Perfect Roasted Vegetables

Perfect Roasted Vegetables
What's Cookin Good Lookin - Homemade Food Ingredients

Roasted Vegetables

Flavorful and super easy to prepare, these roasted vegetables are great ontheir own. They are even more satisfying when paired with almost any baked meat. 
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Equipment

  • Knife
  • Cutting Board
  • Bowl
  • Baking Sheet
  • Oven

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Onions (White or Yellow)
  • 2 Carrots
  • 2 Bell Peppers
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat your oven to 180c (350f).
  • While the oven is heating up, cut the onions and carrots into rough, large chunks.
  • Put them in a bowl and add the salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil.
  • Mix to coat the vegetables in the oil and spices.
  • Pour the vegetables out onto a baking sheet and set the bowl aside for use later. Optionally, you can add a protective layer of aluminum foil to make cleanup easier.
  • Bake for 30 minutes.
  • While the onions and carrots are in the oven, cut the bell peppers into rough, large chunks.
  • Add them to the mixing bowl. There should be enough oil and spice to lightly coat the peppers.  
  • After the onions and carrots have baked for 30 minutes, remove them from the oven. Add the peppers to the baking sheet and mix them in.
  • Bake for another 30 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Vegetables; A Great Compliment To Any Dish

What's Cookin Good Lookin - Homemade Food Ingredients
Cutting the Vegetables into Rough Chunks (G. McGregor/ https://pawprintphoto.net)

When you roast vegetables they release a lot of sweetness and become really juicy and soft. It’s almost like magic. It’s as close to alchemy that you can get.

The great thing about this side dish is that it pairs with just so many other dinners. To boot, it turns an ordinary bake meat into an extraordinary. With just five minutes of prep you’ll have something that will really impress your friends and family.

In the interest of keeping everything going as fast as possible, we would advise avoiding using a baking dish. I grew up using them and they are a big part of my kitchen, but I have learned after years of cooking that they will increase your bake time, often by at least 30 minutes. They just poor conductors of heat that they become a huge waste electricity and time. The same is true for glass cookware. In general, stop using these if you can. There are certain dishes, like casseroles, where they are essential.  

If you can get away with not using baking dishes, that is going to be your best option. With this recipe, just lay those vegetables right out on a baking sheet, as advised in the directions. They will give you the best results.

Additionally, use parchment paper on the baking sheet to avoid sticking. This will also making clean up a breeze.

If You Cheat & Win, You Still Win

What's Cookin Good Lookin - Homemade Food Ingredients
Don’t Do This! Roasted Vegetables in a Ceramic Baking Dish (G. McGregor/ https://pawprintphoto.net)

Speed things up even further by switching out your spices. Instead of using salt and pepper, opt for some Krazy Salt or Krazy Garlic. Remember, if you cheat and win, you still win!

Jane’s Krazy products are easy to get in the US, being stocked in many grocery stores.

If you’re in Japan, you can find it a few places. Notably at Costco, which sell it in a fairly large container. Kaldi Coffee Shop also stocks Jane’s Krazy products, though they are packaged much smaller.


Check out our review of Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt.

Check out our review of Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Garlic.  

Change is good (Additions)

What's Cookin Good Lookin - Homemade Food Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables; Carrots, Zucchini, & Purple Onions (envato.com)

Like a lot of recipes on our site, this is carb-free. What’s great with roast vegetables is that you can mix and match a number of other vegetables. I like onions, carrots, and peppers because they are always easy to get and they have a terrific sweetness that comes out when they are roasted. I will add a number of other vegetables, if they are in season. For example, I love adding string beans. They roast well and add some nice green color to the mix. Since they are thin and prone to burning, you should add them with the peppers so they’re in the oven less time.

Zucchini, if you like them, can work well. Same with eggplant. Really almost any vegetable can work well with this recipe. Finding out what works for you is half the fun.

If you don’t care about being carb-free, you should add white potatoes. They work amazing well here. They did need a good deal of time to cook, so you might have to increase how long you’ve got this in the oven by half an hour.


Who knows more about vegetables than Brian Wilson? Um, probably a lot of people. However, there aren’t many who have written songs about vegetables, so…