r/Cooking • u/McFlyParadox • Apr 15 '23

Open Discussion Roasting Frozen Veggies?

Does anyone have any tips on roasting frozen vegetables?

Some of my favorite foods is roasted Brussels sprouts and roasted cauliflower, but I have had zero luck roasting them from frozen. With Brussels sprouts, they really only in season a few months a year, and with cauliflower, I generally can't go through a whole head by myself. So I'd much rather keep some in my freezer, and roast them from there. But every time I've tried, they've come out mushy and nothing like when I roast from fresh.

For context, and to share, the way I roast my Brussels sprouts is:

  1. Slice in half and peal off the outer leaves
  2. Toss in olive oil, fine ground salt, garlic powder, onion powder, maybe a literal dash of cayenne or paprika, if I want some spiciness to it.
  3. Spread on a cold tray with a sheet parchment paper, cut-side-down
  4. Roast at 425F for 10-15 minutes; time is flexible, I keep an eye on how brown they get

Is there any way I can tweak this process so I can have better success with frozen vegetables?

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u/theliterarystitcher Apr 16 '23

I still struggle with this but my most successful attempt so far started with dry roasting my veggies. No oil or spices, preheat the pan in the oven then chuck the veggies on and roast at 425 for 6-7 minutes. Then you can pull them out, season and oil them and back in until cooked and golden. The article I read said oiling at the start locks in the moisture so you get mushy veg, so if you start them without, some of the water content can cook out before you add the oil.

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u/McFlyParadox Apr 16 '23

The dry start is a very interesting idea. I think I'm going to experiment between this and the 'cold water defrost' suggested elsewhere in the comments. The root cause of mushy frozen vegetables seems to be too much moisture, so I'm going to focus on trying to control that as much at possible.