Roasted Turnips (Air Fryer or Oven Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to roast or air fry vegetables? ›

Healthier - You need less oil when roasting vegetables in air fryer, and also they don't absorb all the oil because they are not sitting in it like they would if you were roasting in the oven.

Place the turnips in a pot and cover with about 2 inches of salted water. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat and simmer until the turnips are tender when pierced with a toothpick or the tip of a paring knife, 20 to 30 minutes. Step three: Season and serve. Drain the turnips and season with salt and pepper.

It's not essential to peel turnips before cooking. If this skin appears to be thin enough you can leave it on and cook as is. However if the skin feels thick and leathery, you can peel it off with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler. Both the roots and leaves, also known as turnip greens, are safe to eat.

How do you get the bitterness out of turnips? Smaller turnips tend to be sweeter and less bitter, so start by selecting fresh, small, tender turnips and peeling them. Adding a little sugar to your turnips after cooking can also help to counteract any bitterness.

Roasting foods in the air fryer is much quicker than roasting them in the oven since its compact size allows the air fryer to get to temperature much more quickly and use that heat more efficiently.

A good rule of thumb? Use a temperature about 25 degrees F lower than what you may might be accustomed to with a conventional oven: Baking in the air fryer is typically about 325 instead of 350 degrees F, roasting will be about 400 instead of 425 degrees, and so on.

Roasting brings out their natural sweetness. Another secret is how you peel them. Bitter notes lie just under the surface of the skin, but you can eliminate this if you go a little deeper when peeling them. I use a paring knife instead of vegetable peeler to remove the thick outer later.

Small turnips are delicious raw – eat whole or slice thinly. Alternatively, you can steam, roast or braise the roots. Larger turnips are best peeled and steamed, boiled or mashed. Chunks of turnip are often added to casseroles or soups.

Add a couple of turnips, cubed to stews and soups to add some sweetness to the dish. They take about as long to cook as carrots but do not overcook. Unlike carrots which become sweeter with cooking, turnips lose their sweetness when overcooked.

Roasted Turnips are a simple, healthy, and nutritious vegetable side dish that pairs well with almost any weeknight meal. This potato alternative dish is low-calorie, paleo-friendly, vegan, whole30 approved, and ready in just under an hour!

Are turnips healthier than potatoes? ›

Turnips can be enjoyed raw, pickled, boiled, roasted, mashed, stewed, puréed, added to soups, or prepared almost any way you'd make potatoes. Turnips are a healthy alternative to potatoes; they're lower in calories and have fewer carbs.

Rutabagas are also generally much larger than turnips. So for a quick rule of thumb, the brownish-yellowish ones are rutabagas, and the smaller white and purple ones are turnips. In terms of their flavor, rutabagas are slightly sweeter-tasting than turnips whereas turnips have a slightly more radishy flavor.

One turnip website from the United Kingdom notes that if you boil them, add a little sugar to tame the scent and add baking soda to reduce bitterness.

When are turnips in season? Peak season for baby turnips is June to July. You can buy winter turnips all year round, although peak season is from October to February.

Cooking in the oven and cooking in the air fryer will generally end up with food that has the same nutrient profile since an oven and an air fryer use similar heating techniques. In this case, air-frying would not be considered a healthier alternative to baking your food in an oven.

Roasting vegetables exposes them to high heat for longer periods of time which can decrease vitamins, but not all nutrients are lost. The benefit of roasting is that it brings out the best flavors in vegetables making them much more delicious without adding unhealthy fat and sodium.

While air fryers are popular, the most expensive models can start to get a little pricey which could undermine their status as a budget item. Many people came out for halogen ovens as the better option.

By switching to roasting, you not only eliminate added fat but also allow any fat in the food to drip away. The healthy-cooking methods described here best capture the flavor and retain the nutrients in foods without adding excessive amounts of fat or salt. Use them often to prepare your favorite dishes.