Roasted Fall Vegetables are the perfect way to enjoy the vegetable bounty of fall! Choose an assortment of your favorite root vegetables and more (like Brussels sprouts and broccoli), toss them in olive oil, season with salt and pepper (and herbs if you like), and roast to perfection!
It’s a simple formula with endless options. Easy enough to make as part of a weeknight meal or for lunch meal prep (ideas on that below), or as a perfect side dish for your holiday table.
Ingredients You Need to Make Roasted Fall Vegetables
- Garlic: Look for a large, plump head of garlic with taut, shiny skin.
- Delicata Squash: Choose a firm squash with smooth, unblemished skin. (No need to peel as the skin is thinner than most fall / winter squashes.)
- Eggplant: Look for an eggplant that is heavy for its size with uniform color and shiny, smooth skin.
- Fennel Bulb: Choose a fennel bulb with fresh looking greens on long branches that haven’t been trimmed. The bulb itself should be bright white without browning or wilting.
- Carrots: Carrots should be firm and bright orange with smooth skin.
- Sweet Potato: Use any variety you like – I’m partial to purple, Japanese sweet potatoes as they’re the sweetest I’ve tried.
- Yukon Gold Potatoes: Or other waxy potatoes. (Russet potatoes would likely fall apart in this dish.)
- Red Onion: Sweet onion would also work well.
- Olive Oil: Use your favorite extra virgin variety.
- Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
The Inspiration for these Roasted Fall Vegetables
I came across this recipe by rabbit trail while planning a trip to Paris for our 20th wedding anniversary. After poring over countless articles and guides, there were a few that stood out: two books, and this post from Faith of An Edible Mosaic.
We’d been to Paris once before – a few days after September 11th. Yes, that September 11th. I told you about that experience in this post for French Onion Soup. We were just there for a week and saw so little. This time I hoped to see, explore and taste as much as possible without missing out on the simple joie de vivre. (Which we did, and even wrote our own book about it: Paris Like You Live There: A Practical Travel Guide.)
So, the books.
First, Beeta’s book – Paris: 7 Practical Tips to Know When Planning Your Trip to the City of Lights. Beeta is one of those people who just does things well and this book is a wonderful example. Guide books can be completely overwhelming. I can’t tell you how nice it was to start with a simple, 7-step starter. (Not to mention that it’s a mere $3.) So if you’re planning a trip to Paris, or just want to dream about it, this is a must.
The second, I stumbled on in an article at The Kitchn, 10 Paris Food Secrets the Guidebooks Won’t Tell You About. I read the introduction below and immediately ordered the book.
My Paris Market Cookbook is part guidebook and part cookbook, with seasonal recipes inspired by local produce and the people who grow and serve it. It’s also a book that gives a fresh look at the new face of Paris food, like specialty coffee roasters and microbrewers — artisans seeking to challenge the status quo. In other words, this isn’t your mother’s guidebook to Paris.
Once I received the book, I was further smitten by Emily’s approach to the book’s recipes, she says:
The selection of seasonal recipes that you’ll find in My Paris Market Cookbook were intentionally chosen because they require only a few ingredients, which can, for the most part, be easily found at your local farmers’ market.
Indeed. And I’d just so happened to pick up our farm share on top of my usual unhinged shopping spree at the farmers market. So I had pounds and pounds of fall vegetables and no specific plan.
Her recipe for roasted fall vegetables was the perfect recipe-not-recipe for what I had. I say ‘not-recipe’ because it’s really just cubing up a bunch of vegetables and squashes, drizzling them with olive oil, seasoning them with salt, and roasting them to glorious perfection, i.e., about 50 minutes.
It’s my favorite way to enjoy fall vegetables for its versatility and that you can use any variety of vegetables you like! So make up a big batch and eat some of it straight out of the oven, then later in a salad with farro and feta. Or tossed into some pasta, or cold straight out of the fridge!
More Delicious Fall Recipes
Simple Roasted Fall Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic top sliced off to reveal cloves (recipe note #1)
- 1 delicata squash halved seeded and sliced into 1/2-inch wide half-rounds
- 1 medium eggplant cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large fennel bulb top trimmed and bulb halved lengthwise, then cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges, reserve fronds for garnish if desired
- 2 large carrots cut into 1/2-inch pieces sliced on the diagonal
- 1 medium sweet potato cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large red onion halved top to bottom and cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom of a 4-quart rectangular baking dish (15" x 10" x 2" or larger).
- Place all vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and toss gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper and gently toss to distribute.
- Pour vegetables into prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. Nestle head of garlic into vegetables, cut-side up and drizzle bare cloves with olive oil (recipe note #1).
- Roast vegetables 40-60 minutes to your desired tenderness, gently tossing every 20 minutes. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves from their skins (be careful, they'll be hot!). Transfer vegetables and garlic cloves to serving bowl; season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and garnish with fennel fronds if desired. Serve.
Notes
- I don’t mind my garlic cloves having a lightly toasted top. If you want them to be soft on top, wrap the garlic head in a little piece of foil and nestle into the vegetables.
- Feel free to season with with herbs as well as salt and pepper – fresh thyme goes with just about everything!
- To make a smaller batch, use about half of the amount called for in this recipe and cook in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you’ll get more crispy edges this way too.)
Is there any better side? I could see these beauties piled high alongside a juicy roasted chicken or our Thanksgiving turkey!! Thanks for sharing, Marissa!
My pleasure, Annie! Thank you for your sweet comment.
Paris is still on our list of places to visit – whenever we can travel again. Until then, I’ll just have to dream! I love this recipe, Marissa. Roasted root veggies are so healthy and so easy to make – although I don’t think I’ve used included fennel. Great addition there!
Beautiful! I love that you can mix this up with different veggies each time you make it. My favorite part is that gorgeous head of garlic! Lovely books, too! 🙂 ~Valentina
Roasted veggies are my fave! These look scrumptious, Marissa, and I could honestly make a whole meal out of just these!! Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend 🙂
Oh yum. who needs meat when you have this gorgeous display of Fall vegetables? Pinned!
Roasted veggies are really one of life’s simple pleasures and yours look fantastic! I hope you had an amazing trip, it sure sounds like you did!
Thank you, Sonali! Yes, we’re having an amazing time so far…xo
Very nice! I love roasted vegetables during this season!
Thank you, Sabrina! I agree…
Oh Marissa, I’m telling you….you have a brilliant knack for making fresh produce absolutely tantalizing to the senses! Seriously! I’ve never wanted a bowl of roasted veggies so bad!
As for your trip, I am SO excited for you!! I’ve been to Paris for a week and I’ve been to Paris for 1 month….and the month definitely beats any other short visit! You just get to experience so much and truly absorb French culture (and food, literally…hehe!) – I’m sure you guys will have an unforgettable experience! Thank you so much for sharing my eBook with your readers – that was so kind of you and is much appreciated. I’m glad you found the book useful! Lots of love and well wishes sent your way – can’t wait to follow on Instagram! XO <3
You are the sweetest, Beeta. Thank you! And thank you for writing such a helpful guide! xo
Cannot wait to hear all about your Paris adventure – hope y’all have a wonderful trip Marissa!
Roasted veggies are the bommdiggity!
haha, thank you Shashi!!
I’m a massive fan of roasted veggies, Marissa, and usually have them with baked salmon. Works so well. I tend to be a bit boring with the veggies I use, though, so love your ideas here. Just so happens I have a bulb of fennel in my fridge that really needs eating up, so you’ve given me some inspiration for tonight’s dinner!
Oh, and of course have a wonderful trip! I was in Paris for a few days just this past summer and so could have done with your tips then!
Thank you, Helen! I love your idea of having them with salmon – I’d probably even bake them at the same time, maybe even on the other end of the baking sheet. 🙂
I LOVE this recipe ! This is my favorite kind of recipe…Easy and super flavorful!!! A Marissa specialty 🙂 Can I please tell you… I AM SO JEALOUS!!!! 1 month in Paris?!? Please bring me in your suitcase…I promise I’m quite bendy and I will fit in there well 🙂
Hop on in, Mila! Let’s go… 😉
I’d love these veggies over rice, pasta, or just on their own! Deliciousness 🙂
Absolutely, I agree! Thank you, Medha.
I could live on roasted vegetables. When I roast them in advance for a recipe I have to watch myself that I don’t eat too many. I love Paris. I look forward to the wonderful bits of the city that we all know and I never miss the out of the way spots like Rue Cler for shopping and breakfast.
I know what you mean, Maureen. It’s so hard not to just snack, snack, snack on them fresh out of the oven. We had lunch on Rue Cler yesterday, it was wonderful!!
Paris, for a whole month?! I’m so jealous! I hope you have a great time and can’t wait to hear about your food and fun adventures. I will have to pick up the books you recommended because I’m taking my nephew to Paris for his graduation in June. Although I’ve been there 3 times before, it has been awhile.
Oh wonderful! Yes, I think you’ll find both books well worth having.
Have a wonderful time Marissa! I hope that you have a great time and I can’t wait to hear more about your trip! 😀
Thank you, Lorraine. And, I bet you’ve spent a lot of time in Paris. If you had one place to visit here, food to try, or ?? what would it be? I’m making a to-do list from people I trust. xo
So jealous!!! I’ve been to Paris once, but it was only for a few days, so obviously I didn’t even begin to explore all there is to see! Have so much fun!
Thank you so much, Nicole!
HI Marissa! What a beautiful and bountiful dish! Roasting is my favorite way to cook vegetables. What a wonderful trip! My brother in law and his wife went to Paris a few years back and rented a small apartment (over a market). They would explore all day, stop at the market and have simple suppers. Enjoy!
Thank you, sweet friend!
I am so excited for you about your trip to Paris!!! I hope you have an incredible time…and thank you so much for linking to my post, I’m glad it was helpful!
I love roasted vegetables, they are one of life’s simplest pleasures, aren’t they? xoxo
It was so helpful, Faith!! Thank you, thank you! xoxoxo