I pack vegetables into my work day lunches every day. Having a side serving of veggies at lunch makes it easy to know that I am getting all the vegetables that I want to have in my diet, regardless of what else gets packed. I have been making these roasted rainbow vegetables all winter long, and they are too pretty not to share!
Honestly, I didn’t even think about sharing this as a recipe at first. It was my husband that said, you should make this into a blog post. Why didn’t I think of that?
I have made this recipe so many times (once a week since December!) that I have truly perfected it to my tastes. The key to getting this recipe just right is the size of the dice on your vegetables.
If each vegetable is cut to the right size, then you can cook everything all at once, and nothing is over or under cooked, without needing separate additions.
How to prep the Roasted Rainbow Vegetables
First cut your broccoli and cauliflower. These should be bite sized florets, or larger if you want a little more texture. I also add the stems, and they should be a 1/2 inch dice as well.
Next cut the carrots. They should be just smaller than the bite sized broccoli and cauliflower florets, about 1/2 to 1 inch depending on the diameter of the carrot. The carrots take the longest to cook, so they need to be the smallest.
Finally slice the purple sweet potatoes. They should be much bigger than the carrots at about 1 to 1 1/2 inches for a medium diameter potato (1-1 1/2 inch diameter). For a large sweet potato, cut it in half first, then cut the 1 to 1 1/2 inch slices. The sweet potatoes get tender the fast, so they need to be pretty large to not overcook.
How to cook the Roasted Rainbow Vegetables
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
I use 8 cups vegetables on my 12×17 inch baking sheet. I also prefer to use parchment paper for easy cleanup. Toss the vegetables with olive oil and the seasoning right on your sheet pan or parchment.
Bake for 25 minutes, no need to flip half way.
Other Vegetable to Try in these Roasted Rainbow Vegetables
- I have used mushrooms, brussels sprouts, bell pepper, and orange sweet potatoes in addition to those listed in the recipe.
- Bell pepper in 1 inch pieces only take about 20 minutes to cook, and I preferred only 15 minutes on halved or quartered mushrooms.
- You need 8 cups of vegetables total, but you can use any proportion you want for each type. For example, you have three cups of broccoli and only one cup of cauliflower? No problem! Subtract a cup of carrots to add a cup of bell pepper, do it!
- 2 cups broccoli stems and florets, cut into bite sized pieces (1-1/2 inch)
- 2 cups cauliflower stems and florets, cut into bite sized pieces (1-1/2 inch)
- 2 cups carrot slices, cut into ½ -1 inch pieces depending on the diameter of the carrot
- 2 cups purple sweet potato slices, cut into 1-1½ inch pieces, cutting large sweet potatoes in half
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp each: garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flake
- Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- Add the veggies to a 12x17 inch sheet pan. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss with your hands.
- Mix together the seasonings in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the veggies on the sheet pan and toss to coat.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
