My first thought, always, when someone says they don’t like vegetables is, “but have you had roasted vegetables?”

Because there’s a difference.

And if you’ve had them or made them, you know.

This is not the same.

Steamed Brussels sprouts and the crispy, caramelized sprouts that come out of the oven might as well be a completely different veg.

Same goes for anything emerging from the microwave or a pot full of water (blah).

Seriously, if you think you vegetables aren’t your thing, you might just be making them wrong (no offense).

Really, you gotta try this.

Roasted vegetables are gateway veggies.

Roasting concentrates the natural sugars in the veg and makes them taste sweeter. The process also involves some sort of cooking fat and the sweet + fat combo makes them delicious.

Roasted vegetables are crispy and salty on the outside, smooth and sweet on the inside. Sounds like it should be unhealthy right? But nope, just vegetables.

This is why adding roasted vegetables is the perfect place to start if you’re not used to eating a lot of them.

Anything goes, but there are a few guidelines…

And the other beautiful thing is you can do this with pretty much anything: potatoes, broccoli, carrots, squash, cauliflower, rutabaga… so you can change things up and keep trying new veggies.

You just gotta stick to a few non-negotiables:

• Cut everything about the same size. With denser veggies like root veggies even a little bit smaller than the others. This will help make sure everything cooks evenly and is cooked to perfection all at the same time.
• Use a high quality, high heat cooking fat. My personal preference is to use virgin unrefined coconut oil. I feel like it enhances the sweetness of the veggies even more. You could also use avocado oil, extra-virgin olive oil (though not my fav for high heat cooking because it smokes more at higher temperatures). Or melted grass-fed butter or ghee if you’re not avoiding dairy.
• Keep an eye on them. The size and type of your roasted vegetables will determine cooking time so watch and check on them frequently to make sure they’re cooking evenly and nothing is getting burnt.

If you stick to these few rules you can change up your veg and find your favorite combo. Or keep on changing it up and get more variety of veg into your rotation.

Simplify.

This recipe includes herbs but you don’t always have to be that fancy. Most weeknights when I make this  it’s just the veg, oil, salt and pepper.

I save the herbs for nights when I have a little extra time (ha!) or for something special, like Thanksgiving. Which, speaking of, you can find more Thanksgiving recipes (that just so happen to be healthier, gluten and dairy free) here.

Back to those regular-ol’ weeknights though, these roasted vegetables are perfect with this roasted chicken in a slow cooker (the easiest ever) or to pair with some meatballs.

The Easiest Roasted Vegetables

The Easiest Roasted Vegetables

 

Print

Choose any or all of the vegetables from the list below and use as much or as little of each as you like. Be sure to wash everything well. You don't have to peel vegetables like carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes but can if you prefer.

Author: Megan Adams Brown

Recipe type: side

Ingredients

• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Sweet potatoes
• Brussel sprouts
• Cauliflower
• Onion
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Virgin unrefined coconut oil, melted (about 2 tbsp per baking sheet)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Chop all veggies to be roughly the same size (1-2 inches diameter) and cut onion into crescents.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread chopped veggies out onto baking sheet so they’re in a single layer and not over crowded (if needed, use a second baking sheet to give enough room. Or save the chopped veggies that don't fit and store in fridge to use for something else).
4. Drizzle with melted coconut oil and toss using your hands to evenly distribute and coat all the veggies. Sprinkle with herbs, sea salt and pepper.
5. Roast at 425° for 45-55 minutes.

3.5.3251

Shop the Recipe

• virgin unrefined coconut oil
• parchment paper

What’s your favorite veg to roast?

Will you tell us in the comments below? Share your go-to combo of veggies you like to roast or what you are planning to try. It’d be great to get some new ideas.

And if you make this, come back and tell us how it turned out.

P.S. I’ve got even more easy, tasty veggie recipes to get you hooked on the good stuff in my new virtual cooking class + meal planning program: Dinner in 10. See how it works here.

Note: Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links through which I have the opportunity to receive a small commission of sales. All commissions are used to help fund this blog. Thank you for your support!