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Roasted parsnips are not often seen on the dinner table anymore, mostly because people pass by the small bags that are always almost hidden beside the large display of carrots in the grocery store, and pick up carrots instead. However, roasted properly and with a delicious sauce like in this recipe, they make a perfect side dish for any meal you can imagine.
If you really want those carrots, however, you can try my roasted carrots or candied carrots.
Roasted Parsnips with Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
Most people are understandably cautious about cooking parsnips for themselves. They might look like a carrot, but they require very different handling, cooking, and preparation to make them delicious.
However, they don’t need to be so confusing as long as you have a convenient recipe. By cutting them into equal shapes and making sure to remove that thick outer coating, you can pair your parsnips with a flavorful garlic herb butter sauce to make a rich and delicious side dish no matter your level of cooking experience.
Roasted Parsnips with Garlic Herb Butter Sauce Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts, as there are a few fiddly ingredients here.
Roasted Parsnips
• Parsnips
• Olive oil
Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
• Salted butter
• Minced garlic
• Parsley
• Minced chives
• Black pepper
• Salt
How To Make Roasted Parsnips with Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
• Wash and then peel the parsnips into equally sized sticks
• Toss the parsnips with the olive oil, and place them on a baking sheet evenly
• Roast at 400 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, and then shake the pan and turn the parsnips over with a fork
• Cook for another 20 minutes, until they are soft and golden brown
• Prepare the butter sauce by combining all ingredients into a glass measuring cup
• Pour the sauce over the parsnips, shaking to coat evenly, and roast for 5 minutes until the garlic is fragrant.
How To Properly Cut & Prepare Parsnips
Parsnips are a bit of a tricky vegetable to use properly because not only do they have a really tough, fibrous outer layer, but they are also very wide at the top, and very small at the bottom more so than carrots.
To start preparing parsnips, you need to peel the outer layer using a heavy-duty peeler. Just cutting off the edge isn’t enough like with a carrot; you need to really peel off the thick outer layer, or your parsnips are going to feel like chewing tree bark.
After peeling, you should cut off the top end, as well as the little tip, as it might contain bits of roots and dirt, as well as being too small to cook properly.
From there, you need to cut the parsnips into evenly sized pieces. There are two ways to do this; the first method is easiest and involves cutting the parsnip in half and then separate the two halves into equally sized pieces.
Or, you can just cut down the parsnip and divide them into roughly equally sized batons. This will result in each piece having a thin, tapered end that is liable to burn in the oven. However, if you cut it right, instead of burning, that tiny piece might instead crisp up and caramelize in the oven, giving a whole different depth of flavor.
How To Avoid Burning The Garlic
This recipe uses some really delicious garlic herb butter sauce to help flavor your parsnips, helping to contrast the sweet, almost earth flavor of parsnips, but cooking garlic into a sauce can often result in burnt, bitter pieces of garlic if you aren’t careful.
The trick to avoid burning your garlic is to not cut the garlic too fine. When mincing it, try to avoid chopping it into tiny pieces instead of trying for slightly larger chunks. This will help them to avoid burning when you cook them for the last 5 minutes when you pour it over the parsnips.
If you are really worried about burning it, try and shake the pan every minute while it cooks to help distribute the heat evenly.
Looking for more delicious Side Dish recipes? Try these out:
Enjoy! Parsnips are one of my favorite winter root vegetables!
Love,
Karlynn
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Roasted Parsnips with Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
Ingredients
Roasted Parsnips
- 2-3 lbs parsnips
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp minced chives
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt (if needed, salt to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Set aside a large baking sheet, large enough that the parsnips will only be in one layer.
- Wash then peel the parsnips. Slice the parsnips into equally sized sticks.
- Toss the parsnips with the olive oil.
- Place the parsnips on the baking sheet, then shake the sheet to coat the entire area with the olive oil from the parsnips. Make sure that the parsnips are in one layer.
- Place into the oven and roast for 20 minutes, then shake the sheet pan again, turning over some of the parsnips with a fork if needed. You want to brown the parsnips on all sides if possible.
- Roast for another 20-25 minutes, or until the parsnips are soft and golden brown.
- Prepare the butter sauce by combining all of the ingredients into a glass measuring cup. Salt to taste if you don't use salted butter or if you simply like lots of salt.
- Pour the sauce over the parsnips, shaking the sheet to make sure the butter sauce coats all of then evenly and roast for another 5-10 minutes, until the garlic pieces are golden brown and fragrant.
Notes
- the recipe calculates that you eat all of the butter sauce, actual calories are lower than stated
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