Frozen vegetables provide a simple and nutritious meal solution, offering extended shelf life while preserving key vitamins and minerals. They are ideal for soups, stir-fries, casseroles, and side dishes, requiring minimal preparation. However, roasting frozen vegetables during meal preparation can sometimes result in a soft, soggy texture rather than a crispy finish.
But an expert has shared a genius hack that will prevent the frozen vegetables from turning soggy, and it just requires your oven. Writing for Simply Recipes, Sheela Prakash said: “While I grew up eating microwaved frozen vegetables, I know better now: Roasting frozen vegetables is the best way to make them taste as delicious as possible. Over the years, I learned a few things that make all the difference. Because what you’re after is crispy roasted vegetables and not soggy, rubbery ones.”
According to the expert, preheating the baking sheet while you preheat the oven could give wonderful results. She explained: “Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven while it preheats.
“This is another way to avoid steaming your frozen vegetables. Dumping the frozen vegetables out onto a hot baking sheet means they’ll start cooking immediately before any excess moisture on them has a chance to soak in.”
Apart from this, she has suggested not to thaw the frozen vegetables before cooking.
She said: “Frozen vegetables are icy, so when you thaw them in the refrigerator overnight or out on the counter for a little bit, the ice inevitably melts and the vegetables become sodden.
“Even if you pat them dry, they’ll still cook up to be soggier than if you cooked them straight from the freezer because they’ve absorbed a good deal of the water already.”
Lastly, the food expert has suggested to be generous with the seasoning. She concluded: “Before roasting frozen vegetables, toss them generously with oil (I like olive oil) and season them well with salt and pepper.
“The oil ensures they’ll cook up to be crispy. And since frozen vegetables have been hanging out in the freezer for a bit, they can handle a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper to rid them of any dull flavour.”
