Guy Fieri Thinks It's Totally Worth Keeping Your Leftover Broccoli Stems. Here's Why

While vegetables aren't the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Guy Fieri, it's nice to know that even the mayor of Flavortown loves his greens. Although most of his advice is meat-related, one of our favorite Guy Fieri cooking tips to live by is to save and use your leftover broccoli stems. In his recipe for a creamy broccoli fennel slaw, Fieri uses not just the standard cabbage and carrot combination for his slaw but also thinly sliced fennel and a surprise ingredient: julienned broccoli stems.

When people buy broccoli, they normally purchase both the crown of florets and the stem together, still intact, but usually wind up cooking and eating only the florets up top. They might seem like part of the vegetable that you'd just toss, or ideally throw in the compost, but the stems of broccoli are actually hiding a delicious center that should never go to waste.

Once you get past the outer layers of the stems, you're rewarded by a crisp center with a delicate taste that shouldn't go to waste. Start by trimming off any tiny arms or leaves attached to the stems, then use a vegetable peeler to remove the tough, woody exterior of the stems to reveal the pale greenish-white of the soft, tender interior. From there, you can slice what's left of the stems into thin planks and then slice those planks into thin matchsticks to get the perfect strips for a crunchy slaw.

In addition to slaws, you can cut those matchstick slices into tiny cubes and dress them with salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to use as a garnish for salads to add some freshness and crunch. They're even great on grilled chicken or fish, as you can incorporate the minced stems into any sort of chunky salsa verde or gremolata for extra crunch without altering the overall flavor.

Not only great for raw applications like slaw, there are so many creative ways to use broccoli stems in your cooking. Chopped broccoli stems are an excellent addition to any sort of sautéed vegetable situation. You can even shred them on a large box grater just like carrots or zucchini, all three of which are a great way to get some extra fiber and moisture into your next meatball recipe.

Finely chopping leftover stems and sautéing them with onions before adding beaten eggs is an easy way to not only use up leftover stems but to also sneak some more vegetables into my breakfast. Since the stems are soft and porous underneath the tough exterior, they're great for making pickles. But the easiest way to experiment with broccoli stems is to simply slice the innards of the stem into thick rounds and throw them on the same roasting tray as the rest of the broccoli florets.