How to Roast Frozen Vegetables

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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.

The day I realized that not only could you roast frozen veggies, but that they were absolutely delicious, well my life changed.

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 sheet pan, pick some seasoning, and get ready to save a boatload of time and money.

What is the trick to roasting frozen vegetables?

There are four tricks to making frozen vegetables taste delicious:

Do not thaw the frozen vegetables before roasting.
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.
Preheat the pan. Place the sheet pan in the oven while the oven is preheating. A hot pan will give the frozen vegetables a jump start on the roasting process.
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.

What Type of Pan is Best For Roasting vegetables?

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

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. Of course, you can use them if you’d like, but you may need to add a few minutes of cooking time.

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 with soap 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 veggies, then using a cast iron skillet is the way to go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you roast Frozen Vegetables?

Yes! And when it comes to cost, you cannot deny the incredible savings you get from using frozen vegetables.

Frozen vegetables are much more affordable than their fresh counterparts. And someone else has already done the prep for you. Win, win!

Are roasted frozen vegetables good?

They sure are! They’re ready in a flash and are easy to customize to your taste and preferences.

The texture of roasted frozen vegetables will be slightly softer than fresh vegetables, but they will still be delicious.

Do You need to thaw frozen vegetables before roasting?

No, please don’t! Frozen vegetables will cook/roast better if you put them in a very hot oven while they’re still frozen.

How do you make frozen vegetables crispy in the oven?

The best way to get crispy frozen vegetables is to fully preheat the oven and sheet pan, cook at a very high temp, and to not crowd the pan.

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.

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, resulting 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 squeeze of fresh lemon can do wondrous things to a pan full of vegetables.

If you’re feeling a bit saucy, gluten-free cheese sauce or homemade teriyaki sauce are great ways to add some more flavor. I am also a bit obsessed with putting a huge dollop of cilantro chimichurri on my roasted vegetables.

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

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