Ah, who doesn’t remember the good ol' times when we were young and always refusing to eat the vegetables on our plate? But now, as grown-ups, we understand how important it is to eat those greens we've been avoiding. However, it seems that there aren't many ways we can cook vegetables. Usually, people prefer them to be crispy and a little stirred fried – at least that's what we have traditionally tried when ordering a side of vegetables with our steak. But how else can we cook them?

Pexels | Nothing like a good side of vegetables with your main course

Before diving into which cooking method is the best, you should understand the difference between the various cooking methods. Full disclosure: there aren't too many, to begin with.

Sauté

If you sauté your vegetables, then you are retaining most of the nutrients in them. The science behind this method is that you cook your vegetables on high with a bit of oil, which cooks them quickly and, at the same time, lowers the chances of nutrition loss. Sautéed vegetables are the best in taste since they can be seasoned well.

Boiling

Boiling vegetables will probably remind you of your school days when you were served soggy broccoli and boiled cabbage for lunch. Apart from being tasteless, the boiled vegetables cannot retain any nutrients since they are all absorbed into the stock while cooking.

Pexels | Vegetable broth is what you’re mostly getting with the boiling method

Frying

Many studies have shown that frying vegetables might not be the best idea since it doesn’t allow them to hold on to some of their most essential nutrients. This means that by the time you get your fried vegetables on your plate, they are completely stripped of their nutrition.

Pexels | Unlike chicken, vegetables aren’t that good when they are fried

So, what's the best cooking method?

According to recent discoveries, the best way to possibly cook vegetables is by shocking them. As violent as it sounds, this might the best way to preserve the crispness and color of your vegetable. Now, the question is that how do you shock a vegetable?

Well, the idea behind this type of cooking is to ensure that the product doesn’t overcook. Note that even when you take the vegetables off the heat, they continue to cook, which makes them soggy and mushy. However, by placing the freshly cooked vegetables in an ice bath, you can stop the cooking process and get fresh, crispy vegetables.

There are extensive and detailed videos and guides that thoroughly explain the process of shocking. Maybe today’s the day your veggies finally come out perfect!