LongHorn Steakhouse is a great option when you want fresh, never frozen steak or some sumptuous, made-from-scratch mac and cheese. But did you know the popular steakhouse also has broccoli dialed in? The chain’s Fresh Steamed Broccoli, offered as both a side dish with entrees and as an à la carte item, is a very popular choice among diners. “I’m obsessed with your broccoli!” one Reddit poster enthused about the brand’s green side (per Reddit). A TikToker’s video begged restaurant workers to share the secret to making the vegetable, stating, “LongHorn’s broccoli is the best broccoli in the entire world.”
But mimicking the recipe at home isn’t easy. Many have tried unsuccessfully to duplicate the dish. How does LongHorn Steakhouse churn out this delicious vegetable? Redditors have spilled the beans (or, rather, the broccoli), and the secrets to the craveable side are twofold: the cooking method and the garlic herb butter sauce.
In terms of cooking the broccoli, one Reddit poster, self-identified as a LongHorn Steakhouse employee, wrote it’s steamed in a microwavable plastic bag and then left inside the closed package to achieve the desired level of softness. After this, a “lemon[-]flavored oil with ‘vegetable seasoning'” is drizzled on (via Reddit). Another poster, also a self-proclaimed LongHorn employee, explained that the vegetable seasoning is trucked in already prepared, and its primary ingredients are salt, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, sugar, and spices. The liquid element it’s combined with, according to the poster, is canola oil mixed with lemon juice concentrate.
Steaming the broccoli
Using “Chef Mike,” aka a microwave, is a common restaurant practice for various reasons, including speeding up service by rapidly cooking or reheating single-portion items, like steamed vegetables. It’s a similarly effective method for preparing a quick, tender broccoli in your home kitchen, preserving the veggie’s vibrant color and locking in all that fresh flavor. Microwave-steaming has also been found to retain more of the broccoli’s nutrients than cooking the vegetable by boiling it.
Steaming your broccoli can either be done in a microwavable bag, as the Redditors stated LongHorn Steakhouse does it, or in a covered, microwave-safe dish. Be sure to include water — you can’t microwave-steam fresh broccoli without it. A ¼ cup of water is adequate for a large head of broccoli, equaling about 1 pound.
If you’re using broccoli that was purchased frozen and prepackaged in a steamable bag, these packages are ready to go and are meant to be microwaved as-is, so adding water isn’t needed. Bear in mind, though, that LongHorn Steakhouse describes its dish as including “fresh, steamed broccoli.” The federal government regulates the usage of the word “fresh” by restaurants and food manufacturers, and frozen broccoli isn’t considered fresh by this standard. So, to make your broccoli taste like LongHorn’s, you should begin with raw veggies.
Cook time depends on your microwave’s power level, but three to four minutes on high is generally enough. If the broccoli still isn’t adequately tender, continue nuking the veggies in 30-second increments until the desired softness is reached.
A saucy mystery
The assertion that the sauce is comprised of only canola oil, lemon juice concentrate, and vegetable seasoning may be incomplete. LongHorn Steakhouse’s website describes the Fresh Steamed Broccoli as being “drizzled with our garlic herb butter sauce” — note the inclusion of the word “butter” — and the company’s allergen guide for the dish states it contains dairy. Both details imply the sauce likely contains butter in some form.
In another Reddit thread, one self-declared former LongHorn Steakhouse employee asserted that, during their time working at the restaurant, the broccoli’s sauce came “premade in a bottle.” Another poster, self-proclaimed as a current employee of the chain, commented that it’s no longer premade and, similar to the other Reddit posts, a “pack of clean veggie seasoning” is now thoroughly mixed with “lemon [basting] sauce” to achieve the topping. The basting sauce may well be the same lemon finishing sauce LongHorn uses on its steaks. However, Michael Senich, executive chef and vice president of culinary development for LongHorn Steakhouse, has stated the lemon sauce used on the steaks is dairy-free (per The Kitchn). Mystery unsolved.
One Redditor posted that creating a beurre monté butter sauce (one of several essential butter sauces you should know) for your broccoli will achieve an at-home result similar to LongHorn’s preparation. Beurre monté is a simple emulsion of butter and water. Lemon juice is often incorporated to add acidity, and it’s easy to flavor the finished sauce with herbs and seasonings.