Roasted vegetables are so easy to make, no recipe is required! Choose your favorites, or be bold and add a few you haven’t tried before – a rutabaga perhaps? Parsnips?
(Vegetables shown: onion, potatoes, rutabaga, carrots, parsnips, garlic)
Cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces and toss them with a good oil. Use a generous amount to give the vegetables a good coating, but not too much, a tablespoon or two is usually enough. The oil helps the vegetables cook evenly and crisp in the oven, as well as add flavor.
Recently when in the U.K. I experienced rapeseed oil in cooking and found it to be a very nice oil to cook with. I purchased some in Wales. I have not found it in the U.S. yet, however, you can get it online at rapeseed oil. What I then found out when I researched rapeseed oil (not to be confused with grapeseed oil) is that it is actually the equivalent to canola oil – and I thought I had found a new oil. đ It did taste different to me than canola oil, but that could be because we were tasting the U.K. version. Wikipedia has more info on it. And Kitchn has a good description of the differences between canola oil and rapeseed oil. Those crafty Canadians had something to do with that.
We enjoyed seeing the beautiful fields of yellow flowers as we traveled through the U.K. which had fields and fields of the rapeseed plants. They reminded us of fields of mustard plants which are in the same family.
My favorite oil is still olive oil and I use it in most all my cooking. In roasting these vegetables you could also use coconut oil, avocado oil, or any other oil you like.
I toss the vegetables with my hands to rub the oil into the vegetables and make sure theyâre evenly coated. 
Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Be generous, but not overly excessive.
Spread the vegetables into a baking sheet. Don’t crowd them (give them a little space) or they will steam instead of roast.
Set the oven at 425°F to roast the vegetables, although this temperature is flexible. Adjust up or down as you prefer.
Size Matters
Smaller pieces will cook quicker than larger pieces. If youâre roasting a new-to-you vegetable, check after about 15 minutes, and keep roasting until you see charred bits. Softer vegetables cook quicker, while harder vegetables (like potatoes) will cook slower.
Char Baby Char
The toasty tips and edges or charred bits on roasted vegetables add to the depth of flavor of the vegetables. Generally, you haven’t burned the vegetables, you’ve roasted them to perfection and very likely the vegetables will be even tastier. (The batch of veggies in this post did not char enough to my satisfaction. When I do this again, I will let them roast just a bit longer.)
A Few Cooking Tips
Based on cooking temperature of 425°F, here are a few cooking times for various vegetables. Keep this in mind if you are mixing vegetables in the same cooking sheet. You may want to separate like vegetables on cooking sheets to keep cooking times consistent.
- Root vegetables (beets, potatoes, carrots): 30 to 45 minutes, depending on chunk size
- Winter squash (butternut squash, acorn squash): 20 to 60 minutes, depending on chunk size
- Crucifers (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts): 15 to 25 minutes
- Soft vegetables (zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers): 10 to 20 minutes
- Thin vegetables (asparagus, green beans): 10 to 20 minutes
- Onions: 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how crispy you want them
- Tomatoes: 15 to 20 minutes
