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Quick Spiralized Root Vegetables

Roasting veggies like turnips and rutabagas enhances their flavors and spiralizing them means more caramelized, crispy edges in less time than diced. Combined with some fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil, and a bit of sherry vinegar, Quick Spiralized Root Vegetables make a tantalizingly tasty side for your favorite main course!

A black stoneware bowl of quick spiralized root vegetables with copper tongs on a blue background.

Tamara Talks

A pic of the author Tamara.

Surely you know by now my preference for roasting over a quick steam, sauté, or heaven forbid boil? It’s that maillard reaction that does wonderful things to food!

Prior to playing with roasting spiralized vegetables, I knew I had to count on close to an hour (especially with wedges) to get a browned and crisped exterior and a tender interior.

I have loved experimenting with my spiralizer in dishes like Spiralized Beets with Toasted Walnuts, Bleu Cheese, and Sage, but the beets get sautéed on the stove. Delicious indeed, but I had a nagging desire to try roasting some spiralized veggies.

We loved the results of spiralized sweet potatoes in my Low Carb Groundnut Stew with Chicken and Spiralized Sweet Potatoes! The textural contrast added so much to the dish…

I have a tendency to focus on main dishes (and a few cocktails  😉 ), and sometimes I feel like I need to balance that out with some healthy, easy sides. Quick Spiralized Root Vegetables definitely checks off both.

On this particular occasion, I used sweet potato, turnip and rutabaga. Beets work really well, and I have tried carrots, but they’re kind of annoying to spiralize.

I find round or elongated but “chubby” vegetable work best. Oh, and don’t toss that cylinder that is left behind! Add it to your zip bag of vegetable bits for stock. You do have a zip bag in the freezer for that purpose? I hope the answer is yes!

How to Make Quick Spiralized Root Vegetables

An 8 cup glass bowl with spiralized turnips, sweet potatoes, and rutabagas, fresh rosemary, thyme, and parsley, and sherry vinegar and olive oil in the background.

Ingredients


  • 1 medium sweet potato
  • 1 large turnip
  • 1 large rutabaga
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, for drizzling
  • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (champagne or white wine vinegar)
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs
  • 1 knob butter, 2-3 tablespoons
  • sea salt and pepper

Whatever root vegetables you choose, you’ll want 8-10 cups to serve 4. The photo above is an 8 cup pitcher, and it is over-filled. You can also see in the finished dish that the veggies shrink up quite a bit in the process of roasting.

The veggies are lightly seasoned with olive oil and sherry vinegar, tossed with fresh herbs (your choice), and sea salt and pepper (I’m a huge fan of Aleppo pepper if you can find it!).

My guilty pleasure is a knob of butter added during roasting, and stirred in as they cook. This really is a simple side dish, and you’ll find it pairs well with many of your favorite foods!

The spiralized root vegetables combined on a copper baking sheet with olive oil, vinegar, fresh herbs, salt and pepper, ready to go in the preheated oven.

Tips and FAQ

What other veggies can I spiralize and roast? Choose vegetables that can hold up to the high heat and roasting times like turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes and yams, beets, the solid end of butternut squash.

What herbs work well with the spiralized and roasted veggies? We like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Haha. They all work well here. Less common, but perfectly appropriate, would be marjoram.

I hope you’ll give this relatively quick, super easy, and very healthy vegetable side dish a try!

Signature in red and green with chiles and limes. Healthyish Latin cuisine.
Yield: 4 servings

Quick Spiralized Root Vegetables

Quick Spiralized Root Veggies Feature Image

Roasting veggies enhances their flavors through caramelization, and spiralizing them means more caramelized, crispy edges in less time than diced or chunks. Combined with some fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil, and a bit of sherry vinegar, Quick Spiralized Root Vegetables make a tantalizingly tasty side for your tried and true main course!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 medium sweet potato, spiralized
  • 1 large turnip, spiralized
  • 1 large rutabaga, spiralized
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, for drizzling
  • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, (see notes)
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs, (see notes)
  • 1 knob butter, 2-3 tablespoons (optional)
  • sea salt and pepper, (see notes)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (375 convection roast).
  2. Add the spiralized veggies to a very large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sherry vinegar. Sprinkle generously with the herbs. Toss thoroughly. I think hands work best!
  3. Spread on a baking sheet. Add the knob of butter (cut in 3 pieces) on top. Place in the hot oven. As the butter melts, it will get tossed throughout. Season generously with salt and pepper.
  4. Roast 20-25 minutes (less in convection) until edges are crisping and browning, tossing about every 5-10 minutes.
  5. Remove from the oven when you have a nice amount of crispy brown edges. Give it all one more good toss, and place in a serving bowl or plate them immediately. Garnish with additional herbs if desired.

Notes

Feel free to vary the vegetables (but keep in mind how quickly they cook). I would stick to hard vegetables rather than softer vegetables like squash that cook more quickly. You want a total of 8-10 cups.

I LOVE sherry vinegar for its smooth complexity. You may substitute a good quality wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice for sherry vinegar.

I use whatever fresh herbs I have in my herb garden or in my fridge. On photo day, I used thyme, rosemary, and parsley.

You may have seen my DIY Finishing Salts post? Both the Dill and the Citrus work well with this. Also, I love Aleppo pepper, and keep it on hand. Fresh ground pepper works just fine though!

Macronutrients (approximation from MyFitnessPal.com): 222 calories; 3 g protein; 26 g carbohydrates; 13 g fat.

 

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Nutrition Information:


Amount Per Serving: Calories: 222

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8 Comments

    1. Hi Lija! I apologize for the confusion. I am in the US also, and I realize many people aren’t familiar with the term. My recipe states alongside the “knob” 2-3 tablespoons. It’s just an approximation for a bit of butter. I hope you’ll give it a try!

    1. Yes! It’s always about those crispy, caramelized edges 🙂 We are trying to put more emphasis on low carb dishes both for the blog and for our own healthy weight management… It gets harder with each passing decade!

  1. Ok – So I definitely need to get a spiralizer! The caramelization on these root vegetables must be fabulous! I’d love to have a bowl in front of me right now. Your photos are delicious!

    1. Thanks MJ! BTW, I know you’d love a spiralizer! Yes, it’s all about those caramelized edges 🙂 I’ve got some root veggies in the fridge, and plans to spiralize them tomorrow for dinner!