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Roasting Frozen Vegetables {How to Roast Frozen Vegetables}

This is the ultimate guide to Roasting Frozen Vegetables. This is the best resource for helping you make tasty and healthy vegetable side dishes using all frozen veggies! Oven-roasted frozen vegetables are delicious and will save you so much time and money. 

4 photos of roasted frozen vegetables

Can You Roast Frozen Vegetables?

Yes!! The day I realized that not only could you roast frozen veggies, but that they were absolutely delicious, well I do believe my head exploded. And there may have been tears of joy. Who is to say for sure.

Using frozen veggies is the ultimate in convenient and healthy “fast food”. Someone else already did the washing and chopping. All you need to do is grab a baking sheet, pick some seasoning, and get ready to save a boatload of time and money.

Three Takeaway Tips For Roasting Frozen Vegetables

  1. Fully preheat the oven. It is so tempting to start cooking the veggies while the oven is preheating, but doing so will give you soft and mushy (smushy) vegetables instead of perfectly roasted veg.
  2. Preheat the pan and oil. Add a tablespoon of your preferred cooking oil to the pan and place it in the oven while it preheats. A hot pan and oil will give the vegetables a jump start on the roasting process.
  3. Don’t crowd the pan! Give the veggies plenty of space to roast. Too much veg all smushed together will cause the water to steam instead of evaporating. Steaming = mushy vegetables. Try using two or even three pans if you want to roast larger batches.

Why Roast Frozen Vegetables?

The convenience of frozen veggies cannot be understated! The ability to open up a bag of already washed and prepped veg can be a total game-changer when it comes to putting healthy food on your table (related: Easy Healthy Meal Prep).

Frozen veggies have gotten a bad rap for being inferior to their fresh counterparts, but that just isn’t true anymore. Thanks to blanching and flash freezing, in many cases frozen vegetables can actually be just as healthy as fresh.

When vegetables are frozen at the peak of freshness, it locks those nutrients down like Fort Knox. Whereas “fresh” veggies may have traveled thousands of miles before ever reaching your market.

And when it comes to cost you cannot deny the incredible savings you get from using frozen vegetables. Most organic frozen veggies are incredibly affordable and are usually more economical than their fresh conventional counterparts.

Additionally, buying frozen veggies allows you to enjoy out of season produce at a fraction of the price. Oh, and did I mention that in many cases, frozen veggies actually roast faster than fresh? Hollah!

Frozen, straight from the bag to your pan. It doesn’t get any easier than this, my friends.

What Type of Pan is Best For Roasting?

The humble rimmed baking sheet is my go-to for making roasted vegetables. With low sides, it keeps the vegetables in place while still allowing air to circulate around each piece.

Unlike many people, I don’t recommend using parchment or foil on your baking sheets when roasting. I believe it prevents a great sear from happening and gives the veg too much opportunity to steam instead of roast.

Pro tip: if your roasting pan has any stuck-on food, save your time and don’t bother scrubbing it. Add some water to the empty pan and pop it back into the warm oven for 10 minutes. The food will come right off of it when rinsed. Then clean as normal; easy peasy!

If you want to make a smaller batch, want to save on dishes, and love a little extra sear on your veg, than using cast iron skillets are the way to go.

sliced veggies on a sheet pan for roasting frozen vegetables

How Long Does it Take To Roast Frozen Vegetables?

Each veggie has their own recommended cook time, so I created this handy little printout to help you rock your dinner game. Keep in mind that each oven is different and may cook the vegetables at different speeds. I recommend checking on the veggies at the halfway point of the suggested cooking times.

A printable guide for roasting frozen vegetables

Click here to print this cooking guide

How to Season Roasted Vegetables

Most veggies simply need a fat (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, or ghee) and a good pinch of kosher salt for the best roasting results. Typically, I use 2 tablespoons of olive oil per pan of veg.

One tablespoon gets preheated with the pan, and the other is tossed with the veggies in a bowl before everything else goes on the pan.

Typically I only add salt and other dry seasonings at the very end of the roasting process. Salting veggies while they cook can cause them to release too much moisture too fast, result in a soggy mess.

But from time to time you may want to branch out into something different than just kosher salt.

Adding whole cloves of Instant Pot roasted garlic to your vegetables can create amazing flavors that have the added benefit of making you vampire-proof. Fresh sprigs of rosemary or thyme are fun and easy ways to make your roasted vegetables taste delicious. And a squirt of fresh lemon can do wondrous things to a pan full of veg

If you’re feeling a bit saucy, homemade gluten-free teriyaki sauce is a great way to add some more flavor. I am a bit obsessed with putting a huge dollop of chimichurri (related: Cilantro Chimichurri) on my roasted vegetables.

This dairy-free pesto is also a great and fun way to jazz up your perfectly roasted veggies. Throw in some gnocchi and you’ve just created an entire meal on one sheet pan. Look at you; you’re a genius!

My go-to seasoning for roasted and grilled veggies is Montreal Steak Seasoning. We put this ish on everything! Pro tip: Costco shoppers, you can find a 29 oz container of it in the spices section.

Inspiration For Delicious Ways to Use Roasted Frozen Vegetables

Roasting Frozen Vegetables

Roasted frozen vegetables are delicious and will save you so much time and money. Discover delicious recipes for roasting veggies and using convenient frozen vegetables.

Roasting frozen vegetables has become my favorite weeknight fast dinner kitchen hack. It’s convenient, affordable, and a deliciously healthy way to get veggies into your diet.

And if you need more help or inspiration, this handy printable walks you through the basic process so that you can put your own spin on creating amazing dishes.

a printable guide for people who want to learn to roast frozen vegetables

{Click here to print this guide

 

 

 

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38 comments on “Roasting Frozen Vegetables {How to Roast Frozen Vegetables}”

  1. Would you know if you can roast frozen vegetables without oil? I do use oil in my way of eating.

    • You can, but they won’t be as flavorful. You’ll want to make sure you have some surface down between the veggies and pan to prevent sticking if you don’t use oil. Something like parchment would work.

  2. This is awesome! Any tips on roasting corn or other veggies? What about artichokes? I’m big on meal prep, and this is exactly what I need.

  3. Did I miss it? What temp do you put your oven at?

  4. Is there a guide with tips and a chart for AIR FRYING frozen vegetables? 🙂

  5. This post and your charts are super helpful. I refer to the ALL the time.

    • Yay, that makes me soooo happy Paula, seriously! I think it was my first “infographic” that I made. It’s a little clunky and seriously took me two hours. But knowing that people actually use it, thrills me to no end.

  6. I roasted frozen butternut squash last night…total game changer! It was fast, easy and delicious. Squash is a minimum of 1.99 a lb here, so I rarely buy it, particularly as I’m the only one in my family who eats it. Now that I know I easily can roast a portion for myself without waste, frozen butternut squash will live in my freezer year round. Thanks!5 stars

  7. Your article is great any suggestions on roasting Frozen new potatoes or potatoes. Or stew vegatable pack

    • Hi Dennis, I would definitely try potatoes but I’ve never once found them frozen in my area. I’d roast at 450 degrees, checking after 15 minutes and then reducing the temp to 425 until done.

      “Stew vegetable pack” is not something I’m familiar with. Can you tell me more about this?