Now that we’re entering a new year, I’m trying to adopt a new, healthier lifestyle. Along with trying to achieve 10,000 steps daily, I also cut certain foods out of my diet.
Instead of enjoying a sandwich or slice of pizza for lunch, I’m trying to eat more vegetables in the form of salads and stir-fries. I look forward to my salad each day, and I don’t really miss bread and starches. Since gluten really disturbs my digestive tract, my stomach thanks me as well!
Broccoli with a little olive oil and garlic is one of my favorite healthy lunches. And I recently started experimenting with kale.
I actually love the bitter flavor, and I enjoy pairing it with other fruits and vegetables to create new and unique tastes.
This super fast and easy saute has become one of my favorite veggie dishes to prepare.
Crunchy broccoli, bitter kale, sweet tomatoes, fresh zucchini, and savory onions and garlic all complement each other in this dish.
If you love kale just as much as me, try it in other dishes, like our bright kale salad with grapefruit and spiralized apple and onion.
Make this quick and nutrient-rich recipe below now.
The Recipe
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 servings | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 10 minutes |
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Looking for a fresh way to cook your veggies? Try Foodal's super fast and easy saute with nutrient-packed ingredients to make a tasty and healthy dish.
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- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 head broccoli chopped
- 1 bunch kale chopped
- 1 medium zucchini chopped
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat.
- Add the onions and cook until softened, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, but not browned.
- Add the broccoli, kale, and zucchini. Stir frequently until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the cherry tomato halves and cook for another two minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve while still warm.
Nutritional Information*
Cooking by the Numbers…
Step 1 – Prep the Ingredients
Set out the vegetables. Measure the olive oil, and set out the salt and pepper.
With a sturdy cutting board and sharp chef’s knife, roughly chop the broccoli, kale, onion, and zucchini.
Mince the garlic, and halve the cherry tomatoes.
Step 2 – Gently Cook the Onions and Garlic
In a large skillet, warm the olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until slightly softened, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and stir until just fragrant, but not browned.
Step 3 – Add the Broccoli, Kale, and Zucchini
Add the broccoli, kale, and zucchini to the pan.
Stir frequently until the vegetables begin to soften.
Step 4 – Add the Tomatoes
Add the cherry tomato halves to the pan. Cook for just another minute or two, carefully stirring to avoid smashing the tomatoes.
Step 5 – Season and Serve
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm!
Super Fast, Super Easy, Super Healthy!
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult, especially with this simple and quick vegetable saute dish, all made in just one pan.
In just a few minutes, you can enjoy the fresh taste (and the amazing health benefits!) of assorted veggies like zucchini, kale, broccoli, and tomatoes.
Want to mix things up a little? Swap out your favorite ingredients to make a truly unique dish. Try using eggplant, or sweet bell peppers. Or add a squeeze of lemon or sprinkle of red pepper flakes for even more flavor.
What are your healthful resolutions for the new year? Be inspired by all of our vegetable dishes, or share some of your favorite recipes with us in the comments below.
Don’t forget to Pin It!
Photos by Nikki Cervone, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published July 6th, 2015. Revised and updated December 31st, 2017, with additional writing and editing by Nikki Cervone.
*Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Jennifer Swartvagher
Jennifer is an experienced journalist and author. Her work has been featured on TODAY Parents, The New York Times Blog, BlogHer, Scary Mommy, and scores of other parenting and cooking publications.
This dish looks so rich, with the bright and dark greens and the red. I love brcolli and kale too, and the cherry tomatoes are like a treat added to it. The sweetness of the cherry tomatoes and the sauted onion, seems like it will balance off the bitterness of the kale. I learned long ago that starting with garlic and onions flavors the oil, which is incorporated into the whole dish. This really seems like a delicious dish that is simple to prepare.
This is a lovely dish. If you wanted to add fruit, what kind would you recommend? I was thinking of berries like strawberries or blueberries.
I really like pairing kale and blueberries together. Enjoy!
Really cool recipe!
I just tried it out and it tasted great. And the recipe of course is so easy and quick, its almost impossible to mess it up so its great for people like me who are not seasoned cooks.
And I also like the fact that it’s open to a lot of variation, for example, I boiled some chickpeas and added them to the sautee (I just love chickpeas) and added a little chilli powder to spice things up a bit and ended up loving it!
Thanks for this! 😀
This one looks great and I bet it tastes really good. These little tomatoes are delicious when you only slightly cook them. I always add a few to my soups. This dish I’d like to make right now.
Gluten doesn’t agree with you. It is actually not good for anyone. What it does to the stomach and small intestine is not good. Causes a ton of health issues and gets stuck. I am done with it myself. Makes for a flat stomach.
How long have you’ve been done with gluten? I’m curious to know what differences you’ve seen besides a flatter stomach? I want to make the move and hoping that it helps me get the glowing skin I desire.
I eliminated gluten 2 months ago and I am not bloated anymore. I haven’t noticed a difference in my skin, but the weight loss has been fantastic.
This looks amazing! I’m very motivated that you want to cut out things like gluten. I’ve attempted on this journey but I always find myself wanting to eat another sandwich. In my mind, I want to adopt for healthy options like this salad but once in a while I get caught up again in –in the world of gluten, sugar, carbs. Do you use any other resources to help you stick with your mission?
I am running on sheer willpower and a desire to live a healthier lifestyle. Once you are ready to make the change, it all falls into place. Good luck.
This dish is right up my alley. I tend to eat similar dishes with spinach, so I’ll have to give this version a try posthaste. Seems like it would be fun to experiment with as well.
This recipe looks and sounds scrumptious. I’m definitely going to try it soon, but may substitute the kale for spinach. I don’t know why, I just haven’t been able to hop on the kale band wagon. It really does sound great, though. Broccoli is one of my favorites, too!
What a delicious looking meal! You have given me a great idea here. This is surely the way to eat if you want to lose weight and get healthy. I love it. I know the Italians have a tomato and broccoli dish. I can’t wait to try this.
I haven’t had kale in years, since my parents were on their health kick, and they always used it raw, not cooked. I like the idea of softening it by sauteeing it, and pairing it with broccoli, onion and tomatoes sounds nice. Does this hold up well for leftovers? If not, I might cut back on the amount I make at one time, and just make it fresh when I get a craving.
I’ve seen recipes similar to this one, but with much more complicated ingredients and/or cooking directions. I think this is a great way to get that kale in! And I’m always looking for ways to make broccoli other than steaming it. Easy, healthy, and light!
The dressing makes it look more appealing. I bet it’d be good with carrots too.
What a wonderful dish – enjoy the taste of the Mediteranean all the year round! You can understand how it is that people living around the Med and eating this sort of fresh, colourful, simple food live so long. At first reading, it looks like quite a lot of garlic in the recipe, but it balances beautifully against the strenght of the kale. Along with a glass of good Italian wine, this is a a meal to bring a sunny smile to the greyest day.
And to think that people have the audacity to say that healthy things are not tasty!
This dish looks sooooo delicious. I like everything with broccoli, those are my favorite veggies.
Thanks for this great recipe. I love that it’s so easy to make!
This looks like a simple, healthy, and full-flavored dish that would be great paired with almost anything. Definitely a crowd-pleaser!
This looks quite simple *w* For such a healthy (and veggie-filled) dish, it looks so appetizing that those who hate veggies might want to try it! I don’t think we have kale in our local supermarket though. Any suggestions for a substitute? And what berries/fruits would taste good with it (I’ve seen the blueberries comment, but I’m just wondering if that or some other fruit would taste good with this salad without kale)? 🙂
Okay I’m definitely going to bookmark this one. Ever had a craving for something you wouldn’t normally want? Well, lately, my body has been asking me for more greens, probably because I’m lazy about eating my vegetables. I know these vegetables in particular (broccoli and kale) are even better for you when cooked, because the our digestive systems are not made to eat them raw- the heat does something to the enzymes in the food that makes them more digestible! I can’t wait to try this and satisfy my body’s need for some of those wonderful nutrients!
Sounds amazing. I always perk up when I see tomatoes and broccoli! As always, I will have to add an extra clove or two of garlic. I’m thinking about adding some mushrooms and chopped up chicken breast, otherwise the meat eaters in my family won’t touch it!!!
I’ve seen this one before, but forgot the exact ingredients when I tried it before. I love broccoli and tomatoes. These are two of my favorites. Any kind of vegetables make a great family meal and it is healthy too.
Nice seasoning list. In my experience, the important part of making an all vegetable stir fry is to make sure many of the things you use stay crisp after cooking. It is easy to add too many leafy greens and tomatoes to where you end up with a mushy texture. Broccoli and carrots are great for this, keep some crunchy texture. You can also think about adding a small amount of seeds or nuts.
This dish looks so tasty and healthy.
I never thought that the combination of tomatoes and broccoli is possible. Now I do.
I would love to make a lot of this and use it for lunches at work.
Thanks so much for sharing.
We have been trying to change our diets and lifestyle and part of that means we are eating healthier. This sounds simply perfect. Hearty, yet light, and refreshing. We will be giving this a try soon!
Well this is a tough one for me, because I really do not care much for onion, but it seems like it plays a pretty essential role here in the whole flavor grand scheme of things. That said, I might have to set aside my biases and give it a shot, which is what I will do. It does not hurt that it sounds like a nutrient packed meal, which I can always use more of. Thank you for sharing.
I see zucchini so how much zucchini?
You’re totally right, Cathy! Thanks for pointing this out. We are currently working on an update to this recipe. In order to make it as depicted (which looks really delicious) we’d recommend adding 1 zucchini, sliced into half moons.
As promised, here’s the updated recipe. Enjoy!