Roast vegetables to perfection with this handy guide. Roasting individual vegetables on separate trays allows you to monitor how quickly each vegetable is cooking and remove from the oven when it’s done; you can combine the vegetables afterward.

Alternatively, match together vegetables that cook at the same rate (e.g. broccoli and cauliflower), or add different vegetables to the baking tray in stages — start with the hardest vegetables, then add softer, quicker cooking vegetables later on, aiming to have all the vegetables finish roasting around the same time.

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 220˚C/200˚C fan/gas mark 7.
  2. Chop your vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
  3. Toss them in 1-2 tablespoons of olive or rapeseed oil, just enough to give the vegetables a slick, glossy coating. The oil helps the vegetables to cook evenly and crisp up around the edges. Use your hands to rub the oil into the vegetables until evenly coated.
  4. Sprinkle the vegetables with a generous pinch of salt and a good crack of black pepper. Add any other herbs or spices you like.
  5. Spread the vegetables out onto a baking tray. Crowding the vegetables will steam them rather than roasting, so space them out well, using two baking trays if needs be.
  6. Roast for roughly the times shown below or until charred around the edges, tossing the vegetables and rotating the tray(s) halfway through. If in doubt, roast them for an extra 5-10 minutes.