When my husband and I were newly married, I was working late one evening and asked him to prepare the Sloppy Joes recipe on Spend Smart. Eat Smart. The recipe calls for an onion and my husband, thinking he was grabbing an onion from the produce drawer in the fridge, chopped up a turnip and added it to the meat and vegetable mixture. To both of our surprise, it was actually really good! We had a good laugh that he couldn’t distinguish a turnip from an onion, and I realized that I could become more adventurous with turnips than simply roasting them.

Turnips are a root vegetable, and to my husband’s credit, are the same shape as an onion but don’t have the same outer shell to peel off prior to eating. I find that turnips can be a good alternative to potatoes in recipes and that’s typically how I use them at home. Turnips are in season between October and March, making them a great vegetable to use in holiday cooking. Turnips, like carrots, are high in Vitamin C which can be a great immunity boost during cold/flu season, and can be stored in the fridge for several days.

A few of my favorite ways to prepare turnips at home are below:

1. Roasted– Easy Roasted Vegetables are a great side dish for any meal. My dad loves when I roast vegetables, so I almost always make a sheet when I know he is coming to our home for dinner. I really enjoy the combination of turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.
2. Mashed– Mashed turnips are a delicious alternative to mashed potatoes. Simply sub in boiled turnips in place of potatoes to make a tasty side to go along with your upcoming holiday meals!
3. Fries– Turnip fries are easy and have a great texture. I like to slice the turnips into strips, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees. My kids can’t tell much of a difference as the turnip fries have a creamy, buttery texture when baked.
4. Soups– I love soup, especially in the colder months. Soup can stretch pretty far when it comes to getting multiple meals out of one recipe. Soup recipes that call for potatoes can easily incorporate turnips. We like Beef Stew and Loaded Potato Soup with a mix of half potatoes and half turnips.

What are some ways that you have cooked with turnips? If you haven’t given this underrated root vegetable a try, choose one of my favorite ways to prepare turnips and let us know what you think!