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How long to boil vegetables

How long to boil vegetables

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4
Minutes for broccoli · florets
Knife
The doneness test · not the clock
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Boiling times for broccoli, carrots, green beans, asparagus, sprouts and more, from water already at a rolling boil.

Cook to temperature, not to timeDrain the moment they are done and do not let them sit in the hot water. Vegetables carry on cooking in their own heat, and the difference between bright and army green is about ninety seconds. If they are going into a salad or being served later, drop them into iced water straight away.

Into salted water already at a rolling boil, uncovered, then drained immediately.

More veg times

Common questions

Why do my greens go dull?

Overcooking, and it is chemistry rather than bad luck. Heat drives acids out of the plant cells, and those acids strip the magnesium out of chlorophyll and turn it olive. It starts around the seven minute mark for most greens, so the fix is a shorter cook and an immediate drain.

Should I salt the water?

Yes for most vegetables, at about 10 g per litre. It seasons them through rather than only on the surface, and it slightly firms the texture. The exception is corn, where salt toughens the kernels.

Is boiling worse for nutrients than steaming?

For water soluble vitamins, yes: vitamin C and the B vitamins leach into the water and get poured away. Steaming keeps noticeably more. For fat soluble vitamins and minerals the difference is small. If you boil, the cooking water is worth keeping for stock.

What is blanching?

A short boil followed immediately by iced water. The boil sets the colour and kills the enzymes that cause vegetables to deteriorate; the ice stops the cooking dead. It is how you prepare vegetables ahead of time or before freezing them, and it uses the times above minus about a minute.

Egg times come from the thermal-diffusion equation for a spherical egg published by Charles D. H. Williams (University of Exeter), calibrated so a large fridge-cold egg at sea level matches the times cooks actually use. Size, starting temperature and altitude then follow from the physics. Treat the result as a very good starting point, not a guarantee, because pans, hobs and eggs all vary.