How Much Does Broccoli Weigh? (With Actual Photos!)

Broccoli can grow massive—except, of course, when they are grown as broccoli sprouts or broccolini. But how can you make sure that you’ve got enough heads of broccoli when you’re cooking? Can you even make use of a whole head of broccoli from the market?

The average weight of a head of broccoli ranges from around 0.4 lbs to 1.0 lbs (approx. 180–450 g). More specifically, the common 10-oz (290 g) head will yield approximately 2.5–5 servings of trimmed or untrimmed bite-sized broccoli florets.

How much does a cup of broccoli weigh? How many people should one cup of broccoli serve? Let me show you with actual pictures I took to check how much broccoli weighs!

A Whole Broccoli Head Measured! The Experiment

A head of broccoli in markets and grocery stores typically measures about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. With the stalk intact, it will weigh 14 oz (400 g) on average. Once the stalk is removed, a broccoli head will weigh more or less 10 oz (290 g). When the florets of a broccoli head are further trimmed, it will be reduced to around 7 oz (215 g).

All of the broccoli heads in my local supermarket roughly measured and weighed the same on the day I went out to buy some. So I only bought one for this article. I just didn’t want to buy more than I could finish and ended up wasting tons of broccoli.

I mean, sure—I love broccoli. However, I wouldn’t be able to eat that for every single meal for the next couple of days!

Now, please forgive the neon orange analog scale I used this time around. I just found out that my old digital kitchen scale is already out of commission. So I had to quickly run to a nearby relative’s place just to borrow a scale.

To be more specific, the average head of broccoli weighs 0.7–0.9 lbs (300–400 g). But it can also be less than 0.4 lbs (180 g) and over 1.0 lbs (450 g). In other words, a pound of broccoli looks like 1–2.5 heads of broccoli.

This broccoli head measures 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter—others may only be 4 inches (10 cm). Its thick stalk was 5 inches (12 cm) long while the top dome of the florets was 5.5 inches (13 cm). Others may have shorter stalks than domes and vice versa.

Some broccoli heads can grow as large as 8 inches in diameter and weigh more than 500 grams!

For the most part, though, the total weight of a broccoli head can differ from state to state—and even within one state—at different times of the year.

The Weight of a Broccoli Without the Stalk or Stem

Let’s be honest though, most recipes only call for the top half of broccoli stems. So the stalks are often left unused. Many, unfortunately, even let them go to waste.

As you can see, the weight of a broccoli head can substantially drop down once its underutilized stalk—sometimes referred to as stem—is finally removed. Here, we now have only 0.64 oz (290 g) left of the broccoli head.

This, however, does still include the young leaves and relatively thick skin of the lower portion of the broccoli heads.

The Weight of a Trimmed Broccoli Without the Stalk and Trimmed

If we take it a step further and remove all the excess stalks on each floret and also get rid of the baby leaves left on the head, you will end up with even less broccoli!

However, most recipe call for only the trimmed and cut pieces of broccoli florets.

Without the stalk and after trimming and cutting all your florets into uniform, bite-sized chunks, you will have 0.7–0.8 lbs (215 g) left from the whole broccoli head to cook with.

But don’t worry, with the right preparation and recipe, these parts won’t be wasted. Even if you don’t include the peel of the stalks, you can still get sweet meat from them!

You could also opt to add all that unwanted thick broccoli stalk peels to your compost pile!

Learn more about it in our article on soil conditioner vs compost! 

Also, if you’re not used to eating the tender but crisp flesh of broccoli stalks, now would be the perfect time to start experimenting. By doing so, you can get your money’s worth!

How Much Broccoli is in a Cup?

One cup of raw broccoli weighs about 3–3.5 oz (90–100 g). A full cup of chopped and cooked broccoli florets will also fall within the same range.

As mentioned earlier, trimmed florets of broccoli are obviously going to be smaller. In other words, you can densely pack more of it into one cup.

Through this experiment, I have indeed proven this to be true. You see, a cup of untrimmed medium broccoli florets only went up to about 3 oz (90 g). In comparison, trimmed and uniformly cut florets average around 3.5 oz (100 g).

So you can expect the average-sized broccoli head to come up to 3–4.5 cups.

Do you know how many green onions are needed to fill a cup? Find out today! 

What I find even more interesting is that one cup of chopped frozen broccoli florets fresh out of the freezer can weigh about 50% more than fresh raw ones!

To be exact, one cup of unprepared, frozen, and chopped broccoli weighs 5.5 oz (156 g) on average according to the US Department of Agriculture!

Just remember to rinse and let your broccoli dry up completely before you weigh one cup of it. Otherwise, you might have excess water messing up your measurements.

How Big is a Broccoli Floret?

Broccoli florets may be as small as 0.5 inches (1 cm) or as big as 3 inches (7 cm) in diameter and about 1–3 inches (2–7 cm) in length, with small and thin stalks averaging 1–2 inches (2–5 cm). A broccoli floret can weigh up to about 0.7 oz (20 g).

Here’s the thing, broccoli florets come in all shapes and sizes. There are small, medium, and very big ones!

So a trimmed and chopped-up head of broccoli can give you up to 23 generously sized florets. In terms of 1 kg, you should have more or less 50 broccoli florets!

If you’re pressed for time, you can also buy pre-cut packs of broccoli florets. They are often ready-to-cook and made to be specifically more convenient to use in the kitchen—less prep.

How Much Broccoli is in One Serving Size (Nutrition Facts!)

One serving size of broccoli is equal to 0.5–1.5 full cups of broccoli florets, weighing about oz (45–50 g) or oz (90–100 g), respectively.

Depending on who you ask, a serving of broccoli could be half a cup, 1 whole cup, or even over 1 1/2 cups!

Based on the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), which is used for nutrition facts labels, there should be 5.3 oz (148 g) of broccoli for one serving of the vegetable.

Here’s the nutritional value of one NLEA serving (5.3 oz or 148 g) of raw broccoli:

• Calories: 50 kcal
• Total Carbohydrates: 9.83 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.85 g
• Sugars 2.52 g
• Protein: 4.17 g
• Sodium: 48.8 mg
• Vitamin A 45.9 µg
• Vitamin C 132 mg
• Calcium: 69.6 mg
• Phosphorus: 97.7 mg
• Iron: 1.08 mg
• Potassium: 468 mg

Oftentimes, however, this isn’t what people think of when cooking at home. For most people, one serving of broccoli should either be 1/2 or 1 cup. That’s only about 2.5–5 florets!

Enjoy broccoli in different ways, eat it steamed, boiled, blanched, sautéed, stir-fried, roasted, or creamed. You can even it raw as coleslaw.

It’s also great for pasta, soups, stews, casseroles, and pizza.

Broccoli Stem Recipes: 3 Ways to Eat Broccoli Stalks

You can also turn broccoli stalks into chips, broccoli rice (like cauliflower rice), or vegan and gluten-free “noodles.”

FAQs

Summary of How Much Does Broccoli Weigh

Smaller heads of broccoli can be as light as 0.4 lbs or 6.4 oz (approx. 180 g), whereas larger heads can be as heavy as 1.0 lbs or 16 oz (approx. 450 g). However, many good-sized broccoli heads sold in the market average at about 0.9 lbs or 14 oz (approx. 400 g).

A good-sized head of broccoli is equal to about 2 1/2 cups of small to large florets and about 2 cups of the stalk and scrap parts, including leaves and the tough outer skin of broccoli stalks. Know that the tender but crisp flesh within the stalks is edible too and shouldn’t be wasted.

Sources

• “Broccoli” by Sara Mullaney and Maggie Weinroth in the University of California Cooperative Extension
• “Broccoli Production in California” by Michelle Le Strange et al. in the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources
• “2014 Broccoli Variety Trial Results” by Elsa Sánchez in PennState Extension
• “Nutrition Information for Raw Vegetables” in n/a in the Food and Drug Administration
• “Broccoli, raw” by n/a in the US Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central