Honey Roast Parsnips
Parsnips parboiled, roughed up and roasted in honey until the edges go almost black. The best thing on the Christmas table and it is not close.
Photograph credit: Parsnips by whatleydude · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Parboil and then rough them up in the colander, exactly as you would for roast potatoes. The scuffed surface gives the honey and fat something to catch on and is where all the crisp edges come from; smooth parsnips roast to something closer to steamed. The honey goes on for the last fifteen minutes only — put it on at the start and it burns to a bitter black tar long before the parsnip is cooked through. Cut out the woody core from any large ones.
The Method for Honey Roast Parsnips
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Bring a pan of water to the boil with the 2 tsp salt and cook the parsnips 5 minutes.
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Drain them well and shake them hard in the colander until the edges look scuffed and fluffy.
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Heat the oil in a roasting tin at 200°C / 390°F fan / 220°C / 430°F / gas 7 for 5 minutes, until it is properly hot.
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Tip the parsnips in, turn them in the fat, and add the butter, thyme, salt and pepper.
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Roast 30 minutes, turning once, until golden.
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Mix the honey with the mustard and pour it over, turning to coat.
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Roast a final 15 minutes, until sticky and dark at the edges. Serve at once.
Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.
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A Few Pointers
- Rough them up in the colander. That is where the crisp edges come from.
- Honey for the last fifteen minutes only, or it burns.
- Cut the woody core out of anything thicker than your thumb.
Pairs Well With
Roast beef · Christmas dinner · Roast potatoes
Leftovers and Storage
Refrigerated for 3 days. Re-crisp in a hot oven, never a microwave.
Honey Roast Parsnips Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Sodium is not given, because the salt for the cooking water is in the ingredient list but most of it is poured away with the water, so no figure from the list would be honest. How the figures are worked out.
Vegetarian when made with vegetable oil rather than beef dripping.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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