Broccoli Crunch Snack Bites (with Flavor Variations!)

You know how once a zucchini plant establishes itself in your garden you’ll find yourself with a constant supply of zucchini such that the little green squash works its way into your every meal? In the 21-person vegan cooperative where I live, we have no zucchini plants or any sort of garden, and yet last week we experienced the same phenomenon of single-veggie overload with that rascally cruciferous known as broccoli. Midway through last week, multiple shelves in our refrigerator suddenly overflowed with green florets, as if our grocery shoppers sensed an impending broccoli drought in New York state and thought it best to prepare by purchasing the nearby market’s entire stock of the veggie.

Hypothesizing that my housemates would not consume this wealth of broccoli before it began to yellow and wilt, I sought to prepare a snackable goodie that would use up a substantial amount of broccoli and that my housemates would gobble up in no time. Enter the broccoli crunch snack bite. One of my co-workers at Compassion Over Killing last summer first introduced me to the idea of coating broccoli in a blended mixture of nuts, spices, and liquid—similar to those used to coat raw kale chips—before dehydrating it into a bunch of crunchy, flavor-rich, super fun nibbles. Drawing upon this preparation method, I employed the leftovers of an almond sour cream that I had prepared for dinner the previous evening to coat the broccoli and popped the florets into our house dehydrator. Hours later (no one ever said that dehydrating was a speedy process), three enormous heads of broccoli had reduced down to a couple trays of savory snack bites, and a couple hours even later, all of them had disappeared into the bellies of my housemates. Mission accomplished.

Below you’ll find the base recipe for the crunchy broccoli goodness, followed by a number of flavor variations as well as directions for baking the bites in the oven if you don’t own a dehydrator.

Broccoli Crunch Snack Bites—Can be Raw, Soy Free, Oil Free, Low Sodium.

Makes 5-6 cups.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup almonds, soaked 8 hours or overnight
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp maple syrup or agave (use agave for raw variation)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cups water
3 large heads of broccoli, separated into florets

Blend the ingredients almonds through water in a high-speed blender until smooth. Place the broccoli florets in a large bowl, and pour the dressing over the broccoli. Toss well to coat. Spread the coated broccoli on as many dehydrator trays as you need to fit all of the broccoli, and dehydrate at 110°F for 12-24 hours, or until dry and crunchy.

Oven Variation:Preheat the oven to 400° and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until crunchy.

Chili Cheese Variation:Add 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 clove garlic, and 2 tsp chili powder to the blended ingredients.

Spicy Maple-Chipotle Variation:Increase the amount of maple syrup to 2 tbsp and add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp chipotle power to the blended ingredients.

Coconut-Peanut Butter Variation: Increase the amount of maple syrup or agave to 2 tbsp and add 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 cup unsweetened dried coconut, and 1 tsp vanilla extract to the blended ingredients.

Bright Miso Variation: Add 1 tbsp light miso, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 small clove garlic, and 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard to the blended ingredients.

Smoky “Bacon” Variation: Increase the amount of maple syrup or agave to 1 1/2 tbsp and add 1 tbsp tamari, 1 tsp smoked paprika, and 1/2 tsp liquid smoke to the blended ingredients.

Cool Ranch Variation: Add 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp dried dill, 2 tbsp fresh chives, and 1 tbsp fresh parsley to the blended ingredients.

Recipe submitted to Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays, Recipe Wednesday, and Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Until next time, Ali.