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These Thanksgiving roasted vegetables are a cozy side dish for the holiday! Here’s a basic recipe that will make your table shine.

Thanksgiving roasted vegetables
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Roasting vegetables can transform humble, everyday veggies like carrots, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes into something truly heavenly. The way that high heat transforms veggies is something magical. So try these stunning Thanksgiving roasted vegetables! Root vegetables are a perfect Thanksgiving side dish, and this recipe uses our favorite root vegetables: carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets. It’s customizable and can work with many different vegetables!

Why Thanksgiving roasted vegetables?

Why roasted veggies for Thanksgiving? A few reasons! Roasted vegetables:

  • Have a caramelized flavor and transform into something altogether different (and delicious!). Veggies that are iffy raw like cauliflower transform into something otherworldly when roasted.
  • Make your kitchen smell incredible.
  • Make a simple, no-think side dish.

Better yet, you can turn these Thanksgiving roasted vegetables into a heartier dish by adding rice, quinoa, or another whole grain. And if you’ve got leftovers? They save perfectly for bowl meals days later. While neither Alex nor I grew up eating this kind of meal, it’s now one of our favorites since it is flexible, tasty, and easy to put together. A few examples: try this Roasted Vegetable Grain Bowl or Vegan Buddha Bowl!

Thanksgiving roasted vegetables

How to roast Thanksgiving vegetables

The Thanksgiving roasted vegetables recipe below is for carrots, beets and sweet potatoes. But the concept can be used for many different veggies! Here are the basics of roasting vegetables:

  1. Bake at high heat. Preheat the oven to 450F. Roasting at very high heat makes the vegetables tender on the inside and slightly charred and sometimes crispy (depending on the veggie) on the outside.
  2. Mix with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces, then drizzle them lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and give them a few grinds of fresh ground pepper.
  3. Add additional herbs or spices. If you’d like, sprinkle with some spices or some chopped fresh herbs. In this recipe, we use chopped rosemary and garlic powder.
  4. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, which helps to minimize the mess after roasting. (We’ve found that silicon mats don’t get the vegetables as crisp as parchment paper, so we’ve stopped using them.) Pour the vegetables onto the baking sheet.
  5. Roast them up! Bake for around 25 to 40 minutes, depending on the type of vegetable and the size of the pieces. Whatever the case, test with a fork for tenderness. It’s best if you have a bit of space between the veggies. If the pan is crowded, the veggies will steam instead of roast! So if you have too many veggies, consider two baking sheets. There’s no need to stir when the baking sheet is lined, since the vegetables won’t stick to the pan. Remove the tray from the oven and cool slightly; then enjoy!
Thanksgiving roasted vegetables

Other types of root vegetables

This recipe uses root vegetables to make a delicious and simple side dish. What are root vegetables? Root vegetables are any veggies that grow in the ground: for example potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, and parsnips. Root vegetables are perfect for Thanksgiving, because they’re seasonal in the fall (and used in many fall recipes).

Here we’ve used carrots and sweet potatoes, but you can use any root veggies you’d like! Additional veggies to try? Yellow onion or red onion, fennel, red potatoes, turnips, or parsnips. Give it a try and let us know what vegetables you use.

Double for a crowd!

Serving a crowd for Thanksgiving? Double this recipe and use two baking sheets! Remember that the baking time will be slightly longer, since there’s more surface area in the oven.

Want to make it ahead? You can do that too! Roast the vegetables until tender. You can leave the vegetables at room temperature for a few hours, or refrigerate until serving. Reheat in a 350 degree oven until warmed through!

More roasted vegetables recipes

Outside of this roasted vegetables recipe, we have dozens of other go-to recipes that we use time and time again. Here are some of our favorite roasted vegetables recipes:

This Thanksgiving roasted vegetables recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy free.

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Thanksgiving Roasted Vegetables

Thanksgiving roasted vegetables
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These Thanksgiving roasted vegetables are a cozy side dish for the holiday! Here’s a basic recipe that will make your table shine.

  • Author: a Couple Cooks
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 4 to 6 1x
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Roasted
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 carrots (1 pound)*
  • 1 large sweet potato (1 pound)
  • 8 small or 4 medium beets (1 pound)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
  • 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Lemon zest and fresh ground black pepper, to finish

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  2. Clean and peel the carrots and chop into 1-inch chunks. Clean the sweet potatoes and chop into 1 inch chunks, leaving the skins on. Place the carrots and sweet potatoes in a bowl. Chop the beets into 1-inch chunks and place them in a second bowl (take care and wear an apron: the beets bleed when peeling and chopping them!).
  3. To the carrots and sweet potatoes, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder and 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary and stir. Season the bowl with the beets with ½ tablespoon olive oil, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon rosemary. (Seasoning them separately minimizes bleeding from the beets onto the other vegetables.)
  4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread both bowls of vegetables on the sheet and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until tender and browned (no need to stir). Serve immediately, garnished with lemon zest and fresh ground black pepper, if desired. (Make ahead instructions: Roast the vegetables until tender. Leave at room temperature for a few hours, or refrigerate until serving. Reheat in a 350 degree oven until warmed through.)

Notes

*Double for a crowd and use 2 baking sheets: the baking time may be slightly longer because there’s more surface area in the oven. You can use any type of root vegetables in this recipe, including parsnips, turnips, onions, or fennel.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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7 Comments

  1. Heidi @ Food Doodles says:

    Yum! Seriously, just give me some of this in a bowl and I’d be totally happy :D

  2. sarah says:

    Love the steam! I love roasting vegetables, too. Mmm. And thanks for all the Thanksgiving recipe links. Can’t wait to try some out!

  3. Loretta | A Finn In The Kitchen says:

    I think roasting vegetables is the best way to prepare them! These look gorgeous…

  4. Cathy @ Savory Notes says:

    Gorgeous photo; I love the movement of the steam.

  5. Erin says:

    Such an awesome photo!

  6. Rachel (Two Healthy Plates) says:

    So simple and delicious — I love fall but I always get really cranky when I have to give up my beloved summer produce and trade for fall veggies. This is my favorite way to eat them though so it makes it a little bit better =)

  7. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says:

    My favorite fall meal. Yum!