These simple roasted root veggies are perfect for everything from weeknight suppers to potluck dinners. Mix and match using your favorite roots!

Say hello to a color-filled plate!

Beige chicken, white fish, tan tofu, or brown rice? No problem.

With this side dish, adding color to your plate is easy. Just choose your favorite roots, chop, toss with oil, and roast. Garnish with some green parsley or microgreens and voila, dinner is complete.

Nutrient-Packed Root Veggies

Like all vegetables, root vegetables are nutrient-packed! There are many different types to choose from, some more colorful than others.

When making these simple roasted root veggies I generally use 2-4 different types of veggies, almost always including beets in the mix both for their color and taste. Here are some of my favorites:

• Beets
  • In addition to their beautiful color and sweet, earthy flavor, beets provide phytochemicals (powerful plant compounds that help promote health), folate, and iron.
  • Mix it up and choose red, golden, and candy cane (Chioggia) beets. They are all so pretty!
  • Love beets? Here are some other recipes to try: Raw Beet Salad, Beet Chips, Roasted Beet, Avocado, and Tomato Wrap.
• Carrots
  • Who doesn’t love carrots? In addition to their well-loved flavor, orange carrots provide a pretty pop of color thanks to the antioxidant beta-carotene. They also come in purple and white.
• Rutabaga 
  • A cross between a turnip and a cabbage and a staple in northern Europe, this hearty root provides 30% of your daily vitamin C needs!
• Parsnips
  • A relative to carrots and parsley, this sweet root provides antioxidants and potassium.

Other root veggies to try roasting include classic turnips, celery root, radishes, sweet potatoes, and of course classic yellow potatoes.

Here are some other recipe feature roasted root veggies on this site:

• Roasted Roots and Squash, Kale and Quinoa Salad
• Sheet Pan Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables 

Hälsa Kids

This side dish provides a good opportunity to combine a liked, familiar food with a new or “not-yet-liked” food.  If your kids love carrots, try combining them with chopped parsnips or even yellow potatoes. Or maybe they are still working on learning to like roasted carrots. In that case, you could serve half roasted and half raw carrots and put both out.

FACT: For a long time, my kids only ate their carrots raw and it’s still their preferred way to eat them.

Leftovers are the Best

Got leftovers? Great! Because these root veggies make the most delicious breakfast or lunch when paired with eggs or another favorite protein. (So if your kids don’t like them, well then, more for you!)

Get Cooking

Ready to cook? The hardest part is getting out your cutting board and peeling the veggies. Seriously. Once you get that far you will be almost there. It’s like exercise. Often the hardest part is just getting started!

Simply Roasted Root Veggies

Maria Adams, MS, MPH, RDN

This simple side dish will bring an array of color, nutrients, and flavor to your table. Perfect for jazzing up simple weeknight dinners, enjoying with eggs for breakfast or lunch the next day, or bringing to a potluck. Choose your favorite roots or what you have on hand. And choose locally grown when you can! Cheers!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound beets, peeled and diced
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and diced or try sweet potatoes
• 1 pound rutabaga, peeled and diced or try parsnips, turnips, or yellow potatoes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt or to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, combine the diced veggies. Drizzle with oil and toss to combine. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme and toss again.
• Spread veggies onto two baking sheets, making sure they are not too crowded. Cook for around 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork, tossing every 10-15 minutes.
• Garnish with chopped parsley just before serving. Enjoy!