These Turnip Recipes That Prove Just How Delicious the Veggie Can Be (2024)

FAQs

What makes turnips taste better? ›

How do you get the bitterness out of turnips? Smaller turnips tend to be sweeter and less bitter, so start by selecting fresh, small, tender turnips and peeling them. Adding a little sugar to your turnips after cooking can also help to counteract any bitterness.

Wash greens and roots well. Some suggest soaking the greens in a little salty water. One turnip website from the United Kingdom notes that if you boil them, add a little sugar to tame the scent and add baking soda to reduce bitterness.

Baked, Boiled or Steamed. Use turnips any way you would use a potato, and then some. Try them baked or boiled in stews, soups and stir-fries, or lightly steamed with some butter, salt or lemon juice for flavor.

The major difference between the two is that in the edible portion of turnip, all tissues are derived from the root, while the edible portion of a rutabaga is composed of both root and stem tissues.

Boil or steam turnips and add them to mashed potatoes for extra vitamins and minerals. Grate them raw into salads or slaws. Roast them with other root vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes, and bring out their natural sweetness.

If the turnip is old (and likely bitter) you can add an apple. I've also read that you can stir in baking soda after the turnips have boiled to remove the bitterness. You would then need to rinse thoroughly.

Turnips and other cruciferous vegetables that are high in fiber help make people feel fuller for longer, and they are low in calories. Eating high fiber meals also helps keep blood sugar levels stable. The fiber content in turnips may also prevent constipation and promote regularity for a healthy digestive tract.

Though they are most commonly cooked, turnips can be enjoyed raw as well. If you plan to eat them raw, simply peel and slice the turnip like an apple to eat with dips or add to the top of your salad. Be sure to slice off the root end and remove the greens – which can be saved for cooking as well.

Turnips can be enjoyed raw, pickled, boiled, roasted, mashed, stewed, puréed, added to soups, or prepared almost any way you'd make potatoes. Turnips are a healthy alternative to potatoes; they're lower in calories and have fewer carbs.

Turnip greens are part of the cruciferous vegetable family, as are kale and broccoli. They are high in nutrients, such as vitamin K, vitamin A, and calcium, and low in calories. Both the root and the leaves of the turnip are edible, but turnip greens refer specifically to the stem and leafy green part of the plant.

How do you get the bitter taste out of rutabagas? ›

Cook the rutabaga cubes in boiling salted water and the ½ teaspoon sugar. This will help take out some of the bitterness. Cook until the rutabaga is very tender.

Encourages healthy bowels

A cup of boiled and mashed rutabaga provides 4.32 grams (g) of dietary fiber toward the 14 g of fiber per 1000 calories that the American government recommends people consume. Dietary fiber helps to keep the bowels healthy and can decrease the risk of: constipation.

Kohlrabi tastes like cabbage and looks like a turnip, albeit a spiney turnip that is sprouting leaves reminiscent of a cross between kale and collards. Kohlrabi resembles a root vegetable, but actually, the edible globe is the modified swollen stem of the plant and grows above ground.