What is the recommended method to retain the most nutrients when boiling vegetables?

Cooking vegetables in a small amount of water is the recommended method to retain the most nutrients when boiling. This approach minimizes the exposure of vegetables to water, which can leach nutrients such as vitamins and minerals out of the food. When using less water, there's both a lower risk for nutrient loss and often a shorter cooking time, which also helps preserve the vitamins that are sensitive to heat.

This method limits the volume of water that nutrients can migrate into during the cooking process, ensuring that more of these beneficial compounds remain within the vegetables themselves. Additionally, less water typically leads to quicker cooking times, and shorter cooking times generally correlate with better nutrient retention.

Options suggesting to cover the vegetables completely with water would allow nutrients to leach into the water, which is counterproductive for maintaining their nutritional content. Covering the cooked vegetables with cold water or adding baking soda to the water does not help retain nutrients and in fact may diminish the nutrient profile further. Baking soda can cause the vegetables to lose their color and certain vitamins can be destroyed by the alkaline environment.