Whether it’s late in the fall or winter, or the start of spring, roasted vegetables are an easy, satisfying, and healthy side or main dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although they seem deceptively easy, roasting vegetables requires patience and the right seasoning. You may be acquainted with mixing your vegetables with salt, pepper, and oil, but if the taste seems lacking, you could be leaving out an important element: acid!
Potatoes, yams, carrots, radishes, zucchini, squash, onions, broccoli — whatever you’ve got on your baking sheet and ready to roast needs a zippy bite that only a douse of vinegar or citrus can give. The most common and easiest go-to’s are lemon or lime juice, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, and rice wine vinegar. You don’t want something too strong — like a plain white distilled vinegar — as it could overwhelm the rest of the flavor profile.
Applying acid to your roasted veggies
In terms of application, you may think that marinating your veggies ahead of time in a mixture of oil, salt, pepper, spices, and your acid of choice is the way to go. But, that’s not the best course of action. The added acid could make your veggies too wet, causing them to get soggy and steam rather than the vegetables properly roasting dry. Think about when you roast a chicken. You usually pat the bird dry before applying your salt, pepper, and fat. The same rules apply to your vegetables. Acid, even though it’s, well, an acid, is still a liquid that will bring moisture to your veggies.
The best course of action is to stick by your normal routine of adding oil and spices to your vegetables of choice, roasting on a baking sheet, and then removing once the veggies have caramelized to your liking. Then, you’ll want to add a bit of acid — right before serving. So, a squirt of lemon or lime over roasted potatoes; a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over jammy tomatoes, zucchini, and onions; or a splash of rice vinegar over toasty broccoli will take your roasted vegetables up a notch, or three.
