12 Days of Christmas Treats – winter white edition
Day 11 – bacon sprinkled roasted turnips with a horseradish maple glaze
turnips – the pretty root vegetable!
As long as I can remember, I have LOVED turnips! They are the perfect addition to any root vegetable roast, and are also delicious to snack on. I particularly like how they taste so peppery. At our house, a thinly sliced turnip on a crudite platter disappears very quickly. Surprisingly, sometimes people are munching away on a slice and don’t even know what they are! Turnips are a beautiful root vegetable whose skin fades from a pretty purple to a creamy white. Eventually you have to peel that pretty skin off, but that is okay because then you are one step closer to eating one!
thank goodness for my Aunt June!!
I have my Aunt June to thank for my love of turnips. Every summer when we would go to visit, she always served “Canadian turnips.” For this reason, I thought turnips only grew in Canada! Aunt June would serve them very simply with butter, salt, and A LOT of pepper. They were divine! A few years ago I started roasting them, and I have never looked back! Roasting the turnips creates a uniquely scrumptious, peppery, and caramelized flavor. They taste incredible right off of your sheet pan, but I wanted to jazz things up for the holidays.
do you think turnips taste like horseradish???
While your turnips are roasting, you can quickly whisk together a fabulous glaze to toss them in when they come out of the oven. The glaze is especially delicious because it is made with horseradish, maple syrup, mustard, and a little white balsamic. The sweetness of the maple syrup is the perfect way to emphasize the peppery taste of the turnips. I wanted to include a little horseradish because I think that turnips taste a little like horseradish.
The perfect end (or beginning) to the glazed roasted turnips is some crispy bacon sprinkled over the top. Chopped chives add a little touch of green that you need for the holidays. Every bite is a taste explosion! I hope that this recipe will make a visit to your holiday table. It will be front and center at ours!
bacon sprinkled roasted turnips with a horseradish maple glaze

There will be no leftovers when you make these roasted turnips with a horseradish and maple glaze. And don’t forget the bacon sprinkles!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 - 6 servings 1x
- Category: vegetable
- Method: roast
Ingredients
7–8 medium turnips peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
olive oil, salt and white pepper for roasting
Glaze:
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 TB horseradish ( less if you don’t like as much heat)
one TB white balsamic
1 TB grainy mustard
4 strips of bacon cooked crispy and broken into small pieces
1 TB chopped chives
Optional garnish for the holidays: cut fresh rosemary and a few pomegranate seeds
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Peel and cut turnips into bite sized chunks, taking into consideration that they will shrink slightly when roasting
Place in a medium sized bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and white pepper
Spread on a sheet pan, leaving space between the turnips
Roast for 35-40 minutes, loosening and turning over halfway through roasting
Prepare glaze:
Combine all glaze ingredients in a small bowl and set aside
Cook bacon and drain on paper towel. When cool break into small pieces
Cut chives in small pieces
Remove turnips from the oven when golden brown and fork tender
Carefully mix with glaze and put on serving platter
Sprinkle with bacon and chives
Optional holiday garnish: cut fresh rosemary sprigs and place on platter. Dot with a few pomegrantes
Leave a Reply