The gardens are now put to bed here in the north. Whether you grew root vegetables in your gardens this year and now have them stored for the winter or you purchase them from the market, root veggies are a wintertime must in my opinion. They are incredibly nutritious and inexpensive to grow (or purchase), and they are delicious roasted.

Roasted root vegetables make a colorful side dish to nearly any meal. Roasting will change the flavor and texture of the vegetables, enhancing the sweetness of some of the veggies—I’m looking at you, carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes—while dulling the sharpness of others, such as radishes and turnips.

When roasting vegetables, it’s important to consider cook time and roast like-vegetables together. For example, sweet potatoes, parsnips and turnips will bake for 25-30 minutes and beets, radishes and carrots will only need to bake for closer to 20 minutes.

Oven Roasted Root Vegetables

Ingredients:

An assortment of root vegetables of your choice: Sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, celeriac, radishes, Jerusalem artichokes.

Olive oil or avocado oil, as needed to coat the prepped vegetables.

Salt, garlic powder or garlic granules, ground black pepper, as well as any other seasonings or fresh herbs of choice. I prefer to use Montreal steak seasoning, which is a blend of black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic, onion, salt, and paprika.

Directions

Wash, peel and prep vegetables. Cut into semi-uniform, bite sized pieces so that the veggies roast evenly. I prefer not to peel the carrots and parsnips, but it’s just my personal preference.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Coat the veggies with oil and mix well. Liberally season the vegetables with seasonings of choice and mix again. Spread into a single layer over the baking sheet.

Roast at 350°F for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven after 20 minutes, test tenderness with a fork and cook for an additional 5 minutes if needed, repeat until tender. Once the veggies can easily be pierced with a fork and the edges have browned, they are done. Be mindful not to overcook the vegetables as the texture will become very soft and mushy.

Notes

When roasting vegetables with fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme or oregano, I recommend mixing the fresh herbs in halfway through the roasting process so that the fresh herbs don’t burn while cooking. More tender herbs such as fresh parsley or chives can be chopped up and stirred in once the vegetables are finished roasting.

Chopping up an onion and adding in some smashed cloves of garlic takes these roasted vegetables up another level.

Stephanie Thurow is the author of Can It & Ferment It, WECK Small-Batch Preserving, WECK Home Preserving and co-author of Small-Scale Homesteading.

Stephanie is a certified master food preserver, master gardener, writer and traditional living skills instructor. Find her online: @minnesotafromscratch

Photo credit: Stephanie Thurow