These rainbow oven roasted root vegetables will add a splash of colour to any meal. Lightly spiced with cumin and flavoured with delicious thyme and parsley these roasted root vegetables are a brilliant vegetarian side dish.
Do you get a vegetable box or bag delivered to your home?
We do and while I love it, it sometimes gets to the end of the week and I realise that I haven't used up all of the vegetables from the previous week's bag.
This is especially true of root veggies. Luckily they tend to keep well.
Last week we had yellow and orange carrots, parsnips and beetroot in our bag.
I often end up making a curry with beetroot, like my sweet potato and beetroot curry, carrots usually get steamed and served to my kids and parsnips usually get roasted and served on the side.
Roasting root vegetables in the oven is an easy way to use them up
On this occasion though I hadn't got around to using up the veggies from last week's vegetable bag so I decided to roast them all up together.
The beauty of roasting them with beetroot is that everything (including your hands if you don't wear gloves) takes on a slight pinkish colour.
Beetroot really does have the most beautiful colour doesn't it?
Bear in mind that beetroot takes longer to roast than other vegetables - so chop them first and get them roasting in the oven while you prep the rest of the veggies.
They'll take around 15 minutes longer than the carrots and parsnips, depending on their size.
Eat the rainbow
Have you heard this phrase?
We're often told that we should try to eat the rainbow. But what does that mean?
Eating the rainbow simply means eating foods of as many different colours as possible. And those different coloured foods should be plants.
The reason behind this thinking is that different coloured foods contain different nutrients. For example, purple vegetables - such as beetroot - contains nitrates, which can play a part in reducing blood pressure.
Read more about eating the rainbow on the British Heart Foundation site.
Ingredients
To make this recipe you will need the following ingredients:
- Beetroot - one of my favourite vegetables, beetroot is sweet and deeply earthy. It also adds a gorgeous pinky purple colour to this vegetable side dish.
- Carrots - cheap, nutritious and easy to get hold of, carrots are delicious roasted and add a lovely orange shade to this recipe.
- Parsnip - another of my favourite roots, parsnips are surprisingly sweet and are perfect for roasting.
- Olive oil - while potatoes are best roasted with sunflower oil, I prefer to roast other root vegetables in olive oil. It adds a lovely flavour. You can however use sunflower or vegetable oil if that's what you have.
- Thyme - fresh thyme is best for this dish but if you can't find it then use dried thyme instead.
- Ground cumin - this spice is easy to find and your local supermarket should have it in the spices section.
- Flat leaf parsley - I adore the flavour of parsley and often use it to finish off my dishes. It has a lovely taste and the little flecks of green make these rainbow roasted root vegetables look even prettier. I like to buy frozen chopped parsley and keep it in my freezer to speed things up.
- Salt and pepper - For seasoning this dish to your own personal taste.
Substitutions
This dish is very versatile and you can switch any or all of the vegetables (carrots, beetroot (beets) and parsnips to include the following):
- swede (rutabaga)
- turnips
- sweet potatoes
- butternut squash
- pumpkin
- celeriac
- Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes).
I recommend that you include beetroot in your roasted root vegetables however, as it's such a gorgeous colour.
What to serve with oven-roasted root vegetables
These veggies make a great side dish. I like them:
- alongside a vegan pie or wellington and some mashed potato or perhaps swede
- in a Buddha bowl type meal with other veggies, grains and salads
- as part of a roast dinner
- with a nut roast, or
- with some veggie sausages.
Leftovers
If you have leftover roasted vegetables allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Roasted vegetables can be reheated in the oven or microwave. Please note that they may go a bit soft if reheated in the microwave but they'll still taste good.
Special diets
This diet is suitable for the following diets:
- vegetarian
- vegan
- gluten free.
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How to make rainbow oven roasted root vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan)/220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Peel and chop your beetroot and place in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle with olive oil, mix well and place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.
2. While the beetroot is in the oven peel and chop your parsnip and carrots.
3. Once the beetroot has been in the oven for 15 minutes add the chopped carrots and parsnips and the cumin and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast for around 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are cooked through. Add the parsley, check the seasoning and serve immediately.
If you have made this recipe and loved it please consider leaving a comment and rating below.
Rainbow oven roasted root vegetables
Ingredients
- 3 medium beetroot
- 3 medium carrots
- 1 large parsnip
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves picked and finely chopped (or use 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (fan)/220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.
- Peel and chop the beetroot into small cubes. Place in a roasting tin, drizzle with oil, stir and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile prepare the other ingredients. Peel and chop the carrots and parsnips into cubes.
- Add to the roasting tin with the thyme, a teaspoon of ground cumin and salt and pepper to taste.
- Roast for around 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until all the vegetables are cooked through.
- Add the chopped parsley and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
I ADORE roasted veggies like these...it is such a lovely way to eat root vegetables...and my kids go somewhat bonkers for roasted veg...especially roast parsnip - I frequently have complaints that I didn't make enough!! Eb x
Cook Veggielicious
I wish my kids were the same! If I make roast veggies the potatoes get eaten and I have to eat everything else. Still I'm not complaining when it's parsnips!