Easy Roasted Root Vegetables with Balsamic 🥕 It's time to get back to your roots, starting with these delicious, nutritious roasted carrots & beets glazed with balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. Vegan & GF.
This easy recipe for roasted root vegetables with balsamic vinegar is a simple and delicious way to bring out the natural flavors of carrots, beets or any of your favorite root veggies. The addition of a drizzle of pure maple syrup combined with balsamic creates a light and lovely sweet glaze as the veggies are baking.
Oven roasting is a great method for cooking vegetables. It preserves so much flavor and texture, unlike boiling and steaming, which can make some veggies too soft or mushy. I can make a meal from a platter of Mediterranean roasted vegetables including artichokes, mushrooms, eggplants, peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash. Root vegetables are perfectly suited for roasting, like my favorite lemon roasted potatoes.
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Roasted root vegetables are perfectly delish all on their own, served as a side dish or on a bed of salad greens topped with this gorgeous vegan avocado basil dressing and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds.
🥕Why you should try this recipe
- It's so simple to prepare
- You can use this method with many different vegetables
- Kids love them!
- Clean-up is quick & easy
- Roasted veggies are full of nutrition and super delish
One of the many things I LOVE SO MUCH about being vegan is enjoying the beautiful colors of the fruits and veggies I eat every day. Our plates look like painters palettes. Vibrant greens of every shade, brilliant tomato and pepper reds, deep eggplant purples, bright lemony yellows, radiant oranges, berry blues. This recipe for roasted root vegetables with balsamic is loaded with so much flavor and color, it's like eating the rainbow!
What are root vegetables?
Root vegetables are edible plant parts that grow underground. Some are 'true roots' or taproots, others are bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers. So while not all of them are actually 'roots', tubers - like potatoes and yams - are still considered root vegetables. Likewise, ginger, turmeric, ginseng, and arrowroot - all rhizomes - grow underground. Carrots, beets, parsnips, radishes, daikon, turnips, rutabagas, jicama, are 'true roots' or taproots.
Ingredients
- Beets - red and golden
- Carrots - rainbow variety or regular
- Olive oil - extra virgin
- Salt - coarse
- Balsamic vinegar - red or white
- Maple syrup
Variations & add-ins
- Parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes,
- Substitute maple syrup with with vegan honey or agave nectar
- Add slices of red onions or leeks
- Add fresh herbs
- Use fresh ground pepper
"We had the roasted root veggies with avo basil dressing the other night. It was fantastic!! " Cindy T.
Instructions
🥕See printable recipe card below for quantities & details.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF
- Prepare and chop veggies.
- Line pans with parchment paper or lightly grease surface of pans.
- Arrange beets on one pan, in a single layer. Do the same with carrots on a separate pan or oven-safe skillet.
- Brush beets and carrots lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
- Place carrots in oven at 400º for 15 minutes until just tender.
- Place beets in oven for 20 - 30 minutes until just tender.
🥕Want to prepare this recipe without oil? See my notes in the printable recipe card below for an oil-free option.
- Combine balsamic vinegar and maple syrup in small bowl.
- Brush carrots and beets with vinegar and syrup. Place both pans back into oven for an additional 10 minutes, allowing the vinegar/syrup mix to caramelize.
- Remove from oven and serve hot. Wasn't that easy!?
🥕Serving Suggestions
Roasted root vegetables with balsamic make a perfect partner with tofu, tempeh or seitan. Pile them in a buddha bowl with rice, quinoa or ancient grains. What a beautiful side dish on a Thanksgiving table. I love serving them on top of a bed of fresh salad greens drizzled with my Avocado Basil Dressing and a handful of pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top.
Equipment
🥕 FAQ's
Eat your carrots! 🥕According to the Harvard Health Letter, root vegetables are packed with nutrients and complex carbohydrates (the good kind). Root vegetables are also low in calories and high in antioxidants. Each type of veggie offers different amounts of vitamins and minerals. For instance, carrots are high in vitamin A. Turnips are loaded with calcium. Russet potatoes are great sources of potassium.
For those of us who prefer whole food plant-based diets, enjoying starchy root veggies like potatoes and yams is a great way to help with weight loss. They help stave off hunger by making you feel satisfied (so long as you don't load on lots of butter or oils). Nibbling on carrots with my favorite hummus is one of my go-to afternoon snacks. 🥕A cup of raw carrots sticks has only 50 calories. Now that's something to root for!
I prefer to wash and peel root vegetables. That's just me. Veggies with thin peels, like carrots, don't have to be peeled if you prefer not. Just be sure to scrub them really well before using.
Take a look at the astounding array of colors when you visit a farmers market or the produce department in your neighborhood grocery store. The beautiful hues contained in all of those gorgeous fruits and veggies are the nutrients of life. When you hear your doctor suggest that you "Eat the rainbow", that means that you should create a colorful, multi-hued plate for yourself at every meal. By doing so, you are ensuring that you are consuming a variety of healthy, nutrient-filled foods. You might like to take a look at this pamphlet by The American Heart Association about "Eating the Rainbow".
If you love this recipe ★★★★★ please be sure to rate it below! Sharing your experience let's me know that you enjoyed it and helps other readers decide if they should give the recipe a try too. Thanks a bunch!🥕
Recipe
Easy Roasted Root Vegetables with Balsamic
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets
- Parchment paper (optional)
- Chef's knife
- paring knife
- basting brush
Ingredients
- 4 large beets red and golden - washed, peeled, cut into bite-size wedges
- 6 large carrots rainbow variety or regular - washed, peeled, cut into ½" rounds
- 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- ½ teaspoon salt coarse
- 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º
- Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper or lightly grease surface of pans.
- Arrange beets on one pan, in a single layer. Do the same with carrots on a separate pan.
- Brush beets and carrots lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
- Place carrots in oven at 400º for 15 minutes until just tender. Place beets in oven for 20 - 30 minutes until just tender.
- Combine balsamic vinegar and maple syrup in small bowl.
- Brush carrots and beets with vinegar and syrup. Place both pans back into oven for an additional 10 minutes, allowing the vinegar/syrup mix to caramelize.
- Remove from oven.
Notes
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Connie Edwards McGaughy
This recipe for oven roasting root veggies has become my favorite way to cook carrots, beets and other root vegetables. It's super simple to do, and so delicious. Give it a try, I think you're going to love it too!
Mom o’ snobs
I just had to write a review on this one.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My adult kids are food snobs. Don’t get me wrong, they will eat anything put before them, and gratefully, but they do reserve their serious praise for things they can compare favorably to the amazing restaurants they’ve had the opportunity to visit on both coasts with friends who could afford them, treating.
My daughter said “This is amazing! This could be served in a Michelin Star restaurant!” Truly, the combination of textures and flavors, sweet ant tart, as well as the colors for presentation... just Exceptional.
It’s very easy to make, yet can be served to the most discerning of guests as a complex and beautiful side dish. Absolutely scrumptious and gorgeous! A keeper recipe.
Notes to Anyone making this:
Serving it on a small bed of crisp greens really does add to its overall texture effect, it’s not just for creating a very lovely presentation. Try it! Even for people who aren’t beet fans, just use golden beets only., along with the carrots. It’s really the red ones that have such an irony flavor.
Connie Edwards McGaughy
So happy you and your family enjoyed this recipe! It's such a great way to enjoy root veggies. I wasn't a beet fan either until I tried roasting them. Thanks for sharing!💚🥕
Susie Edwards
Very Good
Connie Edwards McGaughy
So glad you like it!🥕