Cauliflower vs. Broccoli: Which is Healthier?

CAULIFLOWER NUTRITION

A cup of cooked cauliflower contains just 28 calories, but you get a lot of nutritional bang for your caloric buck! It has two grams of protein in that serving and 12 percent of your daily fiber needs.

Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamin C. That single cup gives you almost your whole day’s requirement. It’s also a good source of vitamin K, vitamin B6 and folate. Vitamin K is important for maintaining a healthy heart and building strong bones. Folate and B6 are B-vitamins that are important for a healthy metabolism and blood.

BROCCOLI NUTRITION

Broccoli is also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. A cup of cooked broccoli has 54 calories and gives you four grams of plant-based protein. You also get a whopping 20 percent of your daily fiber from that same cup.

A cup of broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A and folate. We talked about vitamin K and folate in the Cauliflower section, but not vitamin A. You know that vitamin A contributes to healthy vision, but it’s also important for your skin.

That side of broccoli is also a good source of vitamin B6 (discussed in the Cauliflower section), calcium, iron and vitamin E. Iron is another building block of healthy blood, while calcium supports bone health and hormone function. Vitamin E gets a lot of attention for its role in healthy skin, but it also supports your heart, vision and brain while protecting you from certain types of cancer.

CAULIFLOWER VS BROCCOLI

This one was a real surprise to me. When it comes to cauliflower vs. broccoli, cauliflower is far behind in every vitamin and mineral for which I could find nutritional data. Cauliflower has about half the calories of broccoli per serving, but we’re only talking an extra 26 calories per cup. Considering broccoli’s significant nutritional punch, those extra calories are well worth it.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should skip the cauliflower rice or even choose broccoli over cauliflower at every single meal. Cauliflower is still an incredibly healthy food rich in plenty of vitamins and minerals. But maybe it does mean I can stop hiding cauliflower in my family’s meals and serve them the broccoli that they already love.