Roasted Root Vegetables With Sweet Lime Dressing Recipe (2024)

Salad Dressing
Beets
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Sweet and tender roasted beets, carrots, and onions, tossed with a zippy lime dressing and topped with crunchy, golden shallots.

ByNik Sharma

Updated March 05, 2021

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Why It Works

Roasting the beets, carrots, and onions brings out their sweetness and makes them tender.
Roasted shallots offer a crispy counterpoint to the tender root vegetables.
A salad dressing brightened with lime juice and zest and perked up with a pinch of red pepper flakes complements the earthy flavors of the vegetables.

I love beets, in part because of the sheer variety of colors they come in. But the real point of interest for me is the behavior of the water-soluble pigments responsible for those colors (called betalains—the red ones are known as betacyanins and the yellow ones are known as betaxanthins). For example, some betacyanin pigments degrade during cooking, but if you let the cooked beets sit for a bit, the betacyanins will regenerate!

Beets are also rich in sugars, much like the carrots and onions I pair them with in the recipe below. The three vegetables complement one another, both in terms of their inherent flavors, and because they undergo similar processes when cooked, becoming both sweeter and more texturally palatable.

I add some brightness to the root vegetables by tossing them in a fragrant lime dressing sweetened with a little brown sugar, which adds a bit of caramel flavor. I also incorporate a small amount of red pepper flakes to give the dressing some heat. I highly recommend using a microplane zester to prepare the zest and the garlic for the dressing; the garlic and zest are punchier as a result, and the finer grating yields a far smoother dressing.

Finally, I like to garnish this dish with crispy golden brown shallots. While I prefer to cook mine in the oven, you can use fried shallots, done in a deep fryer or a microwave, or you can use store-bought fried shallots. You can also easily bump up the quantity of shallots I've indicated below to make extra (store extra crispy shallots in an airtight container in the refrigerator), but remember to divide and spread them out in a single layer on as many baking sheets as needed. Spreading them out allows for better evaporation of the liquid and helps with the browning and crisping.

I usually serve these roasted root vegetables with plain boiled rice but you can also eat them all by themselves, although I've also found that bit of Greek yogurt, salted to taste, works wonderfully with the sweet root vegetables and the dressing.

Roasted Root Vegetables With Sweet Lime Dressing Recipe

Active90 mins

Total105 mins

Serves4 servings

Ingredients

For the Shallots:

4 shallots (about 6 1/4 ounces; 180g total), sliced crosswise into thin 1/8-inch-thick rings
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

For the Beets, Carrots, and Onions:

8 medium beets (about 2 pounds; 910g total), washed well, ends trimmed, and cut into 2-inch-thick wedges
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4 large carrots (about 1 pound; 455g total), washed well, ends trimmed, and cut into 1-inch chunks
4 small yellow onions (about 1 pound; 455g total), ends trimmed but root left intact, peeled, and quartered lengthwise through the root
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

For the Sweet Lime Dressing:

1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lime juice, plus the finely grated zest of 1 lime
1 medium clove garlic, minced or grated
2 tablespoons light ordark brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshlyground black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons (30ml)extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

To Serve:

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
4 scallions, both white and green parts, ends trimmed and thinly sliced crosswise

Directions

For the Shallots: Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). On a rimmed baking sheet, toss shallots with olive oil until evenly coated. Season with salt, then arrange in a single, even layer. Roast shallots, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking, until golden brown and crispy, 45 to 60 minutes. Set aside.
For the Beets, Carrots, and Onions: Increase oven temperature to 400°F (200°C). On a rimmed baking sheet, toss beets, carrots, and onions with the olive oil; season with salt. Spread vegetables out in an even layer and roast, stirring vegetables and rotating the baking sheet once halfway through cooking, until a paring knife can easily pierce beets and carrots, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from heat, cover with a layer of foil, and let rest 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the Sweet Lime Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk the lime juice and zest, garlic, sugar, black pepper, and red pepper flakes until the sugar dissolves completely. While drizzling in a slow, steady stream, whisk in olive oil to form a creamy dressing. Season with salt.
In a large serving bowl, toss roasted beets, carrots, and onions with the dressing until evenly coated. Garnish with the sesame seeds, scallions, and crispy shallots. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Make-Ahead and Storage

The dressing can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 8 hours. Shake well before dressing the roasted vegetables.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
438	Calories
22g	Fat
60g	Carbs
8g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	438
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g	28%
Saturated Fat 3g	15%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 727mg	32%
Total Carbohydrate 60g	22%
Dietary Fiber 12g	42%
Total Sugars 37g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 30mg	148%
Calcium 141mg	11%
Iron 4mg	20%
Potassium 1387mg	30%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)