In our household, roasting vegetables is the hands down favorite. Roasting imparts a toasty, caramelized flavor. Roasting is a super easy cooking technique, and it also increases the depth of flavor in your dish.
Depending on your child’s age, you can serve the roasted food whole, mash it with a fork, or puree it.
Check-out this post for a recommendation on the perfect ice cube trays to freeze your homemade baby food.
Roasting Tricks & Tips
- Preheat the oven between 375 – 400℉ and cook for 15-25 minutes depending on the size and type of ingredient. (Our oven has a convection mode. My go-to setting is convect roast at 400℉ for 20-minutes.)
- Make sure your sheet pan has a maximum temperature higher than 400, or it may warp.
- Cut veggies to a similar size.
- When it comes to roasting, we usually keep it simple. … a light coating of olive oil and a dusting of salt and pepper.
- If cooking different veggies at the same time, vary the size based on cook time. For example, I’ve found dense veggies like potatoes tend to require more cook time than broccoli. Make the size of the potato smaller than the broccoli.
Simple Roasted Broccoli
TIP To refresh limp broccoli, cut a quarter inch off the bottom of the stalks and store in water in the fridge.
To prepare the broccoli, first rinse. Next, remove the stem away about 1-2″ from the base of the florets. (Note … save the stem. See TIP below.) Cut florets into similar bite-size pieces leveraging the natural stems of the florets as a guide.
- 2-3 broccoli heads, rinsed and cut into bite-size florets
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
- Pinch of salt and pepper (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 400℉.
Lightly coat broccoli with olive oil. Add pinch of salt and pepper (optional). An easy way to do this is to combine all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and shake. You can save the plastic bag in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, and re-use it the next time you need to coat an ingredient with olive oil.
Place broccoli onto sheet pan. For best results, do not overcrowd the broccoli.
Cook until broccoli starts to lightly brown (about 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the floret).
Depending on your child’s age, you can serve the roasted food whole, mash it with a fork, or puree it.
Check-out this post for more information on thinning your baby food puree.
TIP
For a delicious and healthy snack, save your broccoli stems and serve them as an alternative to carrot sticks.
To prepare broccoli sticks, remove woody exterior on all 4 sides (essentially turning the stalk into a 3-D rectangle). Note, the exterior can be tough, so be sure to cut deep enough to remove it.
Cut the tender inner stalk lengthwise (the long way), and cut each half lengthwise (the long way) again. This will yield 4 long and thin broccoli sticks.
Serve raw. If you’d like to accompany the broccoli sticks with a dip, some excellent options are bleu cheese, ranch, or hummus.
