How to Steam Vegetables On The Stove

A tutorial on how to steam vegetables, a quick and simple method to cook your vegetables while retaining their nutrients. It doesn't even include using any fancy kitchen gadgets.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings people

Calories 181kcal

Author Charla

Ingredients

1 - 1 ½ lb Mixed vegetables (500g-1kg) Carrots, kale, broccoli, cauliflower etc...

Instructions

To prepare the vegetables

Place the vegetables of your choice in a colander.
Rinse the vegetables in cold water (scrubbing any tough vegetables like potatoes) several times.
Once rinsed and drained, blot them dry with kitchen towel.
Cut, peel and trim the vegetables (if required), you will want them to be all the same/near to the same size. If you are using pre-cut vegetables like I am then simply skip this step.

Steaming the vegetables

Start by adding just enough water to fill ¼ of the saucepan.
Directly place the steamer basket inside the saucepan so it completely spreads itself out.
Bring the water to the boil with the lid on so the internal temperature builds.
Once boiling point has reached add the vegetables to the steamer basket (use tongs if required
Place the lid on to cover the saucepan.
Steam the vegetables until they are soft (use a fork to determine their readiness).
Once the vegetables have been steamed, transfer them to a dish, season if you want to and serve.

Notes

Make sure to have enough water in the saucepan or this will halt/delay the cooking process.
Try to pair together vegetables that have the same or similar cooking time.
Root vegetables like potatoes, yam, cassava, breadfruit will take longer to steam (about 15-30 minutes) so steam those separately.
Use whatever steaming method that works for you.
Clean/wash/scrub (if required) the vegetables before steaming them. Rinse them off in a colander/scrub tougher vegetables i.e potatoes if necessary to rid any dirt, bacteria or any pesticides.
Chop the vegetables in unison if possible, some vegetables will already come bite sized i.e baby carrots.

Nutrition