Broccoli Kugel Recipe – Passover Friendly

Ready for a tasty, savory broccoli kugel recipe that is Passover friendly and gluten free too? Check this out – and then give this delicious small batch potato kugel recipe a try too. This post contains affiliate links.

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Kugel is possibly the most underrated Ashkenazi food group – the ultimate comfort food.

And while I’m a big fan of a crispy potato kugel or a healthier vegetable kugel, lately I’ve been making a lot of broccoli kugel because it’s so easy! It uses frozen broccoli so there’s no peeling or chopping – but yes, you do need to take out the food processor.

Tips for making a tasty broccoli kugel

Broccoli is the kind of food that just needs a bit of the correct seasoning and then it’s incredibly tasty in its own right. But in making this, I did try to see what I can do to help it taste like the junk food that Kugel is supposed to feel like.

The sauteed onions hack

My main kicker is adding sauteed onions. Yeah, yeah, I know. The second that a recipe starts with “sautee up some onions” it’s a no-go for the “easy recipe” crowd.

But there are a few ways to tackle this issue. One is easy onions that come in a can. I don’t know if they make these for Passover, but you CAN get the frozen cube variety for this price.

My trick is that I always start any batch cooking for any holidays with sauteeing piles of onions. So it’s just another ingredient in my freezer! Do it! It’s a game-changer!

I usually slice them in the food processor, sautee them low and slow in a large pot, in the slow cooker, or when I’m really low on time, in the oven. Yes, I know, that’s not really sauteeing. Sue me.

I then store them in snack sized Ziploc bags in the freezer (freeze them flat so they defrost quickly and don’t get stuck to each other).

And if you really don’t want to? Just pop in two raw onions instead. It’ll still add lots of flavor.

Seasoning it

Since broccoli is the type of food that you just need to season right for it to be incredibly tasty, this does transfer to the kugel. I’m a big fan of spice mixes and use those heavily throughout my kitchen.

For this one I usually use Everything but the Leftovers from Trader Joe’s. Since I wanted to make it Passover friendly (and we’re still waiting for TJ’s to make us some KFP spices!) I decided to put in generous garlic powder and some black pepper – in addition to the salt, of course.

You can really play with the spices on this. Go crazy. Get creative. Just use ones that make sense.

Getting the right texture

I’m a very sensory eater and therefore, I will SWEAR by adding a zucchini to any kugel you make. It just makes it so creamy and delicious! I do it to my potato kugels and virtually any kugel I make. It doesn’t add a lot of flavor, but makes it so much more pleasant (for me) to eat.

This is something else you can ditch if you don’t like it – it won’t affect the recipe much, though you may want to reduce it by an egg.

Another thing I do for texture is add a couple of potatoes. If you’re on a low or no carb diet, you can definitely skip this. Again, it makes it less dense with broccoli and improves the texture in my opinion.

And defrost your broccoli! This is something I always forget to do. You want to allow your broccoli to fully defrost and drain, otherwise you have way too much extra water in it. So do it, and if you forgot to, flash defrost it in the microwave or in hot water.

Making this broccoli kugel recipe in larger or smaller quantities

I made this as a bigger batch kugel (it made 2×9 inch square pans and 2x 2.5 LB pans.) Once I’m making it, I might as well freeze some, right? Yes, it freezes beautifully!

Freezing and defrosting

I freeze these in pans in the target sizes I plan to use them in. I recommend getting pans with cardboard lids for this. I bake it right in that pan.

I place it in a gallon Ziploc bag as well and label it on the front of the pan and the top of the bag so that it’s easily visible.

To defrost, I place it right in the oven at 350 uncovered until it’s defrosted. I find that vegetable-based kugels have enough natural water in them that you don’t need to add any liquid when reheating.

Making smaller batches

If you take a look at the actual ingredients in this recipe, it is one of the easiest to halve.

I used two bags of broccoli, use one. Keep the sauteed onions quantity but reduce the oil by a tablespoon or two beyond halving it. Use one potato, and a small zucchini instead of medium. And of course, reduce the eggs to 6.

Gluten free, Kosher for Passover Broccoli Kugel Recipe

Printable version at the end of this post.

Ingredients

• 2x 24 oz broccoli (defrosted)
• 1/4 cup sautéed onions (can put in 2 med. yellow onions instead)
• 2 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled or scrubbed
• 1 Med. zucchini, peeled or scrubbed
• 12 large eggs
• 1.5. cups oil (I used avocado)
• 1 T salt
• 1 T garlic powder

Equipment

• Colander
• Big mixing bowl
• Potato peeler
• Food processor fitted with the S blade

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Place your defrosted broccoli into a colander to strain it. Squeeze out any excess liquid.
3. Fit your food processor with the S blade and add in your vegetables. Don’t overfill. Process till coarse in batches.
4. Mix together with other ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
5. Divide into pans.
6. Bake uncovered until the top is nice and crispy, about 1-1.5 hours (depending on Kugel size)