Food Recipe Collections & Favorites 8 Healthy Roasted Vegetable Recipes That Practically Cook Themselves Delicious (and easy) ways to add more color to your plate. By Betty Gold Betty Gold Betty Gold is the former senior digital food editor at Real Simple. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on February 21, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Victor Protasio Of all the simple sides to choose from, roasted vegetables are among the most reliably crowd-pleasing dishes you can serve. From roasted mushrooms to roasted sweet potatoes, the possibilities are endless. Better yet, roasted vegetable recipes typically require around 15 minutes of hands-on time (or less) and only a few ingredients, like extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh herbs. For an easy extra kick of flavor, add garlic. And to speed up the cooking process even further, preheat your roasting pan before adding the veggies—it's one of our favorite cooking hacks that reliably results in extra browning and even cooking (thanks to the Maillard reaction). For streamlined cleanup, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil. Here are eight of our favorite roasted vegetable recipes you'll want to serve alongside every type of protein—and season—under the sun. The 9 Commandments for Cooking Perfectly Crispy Oven-Roasted Potatoes 01 of 08 Roasted Mushroom Mole Enchiladas Jennifer Causey These roasted mushroom mole enchiladas are a show-stopper and just the thing to serve your vegetarian or vegan friends or family members when they come for dinner. The traditional enmolada is made with fork-tender chicken and smothered in mole sauce—this recipe swaps in roasted mushrooms for rich, savory, spice-infused flavor sans meat. Get the Recipe 02 of 08 Cheesy Roasted Sweet Potatoes Marcus Nilsson This cheesy roasted sweet potato recipe takes 10 minutes to prepare and only requires four ingredients (plus salt and pepper) to cook. Consider it the family-friendly side dish you never knew you needed. Double up on ingredients, and you'll have salty, cheesy sweet potatoes you can slice and dice into salads, tacos, and egg dishes all week. get the recipe 03 of 08 Roasted Eggplant With Miso and Sesame Seeds If you think you don't like eggplant, you need to try this recipe for roasted eggplant with miso and sesame seeds. It's the just-right balance of sweet, savory, salty, and umami-rich flavor, thanks to the combination of white miso paste, sesame oil, red chili paste, honey, and toasted sesame seeds. Serve over jasmine rice or alongside shrimp skewers with mango cucumber salad. Get the Recipe 04 of 08 Crispy Brussels Sprouts With Pancetta Anna Williams We hate to break it to you, but your holiday dinner isn't truly complete without these crispy, caramelized Brussels sprouts. Why? Because once you make them the first time, their presence will be mandatory at every family gathering going forward. They get an extra salty-savory kick from pancetta, which is bacon's thicker, higher-quality cousin. get the recipe 05 of 08 Roasted Eggplant and Olive Pasta Salad Greg DuPree This is a majorly flavorful update to a traditional pasta salad recipe, thanks to olive oil-roasted eggplant, briny kalamata olives, oregano, and creamy fresh feta cheese. Use any type of pasta you have on hand, but we recommend a shorter noodle-like casarecce or fusilli. Get the recipe 06 of 08 Herb-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes We love all types of roasted potatoes, but these herb-scented fingerling potatoes are particularly special. Plus, this simple side only requires five ingredients to make. To make the dish even more of a cinch, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick cooking spray before putting the spuds in the oven. Cleanup = done. get the recipe 07 of 08 Roasted Broccoli Pesto Pasta Caitlin Bensel Stop tossing those broccoli stems and serve them in this crave-worthy pesto pasta instead. Here, you'll roast broccoli with garlic and herbs until crisp, then stir it into healthy whole-grain pasta with plenty of homemade pesto. Get the Recipe 08 of 08 Garlic Roasted Potatoes Greg DuPree These garlic roasted potatoes work as a side dish—serve them alongside halibut, grilled chicken, or a warming soup—but we'd be hard-pressed to find a better homemade (healthier) hashbrown recipe. get the recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit