The word “kugel” is German for “ball” and probably refers to the small round pot in which kugels used to be cooked. The pot would be placed inside the chulent pot and left there to cook until served on Shabbos. Eventually kugels were baked separately in larger pans, in the same form that we now know them.
Everyone loves this broccoli kugel for it’s ease and simplicity.
This recipe is famous, but it’s a little old school, to make my new modern Broccoli Kugel 2.0 as featured in the video above check out Broccoli Cauliflower Kugel Cups.
We have more than 50 different kinds of kugel recipes, find your favorites.
Broccoli Kugel
Servings
8 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 2-pound bag frozen chopped broccoli cuts, thawed and drained
- 1 cup light mayonnaise
- 4 eggs
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Liberally coat a 9-inch round baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, place broccoli, mayonnaise, eggs, salt, black, and cayenne peppers, and mix well.
- Pour broccoli mixture into prepared baking dish.
- Bake at 375°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until set with golden edges.
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Do you cook it longer than 1 1/4 hours?
Yes definitely!
Sure that will work
Can I mix this up the day before and bake it the next day?
Can I mix this up the day before I am serving it and bake it the next day?
Thank you for your kind reply. Wish I had one of the kitchen sealers where it evacuates all the air in the bag before sealing. It will be consumed for sure before a months time. I will try to suck as much air out of the bag as possible and then seal it. I’ve does this with other items and no crystallization occurred inside the bag.
QUESTION NEVER POSED: Can this absolutely delicious kugel be frozen? If so, what precautions need to be taken in order that it not become liquid logged? Mine are a broccoli – cauliflower mixture. Many thanks
It can be frozen but it will likely be a bit water logged, best is not to freeze it for more than a month and also to wrap it well so no oxygen gets inside. Also reheat it on a low temp, hope that helps.
This recipe can be utilized at your Pesach table with no problem. Make sure that the salt doesn’t contain anything but PURE SALT. Mayonnaise needs to be Kosher for Passover certified. For Kosher Consumers: Fresh Broccoli is NOT recommended as broccoli is generally infested with bugs and unless you want to spend hours soaking and then the tedious job of checking for bugs use frozen.
For Passover ’23: Did a twist, added fried onions to the recipe. Fried up some onions – totally drained off all oil .
I had fried onions with some of the oil, reduce mayo to compensate.
I always use fresh and I don’t cook it first.
Hi. Regarding using fresh broccoli for this Kugel and the other one (with caramelized onions), can I use fresh broccoli? Do i need to boil them first? Thanks!
Love kugel in muffin tins. Thanks for letting us know.
Made this in larger muffin tins for individual servings and it was amazing!! But you really need to grease the pans very well!! Love it. Thank you so much for this awewsome recipe!!
instead of light mayo . can i use light Miracle Whip?
That sounds great, keep us posted.
How does a dairy lukshen? kugel hold together? Cottage cheese? Eggs? I would really like to eliminate the mayo, and my mother’s dairy kugel just uses cottage cheese and eggs. But it holds together. I am going to experiment and look at our old synagogue cookbook. 1960’s old! Thank you! My name is Alene, btw. & not ctgal, lol!
I would make the whole thing because the leftover are great, but if you want to cut it in half and bake in ramekins that should work.
Hey! If I only do a Kugel for 4 people, how would you adjust the amount?
YAY YAY YAY I am so so so happy! Thank you so much for letting me know. BIG HUGS!
Can you make ahead and freeze?
Sure. These can be frozen.
Thank you!
Thank you!
I made this broccoli kugel last week. Not only is it so easy to prepare it’s absolutely delicious! My daughter and son-in-law who are not fans of mayonnaise devoured it. Thank you , Jamie!
If you put the frozen watery food in the oven for about 20 minutes, it will dry up the water, and the taste will be just fine.
You can double or triple the recipe depending upon the size pan you are using. Be sure to grease the on well so it doesn’t stick.
How do I adapt this recipe for a roaster pan size baking dish? Thank you!
Glad it worked out well for you even if not exactly as it was intended, thanks for letting us know.
Tamar Genger MA, RD
Executive Editor
http://www.joyofkosher.com
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Twitter @joyofkosher
I made this last night and it turned out well. For 12 people, I used two 500 gr. bags of frozen broccoli (pieces, not chopped) and followed directions exactly. It was more of a broccoli with sauce type of dish rather than a kugel but tasted great and everyone loved it. I made it mid-day, then heated it up later for the seder. Worked great.
the mayo has fat (oil) and eggs which help bind the dish up as well as add moisture.
Broccoli cuts is a finer chopped, chunkier broccoli with more stem pieces. I know it’s hard to believe, but you really need this amount of eggs and mayo to hold this dish together. Hopefully with your chunkier pieces, using less will be in your favor.
Making this for a side dish for tonight. Gosh, something is really wrong. I bought (2) 1-lb. bags of frozen broccoli florets, but I’m thinking this is different from broccoli cuts(?) b/c it’s a tremendous amount of broccoli and big florets, not cut up little bits like in the picture. So ok, I used maybe just one bag of the broccoli and cut up the florets, but they’re still not little bits like in the picture. Then I measured one cup of mayo, but boy that seemed an awful lot(!) so I halved it and then instead of 4 eggs I put in 3. Just put it in the oven. I’m not much of a cook, and this looked like an easy recipe and the pic really appealed to me. But I think this is going to be an absolute disaster.
That should be fine, it will hold well.
I was wondering if I could mix the whole concoction (love the grated fresh broccoli idea!) and bake it fresh the next day. Do you think the mixture (stored in a sealed tight bowl) would survive and maintain its integrity? Thanks in advance!
Any substitute for Mayo? Have you ever tried it with regular or Greek yogurt?
You can freeze it after cooking. Be sure to thaw it before reheating, enjoy!
Jamie, can I freeze this for pesach? Would it be better baked before freezing or afterwards?
Vanilla almond milk! Pareve!
I am so sorry I don’t but I do know people have made it in a frozen pie shell or topped it with crushed corn flakes for more of a crunch. I happen to love it bc it’s low carb.
YAYEEEEEEEEE!!!! We have twin families!
Sure.
can i use regular mayo?
wanted to add my families vote for this as a favorite recipe. we rely on it often!
hi Jaime!
do you have a crust recipe for this
kugel?
yay so happy thanks for sharing!
Made it doubled and with fresh broccoli. I par boiled the broccoli. Came out great
Total craziness! (and so happy it was a hit and so sorry you didn’t get a piece) but so thankful you shared that tip with us!!!
YES and YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL hey Ellen! It is good – you can give it a bit more “life” with more cayenne OR a pinch of nutmeg… but we all do like it as is in our house.
I hear that Rivka! Awesome tip – thank you SO much for sharing with all here.
sure or chili flakes or a pinch of your favorite spice just to “wake” it up a bit.
I made this for a potluck Shabbat lunch and I was a little late and by the time I got there it was all gone. Thanks for the recipe. I did use fresh broccoli and graded it (crazy right?) and then there was not need to par boil. Thanks for the recipe.
Can this be baked at 350? (My oven is only accurate at that temperature.)
Also, I was thinking this might be good with cheese added, and call it a quiche. What do you think?
Hi Jamie,
Sounds delish and I know you never stir us wrong but I am afraid that its going to be bland without all the chemicals we usually put in our broccoli kugel such as onion soup powder or non dairy creamer. From the comments I am sure its going to be great but do you think i have to worry? I am happy for my family to be chemical free from something finally?? ellen