For many home cooks, cooking broccoli involves separating the florets from the stalks and tossing the latter in the trash. 

But one home chef's simple trick is showing just how easy (and tasty) it can be to make the most of the entire vegetable, helping stretch your grocery budget and reduce food waste at the same time.

The scoop

TikTok creator Hope (@_hope.w) shared a short video demonstrating her favorite way to transform leftover broccoli stalks into a delicious snack or side dish. 

@_hope.w Kitchen hack! I apologize to all the perfectly good broccoli stems I threw away when I first started cooking 🥲 don't make the same mistakes I did! #cookinghack #veggies #broccoli #nowastefood ♬ Sunrise - Official Sound Studio

Instead of throwing the stalks away, she explains that the trick is to dice them up into small, rice-sized bits that can be sautéed as a delicious addition to stir-fries, grain bowls, or enjoyed as a side.

Hope uses a simple mechanical dicer, but you can also do this no-fuss hack with nothing more than a knife.

How it's helping

"I apologize to all the perfectly good broccoli stems I threw away when I first started cooking," the TikToker joked — but in reality, even saving kitchen scraps like broccoli stems can make a huge difference when it comes to wasted food. 

The EPA estimates that in 2019, "66 million tons of wasted food was generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors, and most of this waste (about 60%) was sent to landfills."

"Don't make the same mistakes I did," said Hope, referring not only to the wasted food and money, but to the lack of this delicious addition to spice up your home cooking. Utilizing tips like this can have major impacts on your monthly grocery bill. 

What everyone's saying

"Good idea! I usually just cut off the tough parts and eat it raw while I'm cooking dinner. Chef snack," wrote one commenter.

"I cut them in sticks. My kids love snacking on them with carrot & cucumber sticks," said another.

"I put most of the stems in my freezer bag of scraps for soups and stocks," added another chef.

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