What are some oven-roasted foods that don't require much babysitting?

March 31, 2022 8:32 PM

By "babysitting" I mean having to frequently stir/check on the food.

I recently learned how to slow roast cherry tomatoes. You put the tomatoes in the oven at a low temperature (~225F) and can basically forget about them till an hour or two later. It's tasty and easy. In contrast, I found roasting cauliflower to be more involved than I wanted. I didn't like having to flip the cauliflower every 5 or so minutes.

posted by ripley_ to Food & Drink (31 answers total)

Sweet potatoes
Baked potatoes
posted by calgirl at 8:57 PM on March 31, 2022 [5 favorites]

I don’t always flip my cauliflower. It just gets crusty on one side and soft on the other, which is also tasty.

Anything at low heat should be less fussy. Beets, sweet potatoes, fennel, carrots.
posted by clew at 9:08 PM on March 31, 2022 [8 favorites]

Hardier root vegetables are best roasted in the style of “walk away for at least half an hour, possibly longer, come back and flip things, leave for another big chunk of time” because then you get good crispy brown bits. Great for potatoes, parsnips, turnips, beets, big carrots, rutabagas, radishes, etc.

I’m unsure why you need to babysit your cauliflower. I roast it frequently with a similar method as I described above, just with shorter times in between the single flip, and it comes out crispy and yummy.

Roasted halved Brussels sprouts are good, a lot of times they don’t even warrant a flip because you want all the caramelization stuff on the cut side, which should be against the baking tray.

Eggplants can be cut in relatively thick planks, coated with oil, and left in a hot oven on a high rack without fussing until the tops and bottoms are browned and they release from the pan.
posted by Mizu at 9:14 PM on March 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Not to threadsit, but I think my issue with the cauliflower was that I used a recipe that roasted them at high heat (400F). Turned out great, but required a fair bit of work; if there are other ways to do it I'm all ears.

I'd really appreciate specific temperatures and times.
posted by ripley_ at 9:43 PM on March 31, 2022

Once you've roasted a vegetable a few times, you'll know how long it needs and won't need to check a lot. Cooking time depends a lot on your oven, how you cut it up, how crowded it is in the pan, and so on, so this is one of those things that's a little more work at first and then less once you've done it a few times.

Cabbage or brussel sprouts: heat your pan up on the stove until quite hot, put in some olive oil, put your cabbage in cut side down, leave on the stove for a few minutes to brown, throw in the oven at 400F-450F for about 10 minutes until a cooked. Broccoli is similar, but you don't need to heat up the pan, just coat in oil and throw in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Potato wedges: coat in oil, roast in the oven around 400-450F for about 15 minutes depending on size.

Carrots, beets, parsnips, and other root veg: roast around 300-350F for about half an hour. Sweet potato chunks or slices cook a little faster.

I find cauliflower at 400F is fine if you baste it maybe once or twice and you don't really need to flip it.

Winter squash: halve, remove seeds, lightly coat cut side with oil, roast for about 20-60 minutes at 300-350F depending on size.

And of course you can make many stews in the oven in a pot for a couple hours around 275-300F. Lid slightly ajar for best results.
posted by ssg at 10:59 PM on March 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

Oh yeah, 400 F is too high. My slapdash roasted cauliflower recipe is thus:

Preheat oven to 350

Stick a knife into the base of the cauliflower a few inches deep, remove, rotate 90 degrees and stick it back in so you have an X. Take your hands and break the cauliflower into rough quarters. From there, break it into large florets, using a knife if you need to. Take the bigger pieces and slice the stalks in half vertically, then tear those apart into smaller florets. Aim for approximately equal sized florets. I like the stalks of cauliflower and I don’t like having lots of little bits that get burnt, so that’s why I prep it like this, with mostly letting the vegetable show me how it should be broken down.

Toss all those florets in a bowl and douse with olive oil, something like a teaspoon of kosher salt, and let’s say a quarter to half a teaspoon of the following spices in any combination you like: powdered cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, chili powder, cinnamon, fennel seed, caraway seed, celery seed, cayenne, powder mustard seed, herbes de Provence, dried thyme. Toss to coat evenly, use your hands and get all the nooks and crannies.

Use a baking sheet covered in foil or parchment paper. Spread cauliflower out in a single layer, pop into the oven and then leave it alone for 30 minutes or until some browning has begun. Depending on the spices you used this can be a little hard to see, but the bottoms should release easily from the surface and maybe the tops should have some additional color. Give them a toss, stick them back in the oven for another 30 minutes or until it has begun to “sing”. That’s the steam escaping all the crispy bits, you may be familiar with roasted potatoes doing this.

The timing will vary based on stuff like the water content of your veggies, the warmth of your home, the placement of the baking sheet in your oven, the size of the florets, etc. You might find that you only need 20 minutes each, or that cranking it to 375 or 400 works when you have bigger pieces. Don’t be scared to let things get very dark brown.
posted by Mizu at 11:02 PM on March 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Rosti (potato pancake) can be left in the oven once you've seared the top and bottom in a pan.
posted by kschang at 11:24 PM on March 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

I like to oven-roast brussels sprouts, and they're fairly low-maintenance.

First, I slice the bigger ones in half, add about 3 tbsp. of olive oil and some salt and pepper, and stir in a bowl to coat. Then I put them on a stainless steel tray in the toaster oven at about 400º F for about 35 minutes.

You probably want to check on them once or twice in the last 10 minutes, because they will start to get pretty dark. Some char on the outside is great, actually, but there's a fine line between just enough and too much. Ultimately you'll have to decide how done you like them.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:50 PM on March 31, 2022

I oven roast quartered red potatoes or intact smaller yellow potatoes regularly, with a bit of oil and seasoning to taste depending on what I'm having with them.

Brussel sprouts too. I like to add some vinegar, I like them sort of piquant. Restaurants will often use balsamic but you don't have to.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:35 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't flip my brussels sprouts either. I think it's varied by the oven and sheet pans I'm using (I move a lot, currently have an electric oven that's maybe more accurate than past gas ones), but currently I halve them, do olive oil and salt (scant 1/2 tsp of kosher/bigger flake salt to one pound sprouts) and freshly ground black pepper, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400. I actually prefer them cut side up lately.
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:38 AM on April 1, 2022

Beef Bourguignon, you leave it for a few hours in a dutch oven in the actual oven at medium heat. You check it once an hour or so to make sure it hasn't dried out adding water or wine as necessary.
posted by signal at 3:44 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Also, sheet pans are fine but I prefer to use a Corningware 8x8 inch baking dish. Goes from the stove into the oven onto the table and then into the fridge. Perpetually available on ebay.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:54 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I really like the Serious Eats roasted broccoli recipe. It's about as easy as possible; the trick is high heat and preheating the sheet pan. I've adapted it for brussels sprouts and other similar vegetables with success.
posted by kdar at 4:06 AM on April 1, 2022

Seconding ssg, this is the best way to make butternut squash. I might throw a bit more heat at it; I like 375°F for at least an hour. When done, the squash meat scoops out easily from the skin. Peeling squash is a nightmare, this method makes a tastier product with less effort.

After cooking, you can amend the squash in 1e6 ways. We like to add some pepper, salt, butter, brown sugar, mix lightly, and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so.

Good luck on your roasting adventures!
posted by sydnius at 5:02 AM on April 1, 2022

Our party trick is to cook a whole shoulder of pork [6kg = 13lb] in the oven at 105°C = 220°F for 24 hours. Helps to have 40 carnivorous friends&neighbours.
posted by BobTheScientist at 5:29 AM on April 1, 2022

I use a roasting rack when roasting vegetables, no need to turn anything over, and the bottoms don't get burnt or mushy.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 5:37 AM on April 1, 2022

Whole Japanese sweet potatos are my go-to lazy baking. (I usually use satsumaimo, the ones that are usually purple/red outside and range from pale yellow to white inside, but most other kinds of think-skinned yams will work too.) I typically either wrap them in aluminum foil individually or place a bunch under a foil cover in a baking pan. Optionally rubbed with a little oil and large crystal salt and or spices (I like sage and thyme, which I've been told is weird.) Something like 1.5 hours at 325 or an hour at ~400F seems to work for 1.5 inch thick ones, but it's really forgiving. Taking the foil off for the last 10 minutes makes a crispier skin, or one can skip it entirely for really crispy skin.
posted by eotvos at 5:41 AM on April 1, 2022

I almost always roast cauliflower on a sheet pan at 425F for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the chunks. It always turns out great. The side against the pan gets browned, but that's exactly what I want because browning is flavor.

I just toss with oil, salt, pepper, and whatever spice mix I feel like. I'm fond of garam masala on cauliflower personally.

This method works for many vegetables, including zucchini, carrots, eggplant etc. Carrots I might want to flip once, depending on their size. I just did this with zucchini last night; softened without being mushy, with nice browning on the pan side.

Seriously, most simply roasted vegetables don't require babying unless you want to get perfectly even browning, which ... I don't think is even desirable, for most recipes.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:27 AM on April 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

We make whole roasted cauliflower frequently; the trick is that we parboil it in heavily salted water for 15 minutes before rubbing it with olive oil, paprika, tumeric, garlic powder and pepper and letting it roast for 40-50 minutes at 425F. You could probably do something similar for chopped cauliflower at a 5 minute parboil and a 15-20 minute roast.

Parboiling might be the opposite of what you're looking for, but it has the advantage of ensuring your vegetable cooks all the way through while allowing you to roast at a higher heat to get crisp brown exteriors. I've made "fries" out of potatoes this way (parboil one inch cubes of potatoes for 8-10 minutes, shock with ice water, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper, roast for 15 minutes at 450F) that tasted as good as if they'd just come out of a frier.
posted by thecaddy at 6:47 AM on April 1, 2022

Seconding roast pork. I buy a boston butt cut around 3 pounds. Roast at 450F for 30 minutes, then lower the temp to 250F and ignore it for 6 hours. Falls apart and is so, so good.
posted by Eddie Mars at 7:30 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

This recipe for roasted chicken quarters is minimal work. You have to take them out briefly after an hour and a half or so to quickly douse them in juice but that's it. I make these regularly.
posted by Fuego at 7:31 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't know why you'd flip the cauliflower every five minutes or parboil it. Maybe if you're roasting the whole head and you need to make sure it's done all the way through before it burns? But you can just cut it into big wedges, toss it with olive oil, put it on a sheet pan in a 500 degree oven--yes, that hot--and roast it for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and you only have to flip it once about halfway through. The same thing works with other brassica. It will get nutty and dark on the outside, but that's the whole point of roasting it, in my opinion. Preheating the sheet pan as sydnius suggests will give you even more browning.

I love cooking and will happily use fussy techniques for even marginal improvements in flavor, and I still think the method above is the best way to roast most vegetables.
posted by Hypocrite_Lecteur at 7:43 AM on April 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

My absolute favorite easy meal is roasted chicken thighs and veggies. I cut of potatoes, onions, carrots, some olive oil salt and pepper and whatever other seasoning I am feeling. Top with seasoned chicken thighs. Put in at 400 for about an hour.
Sometimes I look at them at about 40 minutes.

Sometimes I put on asparagus or Brussel sprouts that were tossed in olive oil and salt and pepper. Sometimes turnip.

It's also amazing warmed up the next day so I make a HUGE pan of them.

Thighs don't dry out really and the skin gets amazing.
posted by beccaj at 8:00 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is what crockpots were made for:

beans
pulled pork
roast
baked potatoes
chili
pulled chicken

dump the stuff in there and leave.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:25 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Like many things, there is a comprehensive Kenji guide to roasting vegetables. As others have mentioned, actual cooking time depends on your oven, the size of the pieces and how much you cook at once.

I'm generally only cooking for two people and I generally roast relatively sturdy foods (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, brussels) and at the highest temps my cooking time is 12-15 minutes.
posted by mmascolino at 10:19 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Brussels sprouts. 400ºF for 30 minutes, and I usually don't even check them once. Halve them and toss in a bowl with a few big glugs of olive oil and whatever seasoning you like, then into a foil-lined (for easy cleanup) roasting pan.
posted by emelenjr at 1:56 PM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

It’s funny because I was coming here to suggest cauliflower. I cook mine chopped and in a cast iron pan for 35 minutes at 425 in olive oil AND butter and only flip them once or twice if I remember.
posted by lydhre at 2:57 PM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

if various meats are included then there's a wealth of sheet pan recipes out there, my favorite being variations on Mediterranean chicken thighs. Like these variations, 1, 2, 3, for example.

You can also make kabobs/skewers in the oven or broiler (although you do want to turn them at least once). BBQ (just chunks of the meat w/sauce) or Greek (use a lemon pepper and herb marinade, skewer the meat between chunks of roughly cut red onion, bell pepper and roma tomato).

When I tried Hello Fresh it felt like 30% of their meals were variations on some kind of meatball (invariably using panko), cooked on a sheet in the oven with some veggies alongside and served over rice with sriracha mayo/sour cream sauce. And another 20% were the same, but using chicken cutlets coated in mayo and the panko mounded on top, with roasted potatoes instead of rice.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:46 PM on April 1, 2022

Meatloaf.
posted by credulous at 4:08 PM on April 1, 2022

Frozen vegetables, esp. cauliflower, butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts, roast well, and the prep time is negligible. 415F, turn/ stir once, cook until really done. I add Louisiana hot sauce to cauliflower, and pancetta to Brussels sprouts.
Roast carrots. Peel carrots, slice however you like, lay in a shallow roasting pan. Add olive oil. Add an inch or so of chicken broth, or miso and water. Add ginger, turmeric, and/or garlic if you like. Roast until the liquid is gone.
Sweet & white potatoes roast well.

You can make pot roast in a crock pot, dutch oven or on the stovetop. Layer onions, meat, carrots, potatoes, add a glug of wine, some rosemary, and cook long and slow.

Chili in a crockpot is a classic for a reason.
posted by theora55 at 7:40 PM on April 1, 2022

I mix a bunch of chopped veggies including hard/root veggies (generally carrots) and softer veggies (broccoli, red pepper, green beans, sweet pod peas) with liberal olive oil, salt, pepper, and sometimes other spices, spread it out on a silpat on a cookie sheet, and roast at 400 in a convection oven for 15 minutes. Sometimes I include asparagus, brussels sprouts, or cauliflower as well. Fantastic every time.

For some reason I roast diced potatoes for 30-40 minutes, mixing them up (not bothering to actually flip them) once in the middle. But I bet they'd also be fine cooked like the other veggies.

The range of times and temps here suggest everyone's oven and preference for doneness is a little different and you may have to optimize for your own.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 1:43 PM on April 2, 2022 [1 favorite]