Brown sauce is a simple sauce made with shallots, fresh thyme, meat stock and roux -- a mixed butter and flour thickening agent. While the gravylike sauce is likely to add a burst of flavor to otherwise bland broccoli, measure out your portion first. A heavy-handed pour can quickly up the calorie content of a steamy side of broccoli.

Broccoli is very low in calories. You can have a full 1-cup serving of steamed broccoli for around 55 calories. Drizzle on 1/4 cup of beef or turkey-based brown sauce, and you’ll tack on about another 25 calories. Ultimately, you’ll get roughly 80 calories from the side dish. Nearly 60 percent of the calories in broccoli with brown sauce are from carbohydrates, about 23 percent come from protein and the final 22 percent of calories stem from fat.