There are a lot of ways to cook food, but some are better than others. Different cooking methods affect the flavour, texture, and especially the nutritional quality of whatever you are cooking. Vegetables are no different. Let’s talk about the best way to cook vegetables for the most nutrition and the best flavour and texture.

Know how to store your veggies

Nutritional content of veggies starts with the way you store the produce and where you shop for your produce. It is important to know how to store different vegetables to preserve nutritional quality. Otherwise, by the time you get to cooking, it may be pointless to find the best way to cook vegetables. Nutritional quality of the vegetable depends on a few things: season, harvesting, processing, soil conditions, and storage length, time, and temperature. Once vegetables are harvested, enzymatic processes start breaking down different nutrients. The 2 big determinants that break down the vitamins (especially vitamin C) and antioxidants in veggies are light and heat. 

Why people say “Buy Local”

For fruits and vegetables, buying local can mean more nutrients compared to veggies transported across the country. This is because there is shorter transport time which means faster time to get to your plate. Time is the limiting factor that determines the nutritional quality of veggies. You should always buy fragile vegetables such as tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, capsicum/bell peppers, and spinach on a local level. These types of vegetables often have thinner and more fragile surface coatings. Vitamins and antioxidants break down easier in warmer temperatures and over time. Store fragile vegetables in cooler temperatures to preserve the nutritional quality for a little longer.

Sturdy vegetables, on the other hand, can withstand transport conditions better. The nutritional quality of sturdy vegetables is better preserved, even over longer transport times, due to the thicker skins. Sturdy vegetables are veggies such as root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, and onions. The best way to store these veggies is in a cool, dark area, limiting the impact of temperature on nutrients. To optimise nutrients of your veggies during storage, make sure you shop local and store your veggies properly!

Best Way to Cook Vegetables

Now that we know where to buy and how to store our vegetables, its time to discuss the best way to cook vegetables. Cooking veggies has its pros and cons. Because cooking applies heat to the veggies, this can cause some enzymes and other nutrients to break down. However, some nutrients, like carotene, can actually be more easily available for your body to use with heat!

To get the most out of any food, it is important to know the best way to cook your veggies to get the most nutrition, flavour, and texture. Different methods of cooking impact the nutrients in different vegetables.

To be honest, I hate raw broccoli. If You are like me, you will want to cook some of these vegetables. Some of the best ways to cook vegetables, while some nutrients are lost, retain most nutrients while maximising flavour. Good flavour and texture will help you keep you eating your greens.

PS—stop peeling your root vegetables. Over the years, these vegetables have developed thinner skins. Skins are jam-packed with essential vitamins and nutrients and antioxidants. When you keep the skin on these vegetables, you will help RETAIN the nutrients inside the vegetable as well.

Actually the best way to cook vegetables!

Steaming – considered the healthiest

Cooks food using steam circulation. This circulation can help maintain the sweetness, textures and, most importantly, nutritional content of your veggies. Food is placed above the boiling water to allow the heat to transfer at a slower rate. This is often considered one of the healthiest cooking methods because it helps preserve the nutritional quality of the vegetables. Steam circulates the pan at 102 C and condenses into a film-like residue on the outside of the veggie. This film helps both protect the nutritional quality and pass heat from steam into the vegetable to cook the veggie. 

Roasting – my favourite way to cook vegetables

Still healthy and you can incorporate healthy fats, like olive oil, into the preparation step. Oil also helps your body absorb those lovely fat soluble vitamins found in many vegetables (A, D, E, and K). Fat soluble vegetables need to be consumed with fat in order for your body to use them. Roasted vegetables, when done well, can be the best part of a roasted meal. Think about those roasted veggies on the table for Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, or just your regular Sunday night roasts! All too often though, people miss the mark on this potentially mouth-watering side dish by roasting soggy, lifeless vegetables. Nobody wants that.

High water contain causes vegetables to be soggy after cooking. Timing of when you add salt, temperature of the oven, and the size of vegetables impact how the veggies cook. All of this impacts the texture of the roasted vegetable. Slow and even cooking is key. Even cooking means all the vegetable pieces are the same size and evenly spaced on your roasting pan. Slow, well, I am talking about having a lower temperature (~160 C) over a period of time. If you cover your vegetables for the first 10 minutes of cooking time, you apply steam. That steam creates that film we just talked about to protect the nutrients. After 10 minutes, uncover the vegetables to allow them to get crispy.

Boiling–and why you should never boil vegetables again

You may think that there is very little difference between steaming and boiling. Different cooking methods impact what happens to veggies during cooking.

Boiling causes the food to cook directly in the water. Boiling is also very detrimental to almost every part of the vegetable, from colour, texture, and especially nutrient quality. This is because the high heat and high moisture can cause very soft, mushy vegetables. What is worse is that there is essentially no nutritional benefit of eating boiled vegetables. The nutrients from your vegetables seep into the water that you pour down the drain, leaving you with bland, soggy vegetables. Boiled vegetables give no benefit to your body or your taste buds.

Boiling broccoli causes over 60% of all nutrients to seep into the water compared to only 14% from steaming.

What’s the take away?

While there are many ways of cooking, some are better than others. Different types of cooking impact the flavour and texture of food. Most importantly, the way you cook will also impact the quality of nutrients in the food. Like everything, there are pros and cons to each. However, depending on your goal of the meal, the best way to cook your veggies needs to complement the rest of your meal while getting then most out of your veggies.

How do you cook your veggies?