It’s easy to settle on heavy, unhealthy dishes when you’re waiting out the winter months for a peek of Spring. Homemade mac and cheese, Italian pastas with thick sauces, and heavy stews. It makes sense, it’s cold and dreary outside and so you want to cuddle up with something warm and filling inside.
But sometimes it’s good to take a break from all those heavy carbs and opt for something just as equally filling, but a little bit healthier. This is where roasted root vegetables come in. They make a perfect winter meal and you can even use them as a side or in a simple soup if you want.
But which root vegetables work best for roasting? Glad you asked!
- Carrots – Whole carrots roast beautifully, and you can pick them up at your local grocer or farmer’s market for not much. You can also roast sweet carrots, as well as purple or yaya carrots, and the great thing about these is that they look great when they’re plated too.
- Beets – Want to know a great way to eat roasted beets? Chopped up into a winter salad with a vinaigrette dressing. You can also toss them with other roasted vegetables, but the point remains: they’re a versatile roasted root vegetable.
- Turnips – Traditional turnips or “white turnips” are generally eaten stewed. If you aren’t super familiar with turnips, it’s more likely you’re familiar with the leafy top part of the root vegetable – the turnip green. Turnips greens are eaten almost year round, stewed and flavored with vinegar. Many people do the same with turnips, but they’re great when they’re roasted and seasoned lightly with salt.
- Rutabagas – Rutabagas are similar to turnips – in fact they’re also called “Swedish turnips”. And while they look similar to a beet, they’ve got a distinctly different taste. You can eat them roasted or you can throw them into a stew (which is a popular way to cook them in New England).
How to Make Roasted Root Vegetables
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice or cube your root vegetables (or just leave them whole – carrots roast nicely in their original state). Toss the root vegetables with olive oil and salt and add them to a roasting dish. Roast them for 45 minutes.
This recipe will work for most root vegetables, except for beets – they’ll need some additional cook time. It’s best to roast beets for slightly longer (up to one hour) in order for them to get to a point that’s soft enough to cut (or bite) through.
Do you have any favorite wintertime root vegetables? Share your recipes with us in the comments!
