Broccoli Paratha Recipe
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Make this delicious broccoli paratha with a flavorful, spiced broccoli filling for a wholesome, satisfying meal. Crispy on the outside and soft inside, these parathas are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner with yogurt, pickle, or butter.
Quick Look: Broccoli Paratha
Resting Time: 30 minutes.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 6 parathas
Calories: Approx. 300 per serving
Dietary Info: Vegetarian. Can be easily made vegan.
Skill Level: Medium
Tools Needed: Tawa or flat griddle, rolling pin, box grater or food processor, mixing bowl.
Table of Contents
Stuffed parathas are my all-time comfort food. Aloo paratha and gobhi paratha will always be my first loves. But this broccoli paratha was on repeat when my son was growing up. It was my sneaky way to get broccoli into him without a single complaint.
He is all grown up now. The broccoli paratha stayed. These days I salt the grated broccoli first, squeeze out the water, and roll out the parathas thin and even every time.
I picked up the trick from my no-stuff, thepla-style version, where I always let the salted broccoli sit before kneading. One day I wondered why I wasn’t doing the same for the stuffed ones.
What Is Broccoli Paratha?
Broccoli paratha is a stuffed (bharwan) whole wheat flatbread from North Indian home kitchens. The filling is grated raw broccoli mixed with mashed potato, paneer, ajwain, and chaat masala. Roll it flat and toast on a tawa with ghee until crisp and spotted gold.
Ingredients
See the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
All the ingredients to make this broccoli paratha recipe are easily available at Indian grocery stores.
Dough Ingredients
- Whole-wheat flour (gehun ka atta) – I use Aashirvaad atta, but any good chakki atta works. Leftover chapati dough works too.
- Oil – Any neutral cooking oil works. It makes the dough soft and easy to roll.
- Salt – Adjust as per taste.
Filling Ingredients
- Fresh broccoli – Pick a firm, deep green head with tight florets. Frozen broccoli works too (see FAQs).
- Boiled potatoes – Boiled, fully cooled, and mashed smooth. It binds the filling so the broccoli does not fall apart. Check this post on how to boil potatoes.
- Paneer – It adds protein and a soft bite. Skip it for a vegan paratha and add one more small potato.
- Green chilies – Adjust to taste.
- Spice Powders – You will need chaat masala, roasted cumin powder, and salt.
- Carom seeds (ajwain) – Add for a nice taste.
- Cilantro (fresh coriander leaves)
- Oil or ghee – For toasting. Ghee gives the best flavor; oil keeps it vegan.
How To Make Broccoli Paratha
Preparation
Broccoli: Wash a small head of broccoli well and check between the florets for insects. Pat it dry. Grate it on the medium holes of a box grater until you have 1 cup. You want fine crumbs, not a paste.
Potatoes: Peel 1 medium (or 2 small) boiled potatoes and let them cool for 3–4 hours. Warm potatoes turn gluey. Mash them until there are no lumps, because lumps poke through the dough when you roll.
Paneer: Grate 150 g paneer on the medium holes. That gives you about 1 cup.
Remaining: Gather the remaining ingredients.
Make The Dough
Step 1: Mix the following ingredients in a large bowl or parat with your fingertips.
- 2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Step 2: Add about ½ cup water, a little at a time, and bring it together. Flours absorb different amounts of water, so add slowly, or the dough will turn sticky.
Step 3: Knead with the heels of your hands for 3–4 minutes until soft and smooth. A stand mixer with a dough hook works too.
Step 4: Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and rest for 30 minutes. Resting relaxes the gluten, so the dough stretches over the filling instead of snapping back.
Make The Filling
Step 5: While the dough rests, put the grated broccoli in a bowl. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of the filling salt over it, toss, and leave it for 10 minutes. Salt pulls water out of the broccoli. Better it comes out now, in a bowl, than later on your rolling board. After 10 minutes, the broccoli looks darker and limp, and you will see green water pooling at the bottom of the bowl.
Step 6: Pile the broccoli into a clean kitchen towel or muslin. Twist and squeeze hard over the sink until no more water drips. Do not rinse it. The broccoli is now a little seasoned and noticeably drier and denser.
This is where my recipe differs from the usual one. Most recipes add salt at the very end and hope the filling stays dry until you finish rolling. I would rather take the water out first. A wet filling is the number one reason stuffed parathas burst. When you add broccoli unsqueezed, it keeps weeping as you work. By the fourth or fifth paratha, the filling is soggy, the dough turns sticky and splits, and green water leaks onto the rolling board. Ten minutes of salting fixes it all.
Step 7: Add the following ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Squeezed broccoli
- 2 small (or 1 medium) mashed boiled potatoes
- 1 cup grated paneer
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala powder
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon chopped green chili
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon carom seeds
Step 8: Taste the filling and add a pinch more salt if needed. Squeezing washes some salt away, so always taste before you stuff.
Assemble The Broccoli Paneer Paratha
Step 9: Knead the dough for 30–40 seconds and divide it into 6 equal balls. Keep the balls you aren’t using under a towel so they don’t dry out.
Step 10: Dust one ball with dry flour and roll it into a 4-inch circle on a chakla or a clean counter.
Step 11: Shape 2 tablespoons of filling into a ball between your palms and set it in the center. The filling and dough should feel about equally soft. This helps them spread together.
Step 12: Pull the edges up around the filling and pinch them shut at the top, like a money pouch. Gently flatten the pouch with your palm.
Step 13: Dust with flour and roll into a 6-inch circle, turning the paratha as you go. Keep the edges a little thinner than the center. If you are new to stuffed parathas, roll two small circles, spread filling on one, cover with the other, and seal. It is more forgiving. A small tear is fine: pinch it shut, dust with flour, and keep going.
Cook The Broccoli Paratha
Step 14: Heat a tawa over medium-high heat. Lay the paratha on it and cook until light brown spots appear underneath. A cold tawa makes it hard and leathery; a smoking one burns the outside before the middle cooks.
Step 15: Flip with a flat spatula and cook the other side until it has spots.
Step 16: Spread 1-2 teaspoons ghee or oil on each side. Press down with the back of the spatula as it cooks, so the filling cooks through and the edges crisp. It is done when both sides have deep golden patches, and it smells nutty. Wipe the tawa with a paper towel before the next one so burnt flour doesn’t stick.
Serve straight off the tawa, or stack them in a cloth-lined roti basket to stay soft and warm.
Pro Tips By Neha
- Grate, do not blitz. A food processor on pulse is fine, but stop before it turns to crumbs.
- Keep a spoon of besan handy. If the filling still feels damp after squeezing, dry-roast 1 tablespoon besan (gram flour) in a small pan for 1–2 minutes, until it smells nutty; cool it, then mix it in. It soaks up the last bit of moisture and adds a toasty flavor. Roasting first matters, because raw besan tastes pasty inside a paratha.
- Squeeze in two rounds. Squeeze once, loosen the towel, then squeeze again. The second round always gives up more water.
- Keep potatoes cold. Boil them the night before and chill them for the smoothest, least sticky mash.
- Match filling to dough. Use about as much filling as dough by volume. Too little and it tastes like plain roti; too much and it splits.
- Do not skip the press. Pressing with the spatula pushes heat into the center so the paneer and potato warm all the way through.
Broccoli Paratha FAQs
No. Raw grated broccoli cooks fully inside the paratha on the tawa. Blanching adds water and an extra step.
Yes. Thaw it, grate or pulse it, then salt, let it rest, and squeeze it like fresh. Frozen broccoli holds more water, so squeeze it twice.
Salt draws water out of grated broccoli. Resting it for 10 minutes and squeezing it dry gives you a firm filling that does not leak or tear the dough when you roll.
The filling is still too wet or too much. Squeeze the broccoli again, use 1½ tablespoons of filling, or switch to the two-circle method.
Variations
- Broccoli thepla: Mix the salted, squeezed broccoli and spices straight into the flour and knead. No stuffing needed.
- No potato, no paneer: Use only squeezed broccoli with grated ginger, finely chopped onion, and your everyday spices.
- Broccoli gobhi paratha: Swap half the broccoli for grated cauliflower, salted and squeezed the same way.
- Cheesy broccoli paratha: Add 3–4 tablespoons grated processed cheese or mozzarella to the filling.
- Vegan broccoli paratha: Skip the paneer, add one more small potato, and toast in oil.
Serving Suggestions
Broccoli paratha works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and travels well in a school or office lunch box.
Serve it with green chutney, mango pickle, and a bowl of plain yogurt or raita.
In Punjabi homes, a spoon of white butter on top is non-negotiable. On slow weekend mornings, I pair it with a cup of masala chai.
Storage Suggestions
Broccoli paratha tastes best hot off the tawa, when the edges are still crisp. Store leftover parathas in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
To reheat, warm them on a hot tawa for a minute on each side with a few drops of ghee; this brings the crispness back better than a microwave.
To freeze, cook each rolled paratha for just 1 minute per side, cool, and store in freezer bags. Cook them straight from frozen on a hot tawa with ghee until golden on both sides.
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Other Paratha Recipes We Recommend
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Broccoli Paratha Recipe
Ingredients
For The Dough
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (gehu ka atta)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
For The Filling
- 1 small head fresh broccoli (grated, approx 1 cup finely grated broccoli, check notes)
- 1 medium mashed potato (or 2 small potatoes, check notes)
- 1 cup grated paneer
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala powder
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (fresh coriander leaves)
- 1 teaspoon chopped green chilies
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- oil or ghee for frying
Instructions
Make The Dough
- Mix flour, oil, and salt in a large bowl or parat with your fingertips.
- Add about ½ cup of water, a little at a time, and bring it together. Flours absorb different amounts of water, so add slowly, or the dough will turn sticky.
- Knead with the heels of your hands for 3–4 minutes, until soft and smooth. A stand mixer with a dough hook works too.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and rest for 30 minutes.
Make The Filling
- While the dough rests, put the grated broccoli in a bowl. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of the filling salt over it, toss, and leave it for 10 minutes.
- Pile the broccoli into a clean kitchen towel or muslin. Twist and squeeze hard over the sink until no more water drips. Do not rinse it. The broccoli is now a little seasoned and noticeably drier and denser.
- Add squeezed broccoli, mashed boiled potatoes, grated paneer, chaat masala powder, roasted cumin powder, cilantro, green chili, ½ teaspoon salt, and carom seeds to a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Taste the filling and add a pinch more salt if needed. Squeezing washes some salt away with the water, so always taste before you stuff.
Assemble The Broccoli Paneer Paratha
- Knead the dough for 30–40 seconds and divide it into 6 equal balls of about 60–65 g each. Weighing them keeps every paratha the same size. Keep the balls you aren’t using under a towel so they don’t dry out.
- Dust one ball with dry flour and roll it into a 4-inch circle on a chakla or a clean counter.
- Shape 2 tablespoons of filling into a ball between your palms and set it in the center. The filling and dough should feel about equally soft. This helps them spread together.
- Pull the edges up around the filling and pinch them shut at the top, like a money pouch. Gently flatten the pouch with your palm.
- Dust with flour and roll into a 6-inch circle, turning the paratha as you go. Keep the edges a little thinner than the center. If you are new to stuffed parathas, roll two small circles, spread filling on one, cover with the other, and seal. It is more forgiving. A small tear is fine: pinch it shut, dust with flour, and keep going.
Cook The Broccoli Paratha
- Heat a tawa over medium-high heat. Lay the paratha on it and cook until light brown spots appear underneath. A cold tawa makes it hard and leathery; a smoking one burns the outside before the middle cooks.
- Flip with a flat spatula and cook the other side until it has spots.
- Spread 1-2 teaspoons of ghee or oil on each side. Press down with the back of the spatula as it cooks so the filling cooks through and the edges crisp up. It is done when both sides have deep golden patches and it smells nutty. Wipe the tawa with a paper towel before the next one so burnt flour doesn’t stick.
- Serve straight off the tawa, or stack them in a cloth-lined roti basket to stay soft and warm.
Nice idea to use broccoli instead of cauliflower. Good looking paratha.
Paratha’s look healthy & tempting..
Broccoli paratha looks delicious, healthy and perfect.