Earlier today we wrote about the Health Benefits of Rooted Vegetables here. We love rooted vegetables because they are not only packed with nutrients, but also very versatile. Health Fitness Revolution is giving you 10 ways to cook rooted vegetables in order to make it even easier for you to incorporate them into your dishes and diet.
- Braised: Root vegetables become tender and deeply flavored when cooked slowly in a bit of liquid. You can cook one kind or, better yet, a mixture of root vegetables for a hearty side dish or casual vegetarian main dish.
- Mashed: Mashed potatoes are well known, as are mashed sweet potatoes. Other root vegetables like parsnips, turnips, and celery root are also delicious mashed – and are a healthy alternative to carbohydrate heavy potatoes.
- Grilled: Root vegetables can be delicious when cooked over an open flame. They develop a crusty exterior and their starches get a bit sweet and nicely tender inside. Cook small root vegetables whole; halve or thickly slice bigger root vegetables.
- Baked Fries: Cutting root vegetables into sticks and baking them turns them into a healthy side dish!
- Baked Chips: All root vegetables can be finely sliced, and baked with olive oil into crisp, delicious chips for fun, homemade snack. The photo above is of beet chips!
- Gratins: Root vegetables lend themselves perfectly to being thinly sliced, layered, and baked until tender.
- Hash Browns for Breakfast: Root vegetables are delicious shredded and cooked until browned and crispy. Make big slabs of root vegetable hash browns or more delicate patties, as you like.
- Salads: Root vegetables make great additions to salads. Roasted or boiled until tender, toss them with dressings when they are still warm so they absorb the flavors.
- Soups: Root vegetables add flavor, nutrition, and bulk to soups and stews. When cut into bite-size pieces most root vegetables take about 20 minutes to become tender when boiled, so add them towards the end of cooking time to avoid mushy vegetables.
