10 enjoyable greens to cook dinner with this winter

I’m not a “new year, new you” form of lady, however when the final of the cookies, pies, and holiday-feast leftovers have left the constructing, I all the time crave a return to extra produce-forward consuming. Less sugar, extra sustenance.

When I’m creating recipes, I hold ingredient availability in thoughts — I would like you to have the ability to stroll into any grocery retailer and simply discover the produce you have to make the week’s new recipe. So, I typically name for crowd-pleasing staples like kale and spinach, potatoes and yellow onion, butternut squash and cabbage in my recipes. And but! There’s a large world of winter greens on the market that you would be able to swap in seamlessly to carry new vitamins — and barely completely different textures and flavors — into the combo. Some may require a visit to the farmers’ market or to a extra speciality grocery retailer to search out, however they’re well worth the hunt!

Haven’t cooked with a rutabaga shortly? Me neither. Let’s go into 2026 with some nutrient range and novelty, lets?!

Swiss chard is a darkish leafy inexperienced that may be swapped in for kale, spinach, and collards in any soup or stew. It has thick ribs/stems like kale that you just’ll need to take away earlier than utilizing. Don’t throw them out although — the ribs are scrumptious diced and sautéed! They soften however hold their construction, form of like celery. You can use them in a mirepoix, stir fry, and even as a filling for quesadillas. They’re a beautiful redish purple colour — nice should you’re attempting to “eat the rainbow,” aka eat as many different-colored produce (and thus vitamins) as potential this 12 months.

Use Swiss chard leaves in (above, from left to proper) good luck soup; coq au vin, kinda; and good temper rooster and bean soup. I additionally like to sauté Swiss chard leaves and/or some other darkish leafy greens (collards, mustard greens, kale, spinach, and so forth.) with some aromatics for a fast and scrumptious aspect — click on right here for an in depth how-to.

Parsnips are a sweeter, nuttier-tasting cousin to carrots! Use them anyplace you’d use a carrot — in sheet-pan and one-pot meals, puréed soups, even uncooked. I sometimes don’t peel my carrots, however I do peel parsnips.

Try parsnips rather than carrots in (above, from left to proper) peanut vegetable curry; moroccan-spiced pork tenderloin and carrots; and creamy however cream-less tomato soup.

Rutabaga is a hearty root vegetable within the cabbage household. It’s an excellent stand in for potatoes — you possibly can roast it, mash it, purée it. It has much less starch and a barely sweeter taste profile than potatoes, which is enjoyable to experiment with and swap in. I don’t all the time peel my potatoes, however I do all the time peel rutabagas as a result of their pores and skin is fairly thick. You might use them rather than carrots in a pot pie, soup, stew, or braised vegetable state of affairs, too.

Rutabagas are firmer and better in fiber than potatoes and carrots so could take longer to melt. Cubing or slicing them smaller may help pace up cooking time.

Swap rutabagas in for the potatoes or carrots in (above, from left to proper) roasted harissa rooster and candy potato bowls; sheet-pan sausage, candy potatoes, and apples; and one-skillet broccoli cheddar pot pie.

Kohlrabi’s additionally within the cabbage household (particularly, it’s referred to as the Brassicaceae household). It’s a agency and mellow-tasting stem vegetable that, like rutabaga, could be roasted, mashed, and puréed. Swap it for cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes in sheet-pan meals, curries, soups, and stews. I additionally prefer to eat it uncooked, sliced thinly.

Use kohlrabi in (above, from left to proper) one-pan coconut curry rooster with roasted greens and lime; sheet-pan rooster with cauliflower, butternut squash & brown butter sage French dressing; and on seashore sandwiches.

Here’s one other root veg so that you can strive! Use turnips anyplace you’d use rutabaga or kohlrabi as described above. The pores and skin on turnips is thinner than rutabaga (until it’s an enormous turnip) so you possibly can sometimes get away with not peeling it until you’d prefer to. Turnips are rather less candy than rutabaga however are nonetheless delish. You also can use turnip greens (or rutabaga greens, in case your rutabaga comes with them) anyplace you’d use collards or kale in cooked meals. See the hyperlinks above for recipe concepts!

Celeriac, aka celery root, is a gnarled-looking root veg associated to celery (in fact) and carrots. She’s not a looker, however don’t let that knobby exterior deter you. When you peel off the pores and skin (a superb vegetable peeler sometimes works — if it doesn’t, use a chef’s knife!), dice, and roast her, she turns superbly creamy and scrumptious on the within, whereas crisping up on the surface. Swap celeriac in for potatoes in mashed potatoes, soups, stews, or sheet-pan meals. You might additionally cube and swap it for celery in a mirepoix.

Use peeled and cubed celeriac in (above, from left to proper) winter stew; sheet-pan spiced rooster; and sheet-pan candy potatoes and chickpeas.

I. LOVE. FENNEL. I’ve developed a couple of WTC recipes with it over time, however need to urge you to cook dinner with it much more. Raw, it has too sturdy of an anise/licorice taste for my liking, however you should use fennel bulb anyplace you’d use onion or celery in a cooked dish. I particularly love roasted fennel as a result of it caramelizes superbly, turning candy and jammy. The delicate inexperienced leaves that come on high of the fennel stalks can be utilized as a sub for dill, too!

Grab some fennel to cook dinner (above, from left to proper) jammy tomato feta rice with herby pork tenderloin; sheet-pan balsamic glazed pork with fennel and potatoes; and good soup.

WTCer Anna wound up with loads of radicchio in her CSA field the opposite day and puzzled within the chat the way to use it. Radicchio is a fantastic, bitter leafy veg within the chicory household together with endive and frisée. I like it for its construction and chew, however it may possibly positively be overpowering so I like to make use of it in salads together with sweeter greens like butter lettuce and romaine. You can dunk it in chilly water for a bit to sit back out its bitterness some should you’d like, and take a look at it with a dressing on the sweeter aspect! You also can cook dinner it to make it much less bitter — strive subbing it in for cabbage in a roasted, grilled, or stir-fried meal.

Use radicchio in (above, left) the chopped Italian salad. You might additionally sub it in for cabbage in bacon kimchi salmon fried rice (above, center) and saucy rooster and cabbage satay bowls (above, proper).

OK so it is a fruit, and technically persimmon season wrapped up in December, however they’re nonetheless out there and scrumptious at our native grocery shops in each South Carolina and California so we’re together with them right here. You can use persimmons interchangeably with apples, pears, and even citrus so long as you’re not juicing it. I like to recommend fuyu persimmons, that are candy, relatively than hachiya, which could be fairly dry/astringent.

Persimmons could be scrumptious in (above, from left to proper) the souvla-inspired rooster salad (they’re written into that recipe!); the autumn chop; and rooster paillard with a pear & manchego salad.

Among winter squash, butternut might be probably the most extensively used, however these different varieties deserve your time and a focus, too! They can be utilized interchangeably in recipes, every bringing refined variation in taste and texture. The exception to that’s spaghetti squash, which turns stringy when cooked. Make my harissa bolognese spaghetti squash or tacky rooster baked spaghetti squash with it as a substitute!

Try honeynut or autumn delight squash on this roasted pink pepper and butternut squash soup, and use delicata or acorn squash for sheet-pan rooster and squash and twice-baked delicata squash (all pictured above, from left to proper).

Any different veg you’ve been questioning what to cook dinner with? Or have one other good way to make use of one of many above? Let’s hear it!

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