Looking for a way to increase your vegetable intake and looking for a way to have fun with food? Then why not use a recipe that combines the two?
That is what you will get when you prepare oven-roasted vegetables with a cheese sauce as a side dish. Flavourful to the taste buds, good for the immune system, and the cheese ensures that even the pickiest younger eaters at the dinner table will enjoy their veggies!
How to Roast Frozen Vegetables
- Preheat your oven to 450°F.
- Place frozen vegetables on a baking sheet and coat with a light drizzle of olive oil.
- Season to your preference.
- Do not unthaw the vegetables beforehand!
Ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:
Vegan Cheese Sauce
- ½ cup vegan cheese
- 1 non-dairy milk (soy, almond or cashew)
- 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetables
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 large sweet potato
- 2 carrots
- 1 zucchini
- ½ head broccoli
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups button white mushrooms
How to prepare the oven-roasted vegetables with cheese:
Step 1: Heat oven and boil water
Before starting any prep work on your ingredients, it’s a good idea to preheat your oven to 400°F so when you are ready to put your dish in the oven? Your oven is ready as well and you are able to eliminate a few minutes of waiting. Using a medium-sized saucepan, boil water on the stove for the vegetables once they are ready.
Step 2: chop veggies
Using a sharp kitchen knife, chop your vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Try to cut the broccoli into smaller florets while keeping a piece of the stalk. You want this stalk for easy eating.
Step 3: cuke circles
Cut the cucumber in into circles and then use your knife to cut these newly formed circles into halves. You don’t want the pieces to be bigger than bite-sized because they won’t roast as well in the oven and you will have partially cooked vegetables mixed in with cooked ones, leaving an unpleasant texture.
Step 4: Steam veggies
Once you have all your vegetables chopped into bite-sized pieces, put them into the pot of boiling hot water. You don’t want to boil the vegetables for more than 10 minutes as this is not to cook them, but rather soften them to finish cooking in the oven.
Step 5: roast
Put all the newly boiled (softened) vegetables into an oven-safe dish for roasting and leave to one side.
Step 6: saute onions
Sauté your chopped onion into a frying pan* for approximately 2-3 minutes on medium to high heat. Stir constantly as you don’t want to burn the small slivers.
Add the chopped garlic and mushrooms into the frying pan, sautéing them until the onion is visibly translucent to your eyes and the mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from heat and set to one side.
*you can add water or cooking oil to your frying pan for this step – but either one is optional and the chef’s preference!
Step 7: toss together
Put your freshly sautéed onions and mushrooms into the oven-safe dish with the rest of the bite-sized vegetables. Be sure to add in the red peppers and the cherry tomatoes as well.
Drizzle your vegetables with olive oil, making sure to thoroughly coat them well so that the flavour sticks. Season to your preference with salt and pepper (the oil will help the seasonings stick to the vegetables).
Place the vegetables in the oven for 10-15 minutes to finish tenderizing (cooking) the vegetables so they are not crunchy anymore. Don’t overcook, however, because they have to go back in the oven one final time with the cheese sauce.
Step 8: make the cheese sauce
To make your cheese sauce, place all ingredients listed above in a medium-sized saucepan. Put them on low to medium heat and stir constantly. You don’t want this mixture to burn onto the saucepan. Continue the stirring until you get a thick-cheesy sauce. Once the desired consistency has been achieved, remove from heat.
Step 9: Mix together
Coat the vegetables with your newly created cheese sauce. Jiggle the oven-safe dish to thoroughly coat each vegetable. Put the dish back in the oven and bake for 5 minutes at a time to melt the cheese sauce into the vegetables and finish baking them.
FAQ
How to Roast Vegetables
Roasting vegetables is one of the easiest ways to prepare them for a meal. You simply chop up the vegetables into smaller pieces, ensuring they are roughly the same size for even cooking throughout, and then you toss the vegetables with olive oil. Season your vegetables with spices of your choice and then roast them in the oven.
How to Roast Vegetables in the Oven
Wondering how to roast vegetables in the oven? Well, you just need to make sure that your chopped vegetables are spread out on a baking sheet or placed in an oven-safe dish. Coat your vegetables with olive oil and seasoning of your choice. Roast them on 400°F for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender enough for a fork to go through them.
How Long to Roast Vegetables?
Roasting vegetables isn’t an exact science, and it comes down to the preference of the chef but typically, you would roast your vegetables for 10 to 15 minutes to ensure the rawness is removed from the chosen ones. You want them tender and chewy but not mush.
Can You Roast Frozen Vegetables?
No fresh vegetables on hand? Then head to your freezer and take out a bag of frozen vegetables to make your favorite side dish.
When using frozen vegetables, you don’t need to unthaw them, but you will need to increase the heat levels in the oven.
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