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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

This recipe for roasted root vegetables is one of my favorite healthy dish ideas. I love how all of the spices and herbs work together for a flavourful cozy side dish. This Oven Roasted Spiced Vegetable recipe uses one of my favourite seasonal ingredients; beets. The oven roasted vegetables sit on a simple creamy yogurt sauce…which has quickly become one of my favourites to use in many different dishes. It’s so easy to make and tastes so fresh!

I’m really trying to incorporate more vegetables during the next few months, which is how the idea of this recipe came about. Since I try to use ingredients that are in season and local as much as possible in my vegetarian recipes, there are fewer options for us this time of year. I guess that is the reality of living in Canadian winters where our temperatures drop to -30 Celcius regularly in the winter.

While I tend to go for bright and fresh salads in the summer, in the winter I love oven-roasting vegetables. Oven-roasted vegetables can also make a perfect main dish. For example; this Black Bean and Roasted Sweet Potato Bowl. It’s a healthy dish with some roasted sweet potato, red onion, and black beans (for some extra protein) on some brown rice. It also has a simple garlic Greek yogurt sauce. It comes together in a pinch it makes for the perfect quick and simple weeknight meal.

What temperature is best for roasting vegetables?

To get the perfect oven-roasted vegetables, you’ll want to roast veggies at high heat, 425 degrees F so that they are perfectly cooked and get some caramelization on the edges of the vegetables. Make sure to fully preheat your oven before adding your baking sheet. And a quick word of advice, whether you are using a small baking sheet or a large one, use a rimmed baking sheet to avoid a giant mess in your oven. During the roasting process, natural sugars and juices are released from the veggies and you don’t want it to drip to the bottom of your oven.

Do you roast vegetables covered or uncovered?

To perfectly roast your vegetables, you have to cook them uncovered. If you cover them, then you are doing a completely different cooking technique and you are basically steaming them. That’s one mistake that results is soft or mushy veggies. Another error that causes vegetables to not roast perfectly is overcrowding your baking sheet. A popular way of cooking beets is to wrap beets in aluminum foil, which will make them tender. We are not going to do that here since we want them to caramelize alongside the carrots.

What are the steps to roast vegetables?

• First things first, wash your vegetables. Since we are roasting them, make sure to pat them dry to get rid of any excess moisture (we don’t want them to get mushy).
• Normally you’ll want to cut your clean vegetables in thick rounds and into similar sizes, but for this recipe, we want to keep the natural shapes of the veggies for presentation purposes. We are going for more of a rustic vibe. Depending on the size of your carrots…cutting them in half or thirds should be enough. You can also use baby carrots if you already have those on hand. And as for the beets, cutting them in quarters is perfect.
• Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. I prefer to add my veggies to a large bowl, drizzle with oil, and season with a pinch of salt, black pepper and any other seasonings I’d want to add. Mix all together until all is well coated and then add to my pan.
• As mentioned above, it is so important to space them out and not overcrowd your pan. Just spread them out in an even layer to really encourage the caramelization process.
• Give the pan a shake or flip halfway through. This is to ensure that you are roasting them evenly. It’s also important to do if you are roasting vegetables in something sweet; like honey or maple syrup. If you don’t do this, the sugars will burn and trust me….you’ll be scrubbing that off your pan for a while.

How to make the roasted vegetables…

First, we are going to start with the oven-roasted vegetables. Start by preheating your oven to 425 F then clean, and dry cut your raw vegetables as we discussed above. Add to a large bowl and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil. In a small bowl, we are going to put together our seasoning for your roasted vegetables. Combine some thyme, oregano, cumin and ground coriander. Mix together and sprinkle on your veggies. Toss well until everything is well covered in the spice mix. Add to the preheated oven and roast for 30-35 minutes, flipping once. You will know they are ready when tender and a fork goes through easily.

While the veggies are roasting, we are going to whip up the yogurt sauce. In a food processor (or blender) combine greek yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, lemon rind, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, fresh herbs and a little olive oil. Process until the herbs and garlic break down, but leave a little texture. I found presentation wise it looked better, but either way is just as delicious.

Transfer the yogurt mixture to a serving bowl, top with the roasted vegetables and garnish as you like. This dish is best served immediately.

Variations for this dish…

If you want to turn these roasted vegetables into a main dish, or maybe beets just aren’t your jam…not to worry. We can modify this dish with tons of grilled vegetable variations. Try adding cauliflower florets, brussels sprouts, green beans, or sliced onions.

For the yogurt sauce, I opted for greek yogurt. But you can use any plain yogurt variation of your choice. You can also add any combination of fresh herbs that you like, like basil. I used some parsley since I had tons of it sitting in the fridge, but you can add lots of herbs for tons of flavor. You can even throw in some mint for a fresher yogurt mint sauce.

Entertaining Tip: serve alongside a bowl of pita chips and let your guests enjoy more of that yogurt sauce. It’s quickly become one of my favourite dipping sauces. Also, perfect as a dip for fresh vegetables on a crudités platter.

Looking to add extra garnishes?

I loved adding some chopped pumpkin seeds for an extra crunch, but you can also add roasted chickpeas (which you can find an easy recipe for here). You can even add a little brightness by sprinkling some extra lemon zest, a squeeze of a lime wedge or even a little olive oil.