Simple Recipes to Use Up Leftover Parsnips
Parsnips are rich in vitamins C and K, and like turnips, have been popular in England since Victorian times, due to being cheap, tasty and filling. They also as root veggies last a little longer in the fridge.
Easy Parsnip and Carrot Bake (Full of Plants) overdoes the sweet vegetable quota, by combining parsnips with equally sweet carrots. Cooked in a blend of plant milks (if you don’t like coconut, then sub with vegan cream) – the veggies are cooked with garlic, thyme and cumin, and served with roasted chestnuts.
Like green leafy veg, parsnips are high in vitamin K (so check medication before use). Don’t give leftovers to pets due to unsafe ingredients (onion, garlic, leeks etc). If combining parsnips with alliums (onion, garlic, shallot, leeks, chives), just bin scraps (acids could harm compost creatures).
The BBC food website describes parsnip as a ‘bulky beige carrot’ that you basically use as you would potato: you can mash it, roast it or bake it. Nigella Lawson suggests the tastiest way to eat parsnips is to peel and halve (or quarter) them lengthwise, then roast in the oven for half an hour, with oil and maple syrup.
Back in the Middle Ages, parsnips were considered ‘the king of vegetables’, and even today, most of us would agree. Parsnips are delicious! Not the prettiest veg (the flowers look similar to England’s most toxic plant of water hemlock – wild parsnip is also unsafe for many creatures).
How to Choose and Store Parsnips
Ideally buy from organic veg box schemes, farm shops or farmers’ markets, as they will be fresh and plastic-free. Good parsnips have smooth roots with no marks, and should be stored in your fridge crisper drawer for up to 2 weeks (remove the leafy tips first, as they can draw moisture from the root). Smaller ones are tastier (once cooked, keep in the fridge and eat within a couple of days).
A Tasty Parsnip Lentil Curry
Parsnip Curry with Lentils (The Veg Space) ticks all the taste and nutrition boxes. Taste (parsnips, lentils and curry are all tasty!). Nutrition (parsnips, carrots and tomatoes for vitamins, lentils for protein and calcium). And this recipe also wins on cost (both main ingredients are cheap).
This creamy coconut milk curry only takes 20 minutes to make. Make it a couple of times, then once mastered, it will become a weeknight favourite.
Homemade Parsnip Soup Recipes
This parsnip soup (Exploring Vegan) goes overboard with the flavour – rich parsnips, leek and garlic are paired with roasted chickpeas, and accompanied by a sweet and spicy harissa-maple sauce. Yum!
Curried Parsnip Soup (The Veg Space) roasts both parsnip and garlic first, to bring out the sweet flavours. Then combines with veggie stock, vegan cream and curry powder, for a warming broth.
If you like making soup, it’s worth investing in an immersion (stick) blender, to save the faff of washing out your blender, each time you make a batch (it’s UK law that whoever you buy from, has to take back old electrical appliances). A good excuse to treat yourself, and swap the old dusty plastic blender for a modern stick version.
Treat yourself to Souper Cubes silicone trays. Invented by the the engineer husband of a busy mother, just pour leftovers into the ‘giant ice cubes’ and freeze. Then pop one out to warm up, when you fancy homemade soup!
To cook soup from frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge then reheat. If cooking from frozen, cook over low heat (with a little water), stirring constantly until it is fully thawed and hot to a safe temperature.
Want more protein? Try this parsnip and split pea soup (The Simple Veganista). Parsnips, carrots, onion and garlic and simmered with green split peas and herbs, along with a tasty veggie broth.
In this recipe, carrots, parsnips, onion, and garlic are sauteed and then simmered with green split peas and flavourful herbs for a thick and hearty vegan soup perfect for a healthy lunch, dinner, or meal prep idea.
Vegan Parmesan Parsnips (chips!)
Vegan Parmesan Parsnips (Lazy Cat Kitchen) makes a nice change from fast food fries (KFC ones are even fried in chicken fat). This is a very simple recipe, where you roast the sweet chipped parsnips in oil and optional dried rosemary, with garlic salt and smoky paprika.
The ‘Parmesan’ is from cheesy-tasting nutritional yeast, a powder you can find in health shops (rich in vitamin B12). Note that real Parmesan is not even vegetarian (by law, it contains a cheese made with calf rennet). Many hotels and restaurants wrongly serve dishes containing it, as ‘the vegetarian option’.
Madeleine Olivia has another good (simpler) recipe for vegan Parmesan parsnips.
Victorian-Style Parsnip Cake with Hazelnuts
Parsnip Cake with Hazelnuts (The Veg Space) is a vegan take on the popular cake from Victorian times. The natural sweetness of parsnips combines with the protein/calcium rich nuts – this is almost health food!
The cake is then topped with an easy delicious dairy-free ‘cream cheese’ icing made by combining icing sugar, block margarine (Flora has no palm oil) and vegan cream cheese.
