Broccoli is packed with vitamins, and two stand out above the rest: vitamin C and vitamin K. A single cup of cooked broccoli delivers 101 mg of vitamin C (112% of your daily value) and 110 mcg of vitamin K (92% of your daily value). Beyond those headliners, broccoli supplies meaningful amounts of folate, vitamin A, and vitamin B6.
Vitamin C: More Than a Full Day’s Worth
One cup of cooked broccoli gives you more vitamin C than you need in a day. That 101 mg surpasses what you’d get from a medium orange. Vitamin C supports your immune system, helps your body build collagen for skin and joint health, and acts as an antioxidant that protects cells from damage. It also improves how well you absorb iron from plant-based foods, which makes broccoli a smart pairing with beans, lentils, or grains.
Vitamin C is water-soluble, meaning your body doesn’t store it. You need a steady daily supply, and broccoli is one of the most efficient ways to get it from whole food.
Vitamin K: Essential for Blood and Bones
Vitamin K1 is the form found in green vegetables, and broccoli is one of the richest sources. At 92% of your daily value per cooked cup, it nearly covers your entire requirement in a single side dish. Your body uses vitamin K to make proteins involved in blood clotting. Without enough, even minor cuts or bruises heal slowly. Vitamin K also helps direct calcium into your bones rather than your arteries, playing a quieter but important role in bone strength.
Because vitamin K is fat-soluble, your body absorbs it best when you eat it alongside some dietary fat. Drizzling olive oil over steamed broccoli or roasting it with a bit of butter isn’t just tastier. It actually helps you absorb more of the vitamin. This same principle applies to the other fat-soluble vitamins in broccoli, including vitamin A.
Folate: A Key B Vitamin
Broccoli is a solid source of folate (vitamin B9), providing about 103 to 105 mcg per cup, whether frozen or cooked. That’s roughly a quarter of the 400 mcg adults need daily. Folate is critical for making DNA and forming new cells, which is why it’s especially important during pregnancy. Low folate intake is linked to a higher risk of neural tube defects in developing babies.
Even outside of pregnancy, folate matters. It helps your body produce red blood cells and works with vitamin B12 to keep levels of homocysteine in check, an amino acid that at high levels is associated with heart disease risk.
Vitamin A From Beta-Carotene
A half cup of boiled broccoli provides about 60 mcg RAE (retinol activity equivalents) of vitamin A. Broccoli doesn’t contain vitamin A directly. Instead, it supplies beta-carotene, a plant pigment your body converts into vitamin A as needed. This conversion isn’t particularly efficient: it takes about 12 mcg of dietary beta-carotene to produce just 1 mcg of usable vitamin A. Still, broccoli contributes a useful amount, especially as part of a diet that includes other orange and green vegetables.
Vitamin A supports vision (particularly in low light), immune function, and the health of your skin and mucous membranes. Like vitamin K, it’s fat-soluble, so pairing broccoli with a source of fat improves absorption here too.
Smaller But Notable Vitamins
Beyond the big four, broccoli contributes smaller amounts of several other vitamins. Vitamin B6 is present in modest quantities and helps your body metabolize protein and produce neurotransmitters like serotonin. Riboflavin (B2) shows up as well, supporting energy production by helping your cells convert food into usable fuel. Vitamin E, another fat-soluble antioxidant, appears in trace amounts. None of these make broccoli a primary source on their own, but they add up as part of a varied diet.
Florets vs. Stalks
If you’ve been throwing away broccoli stalks, you’re discarding food with nearly identical nutritional value. Research using USDA nutrient data confirms that broccoli stalks have almost equivalent nutrient levels to the florets. Even for vitamins, antioxidants, and protective plant compounds, there’s little meaningful difference between the two parts. Peeling the tough outer layer of the stalk and slicing the tender interior gives you more usable broccoli per head and the same vitamin profile.
Fresh vs. Frozen
Frozen broccoli holds up well nutritionally. Studies comparing fresh and frozen vegetables found that the nutrient status of frozen broccoli was similar to typical market-purchased fresh broccoli, and actually superior to fresh broccoli that had been stored at home for several days. Fresh broccoli retains its quality for up to 14 days under proper refrigeration, but vitamin C in particular degrades with time and exposure to air. If you tend to buy vegetables and let them sit in the fridge for a week, frozen may deliver more vitamins to your plate than “fresh” that’s been slowly losing nutrients.
Getting the Most From Broccoli
How you cook broccoli affects how much of its vitamin content you actually consume. Boiling leaches water-soluble vitamins like C and folate into the cooking water. Steaming, roasting, or microwaving preserves more of these nutrients because the broccoli has less direct contact with water. For fat-soluble vitamins (K and A), cooking with a small amount of oil or butter improves absorption. A simple approach that covers both: lightly steam or roast broccoli with a drizzle of olive oil. You preserve the water-soluble vitamins while making the fat-soluble ones more available.
Eating broccoli both raw and cooked throughout the week gives you different advantages. Raw broccoli retains its full vitamin C content, while light cooking can make some nutrients easier for your body to access.