Quick Summary: Quick Summary: Drizzling fruit-infused vinegars or shrub syrups over vegetables before roasting enhances flavor and adds complexity to simple sheet pan dinners. This guide covers which vinegars work best with which vegetables, plus a flexible roasting recipe.
Jump to: RECIPE | What Vinegar to Use? | Difference in Shrub Syrups vs Fruit Vinegars | Sheet Pan Method | More Root Veg Recipes | FAQ
Roasting vegetables to the point of caramelization is one popular way of eking out more sweetness and flavor from the raw vegetable. Adding a few splashes of a fruit-flavored vinegar while roasting enhances flavor even more and can be a great way to customize vegetable dishes and add creativity to what is often seen as bland vegetables.
Best Vinegars to Use in Making Vegetables Delicious
Vinegar, like salt, is a flavor enhancer so experiment with different vinegar and vegetable combinations. You can’t really go wrong. Here are a few of my favorites:
Balsamic Vinegar:
This is typically a sweet, aged vinegar, but there is quite a large range of flavor between brands. In general, the longer it is aged, the sweeter and thicker it gets, and the more expensive also.
Less expensive balsamic vinegars can be used in roasting vegetables, as well as for marinades and salad dressings where there are many other ingredients. Save the expensive balsamic vinegars for drizzling over cheese and greens, or to top off strawberries and ice cream.
Sherry Vinegar:
Sherry vinegar is wonderful on marinated red onions and tomatoes, and works well as a vinaigrette on salads (add in a little walnut oil or other good oil).
Sherry vinegar works well when combined with strong, robustly flavored vegetables because it has been aged in wood. Sherry vinegar is also great for brightening braised greens.
Infused Vinegars:
If you’re looking to really boost the flavor of your vegetables, check out some of the infused vinegars. Infused vinegars (aka flavored vinegars) give everything a bit of a flavor boost while only adding a few calories.
There are more and more infused vinegars on the market now, some with berries, some with herbs and some with rather exotic ingredients like tree barks.
Shrub Syrups vs Infused Vinegars
At our farm we make a wide range of fruit vinegars called “shrub syrups” which are basically different vinegars infused with fruit and/or herbs and spices. The difference is that shrub syrups are quite concentrated and include some sugar.
Yes there is sugar in the shrub syrups, but you don’t use much of it when cooking with it as it is concentrated. The large tray of roasted vegetables that I experimented with only needed 1/4 cup of the shrub syrup to enhance the flavor tremendously.
Shrub syrups are also great to use as an enhancement to cocktails, mocktails, or just sparkling water. With drinks (like fizzy waters or cocktails), it only takes a couple of tablespoons to give your water a wonderful boost of flavor.
I tried the recipe below with a Rhubarb Fennel Shrub Syrup and again with a Cranberry Ginger Shrub Syrup. I plan to also try it with the Orange Chipotle and the Smoked Cherry in the coming winter weeks.
If you want to explore further, check out these guides to homemade drink syrups for cocktails and mocktails.
How to Roast Vegetables with Infused Vinegars: Sheet Pan Method
The ingredient and recipe details are listed in the recipe card below. In short, coarsely chop whatever vegetables you have on hand, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread on a sheet pan. Drizzle with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite fruit vinegar or shrub syrup, cover loosely with foil, and roast at 400°F for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and roast another 5 minutes to caramelize.
Roasting vegetables sprinkled with infused vinegars is extremely easy to do on a sheet pan. Just grab whatever vegetables you have in your fridge, try and match the thickness, add some oil, some salt and pepper and a few splashes of vinegar and roast at 400 degrees for an hour.
Other Great Roasted Root Vegetable Recipes:
The recipe below is extremely flexible. I used the vegetables I had on hand at the time. Other veggies that I have used with success include: cabbage, brussel sprouts, summer squash (zucchini and yellow squash, and celery. The vegetable world is really your oyster here 🙂
- Winter Vegetable Sauté of squash, parsnips and carrots
- Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
- Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Roasted Vegetables
FAQ
Infused vinegars are vinegar steeped with fruit or herbs. Shrub syrups are more concentrated, with added sugar, making them sweeter and more intense. Both work for roasting, but shrub syrups require less volume.
Root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, beets), cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts), and fennel all caramelize beautifully with fruit vinegars. Summer squash and bell peppers work well too.
About 1/4 to 1/2 cup for a full sheet pan. Start with less and adjust to taste. Shrub syrups are concentrated, so use the lower end of the range.
Yes. Balsamic is a classic choice for roasted vegetables. Less expensive balsamic works fine for roasting since the flavor concentrates as it cooks. Save aged balsamic for drizzling after cooking.
Sherry vinegar works well with robust vegetables like onions, tomatoes, and braised greens. Fruit vinegars (cherry, cranberry, rhubarb) complement root vegetables and squash. Balsamic works with almost everything.
The foil traps steam and helps the vegetables cook through without drying out. Removing it at the end allows them to caramelize and crisp.
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Using Vinegars with Roasted Vegetables
Equipment
- Aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 fennel bulb sliced
- ¼ head of cauliflower broken up into florets
- 1 large stalk of broccoli broken into florets
- 5 carrots peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 cups chopped bell peppers
- 1 head of garlic sliced in half
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- ¼ – ½ cup Infused vinegar Your favorite fruit infused vinegar or balsamic vinegar. I used Rubarb Fennel in this recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Coarsely chop the veggies (peel the carrots) and lay out on a sheet pan or broiler pan tray.
- Drizzle with the oil and generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using your hands toss the veggies with the oil and salt so they are pretty much covered.
- Drizzle the infused vinegar over the top of the vegetables and cover loosely with aluminum foil
- Roast for 40 minutes and then take the foil off and roast another 5 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
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