To me, a roast dinner is one of the most rewarding meals to make. It’s easy, nutritious, and delicious. That checks all the boxes for me!
But if you’ve never put together a roast dinner before, it can be a bit overwhelming. Even if you’ve already given it a go, you can get stuck in a rut and serve the exact same roast meal 5 times in a row.
Today I’m sharing some tips and inspiration so you can either gain the confidence to make your first roast dinner, or branch out and try new things.
Let’s dive in!
I recommend choosing your meat first, and building the rest of the meal around that. My personal favorites are beef, pork, and chicken, but if you have game meat, lamb, etc. you can definitely use those.
Next, you want to plan out the side dishes. I recommend having 2 to 4 side dishes to go along with your roast. These definitely do NOT have to be complicated. I usually just roast some vegetables alongside the meat and serve them with butter. It’s very simple but oh-so-good.
I don’t like to roast the vegetables in the same pot as the meat. They usually get overdone and mushy if I do. Instead, I prefer to cook the vegetables in a separate pan. You have to do more dishes this way but it’s worth it to me. The flavors and textures are much more appealing.
I personally like to have at least 1 starchy vegetable and 1 green vegetable on the table. Here is some inspiration for the types of vegetables you can include in your roast meal.
Starchy vegetables
There’s just something warm and comforting and filling about starchy vegetables. I definitely feel like they help to keep you full longer. You’re not just limited to potatoes here. Some other ideas include squash, parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes or yams.
Green vegetables
I love having something green on the table! Some ideas for green veggies to serve are asparagus, cabbage, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, green beans, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, and cucumber. Green peas are sometimes considered a starchy vegetable, but I still think of them as green because, well, they’re green!
Miscellaneous
Some other vegetables that don’t really fall into the starchy or green category include tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplants, peppers, onions, and cauliflower.You can also check out the Sides section here on Food & Friends for more ideas!
Sauces can instantly take a roast dinner to the next level. Don’t get me wrong: I’m usually content with just butter. But if you put in the extra effort to make a sauce, it can really enhance all of the flavors and textures.
Some ideas for sauces include gravy, a white sauce (with plenty of black pepper!), pesto, jams or chutneys, mustard, chimichurri, peanut sauce, and BBQ sauce.
Now let’s look at some example meals that I put together!
Here I made roast beef with sweet potatoes, parsnips, and sautéed kale and apples. Mmmm. The beef was dynamite!
Here I made roast chicken with crispy potatoes, roasted carrots, and green peas. I served the chicken with BBQ sauce.
Lastly, I made a pork roast with roasted squash, pan-fried green beans, and mashed potatoes.
I hope this helped to get your creative juices flowing! Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to answer them. And if you have a favorite roast dinner, make sure to share with us in the comments!
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