rabe will last nicely for 4-5 days when refrigerated in a sealed container. To reheat, you can microwave it for 60 seconds, covered with a paper towel, to retain moisture. It’s also delicious cold! Once sautéed and refrigerated, I chop it up and put it in my salads.

A plate of sautéed broccoli rabe on a lace tablecloth, beside 2 small bowls of garnish, with salad tongs.

Now, help yourself to more tasty side dish inspiration!

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