Honey Roast Parsnips - Side Dish Recipe for Roast Dinner (2024)

Delicious honey roast parsnips make for a delightful side dish in any roast dinner. With their simplicity and ease of preparation, these roasted parsnips require just four ingredients, making it easy to create this delightful recipe at home.

Roasting parsnips with honey caramelizes the natural sugars, producing crispy parsnips with an extra depth of flavour from the garlic.

Not only an essential side for Christmas dinner and a must-have addition to all Sunday Roasts!

Whether you're planning a Sunday roast or looking for something special to accompany your festive meals, these honey roast parsnips promise to be a crowd-pleaser.

Parsnips

Parsnips are a root vegetable that looks similar to a carrot but with cream-coloured skin and flesh and a tougher woody texture.

Parsnips are an often forgotten vegetable in the kitchen. Not as popular as carrots, but they make for a great addition to any dish.

They are grown in Europe through autumn, winter and spring. At their sweetest at the beginning of spring, helped by the cold climate to develop a sweet flavour.

When buying parsnips, look for blemish-free, small or medium-sized firm parsnips for maximum sweetness! The larger ones become more woody and with a blander taste.

Honey

Honey helps add extra sweetness and a sticky coating which during roasting creates delightful crispy parsnips.

We use Rowse runny honey, the squeezy bottle helps makes it easy to use! Any honey can be used for this recipe. But I find clear honey is the easiest and most fluid to mix into a glaze.

You can use maple syrup or agave syrup instead of honey for a similar sweet result.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is included in the honey glaze to make it smoother and easier to coat and to prevent the honey from burning.

Herbs

If using fresh herbs like fresh thyme save them until the end to add to the honey glazed parsnips. Dried herbs can be added with the glaze if preferred.

Foil can be used instead of parchment paper; it is just to prevent the sticky honey-glazed parsnips from sticking to the roasting tin!

Instructions

Jump to the recipe card for quick easy step by steps or continue reading below.

How to prepare parsnips for roasting?

Young, small or baby parsnips can be cooked without peeling; older, larger parsnips with tougher skin should be peeled.

Cut the parsnips into even-sized batons so they all take the same amount of time to roast. If using smaller parsnips, you can cut them in half.

Do I need to parboil parsnips?

When using firm, fresh parsnips, there is no need to parboil before roasting parsnips.

Make Garlic and Honey Glaze

Next, make the garlic and honey glaze. We find it easier to make this in a separate bowl or jug, so it combines well before adding to the parsnips.

It’s so easy to mix up, olive oil, honey, garlic and a bit of salt and pepper.

Place chopped parsnips into a bowl, pour the glaze on top and stir through to ensure they are evenly coated. Before transferring the prepared parsnips to a baking tray.

How to roast parsnips?

I suggest cooking parsnips in a preheated oven dedicated to only the parsnips, using a shallow roasting tin, as the low sides allow the heat to spread evenly over the vegetables, leading to perfectly crispy roast parsnips.

It is best to use parchment paper on the roasting tray to prevent the parsnips from sticking to the tin. It also saves on scrubbing the roasting tray's stuck-on bits!

Cooking Time and Oven Temperature

Roast in the centre of a preheated oven at 200°C fan / 220°C / 425°F / Gas Mark 7 for about 25 minutes.

Turn the parsnips halfway through cooking time to ensure they cook evenly.

Parsnips chopped in larger chunks or when cooked with other trays in the oven, they may take up to 35 minutes.

If they are browning too quickly, but not quite cooked, you can add some foil over the top!

Serving suggestions

Before serving the honey roasted parsnips, season with salt and pepper over the top. I also like to add some fresh thyme leaves.

Serve with your favourite roast dinner, beef, lamb, pork or turkey with all the trimmings.

Seen here served with our delicious roast pork loin with crackling, green beans with bacon, carrot and swede mash, goose fat potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and apple sauce.

Here is the simple recipe card for cooking these honey roasted parsnips.

📖 Step by Step Recipe

This post was originally posted on 08/10/21 and updated on 01/03/24 with cleared written instructions in the recipe card and blog post.

The perfect way to prepare parsnips for Christmas Dinner! Serve your Turkey Crown on top of them with other vegetables and pigs in blankets!

Honey parsnips seen below served with our delicious slow cooker roast beef.

Prepare ahead

To prep honey roasted parsnips in advance, peel and chop the parsnips, then store them in salted water to maintain their colour and freshness.

The honey glaze can be made beforehand, kept covered at room temperature, and ready to pour on top of the drained parsnips.

Cook Ahead

Take them out of the oven before they become overly browned. Let them cool, then store them covered in the fridge for upto 3 days.

Cook for 20 minutes at 200°C fan / 220°C / 425°F / Gas Mark 7 until golden brown and crispy.

Freezing parsnips

Or transfer to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 months.

Oven cook from frozen at 200°C fan / 220°C / 425°F / Gas Mark 7 for about 30 minutes.

This is the perfect way to have sweet parsnips on hand for Sunday roast dinner!

More Parsnip Recipes

If you enjoyed this honey roast parsnips recipe, you should check out our Parsnip and Sweet Potato Gratin.

We also created a similar vegetable sidedish where we roasted brussel sprouts carrots and parsnips together with maple syrup for the glaze. Perfect Christmas side dish.

More Roast Dinner Recipes

We have so many roast dinner recipe ideas for you. Here are a few, click through the like below to see more!

There's nothing better than coming home after a long day and digging into some warm roasted parsnips! They have such a sweet taste, thanks to the honey marinade.