Roasting makes vegetables a million times more delicious- and you can roast almost anything you want!
It brings the sweetness out of certain vegetables (ex: red bell peppers turn SO sweet), adds an exceptional crunch to others (ex: broccoli and cauliflower) or transforms the texture into something rich & dreamy (ex: pumpkin & sweet potato).
While it’s easy to roast veg, there are also a few rules to follow. Namely:
- Group the vegetables according to cooking time- and cook them accordingly
- Coat them with oil- not too much, not too little!
- Use parchment paper- this will making cleaning up SO much more easier, trust me!
- Be creative with your flavours!
- The smaller the cut, the less time it will take in the oven
- Lay veggies flat in a single layer for optimal caramelization
- For broccoli & cauliflower: slicing them in half, lengthwise, makes a BIG difference! If you place the sliced side facing down, you maximize contact with your baking pan and hence elevate crunch & texture! Don’t toss the florets in without slicing them lengthwise first 🙂
Below, I’ve grouped veggies with similar cooking times:
LONGER ROASTS: Pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, whole eggplant
MED-LONG ROASTS: Carrot, beets, onions,
MED ROASTS: Cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, bell pepper, sliced eggplant
SHORT ROASTS: Tomato, mushrooms
FYI: you need to score whole eggplants with a knife BEFORE they go in the oven- or else they could explode 🙂
So for instance, below, tomatoes cooked first, followed by broccoli and bell pepper (which I took out last).
I rubbed the veggies with a simple olive oil-garlic-salt mixture, but you can add herbs and spices too!
The other key is to roast the veggies in a single layer– that way, they all get the “same treatment”- if you pile them on top of each other, the top ones get a nice colour while the ones underneath won’t roast properly.
The above were baked at 200F/400C and then finished up with grill/broil mode. To give you the exact timings for these cuts:
- Tomatoes: 10 mins bake + 5 mins broil/grill
- Broccoli & bell pepper: 15 mins bake / 3-5 mins broil/grill
And I enjoyed them all with some previously roasted sweet potatoes. Tossed a sprinkle of zaatar on the potatoes and a drizzle of tahini on the broccoli.
Roasting is a great way to enjoy more vegetables in your diet in a no-fuss way! Just line them on a pan, pop them in the oven and let them do their thing 🙂 If you use parchment paper, it’s minimal washing up to do too!
Other roast veg recipes previously featured on the blog:
