In the cooler weather, I roast up a big old pan of vegetables at least once a week. Sometimes, I roast up two pans because while fresh out of the oven, they make almost any meal feel rich and complete; they are also delicious at room temp or reheated later in the week, either as they are or incorporated into a new recipe or preparation. And sometimes, even all of those vegetables aren’t enough because anyone passing through the kitchen snitches a few pieces off the tray as they walk by — and I am the worst culprit.

So, what can you do with leftover roasted veggies? Some of the following recipes include directions for roasting the vegetables from scratch, but you can easily see how leftover roasted vegetables — and different kinds of roasted vegetables — can be subbed into the recipe, speeding things up.

1. Add Roasted Vegetables to Pasta

Cook up a pound of the pasta of your choice, and then simply toss it with several cups of roasted vegetables and a glug or two of olive oil. You’ll have a lovely dinner (that happens to be vegan). You could also finish the pasta with some shredded Parmesan or crumbled feta or goat cheese.

2. Make a Grain Bowl

Prepare some farro, barley, grits, polenta, or quinoa, and top that with the roasted vegetables of your choice. You could start with an actual grain salad recipe, like Israeli Couscous Salad or Brown Rice Salad, and top that with more roasted vegetables for a really robust bowl.

If your vegetables are cut on the larger side, dice or roughly chop them. Making a big batch of grains at the beginning of the week means that you can throw together a roasted vegetable grain bowl whenever you like! Top the bowl with something with a bit of texture, like sunflower seeds, nuts, something pickle-y, shredded raw carrots or beets, and so on.

3. Use Roasted Veggies in Soups and Stews

Yes, most soup and stew recipes call for cooking the vegetables in the soup itself (maybe with a quick sauté in the pot first). But, adding roasted vegetables can provide depth of flavor, thanks to the outside caramelization and the fact that cooking things at high heat concentrates the flavors.

Add roasted vegetables towards the end of the cooking process since they are already probably pretty soft, and you don’t want them to fall apart. 

Or you may want to make a pureed soup with roasted vegetables, in which case, you want them very soft. You can go as simple as pureeing one or more type of roasted vegetable with some broth — vegetable or chicken — and some salt, pepper, and maybe some fresh herbs.

Some soups, like Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, have the roasted vegetables as part of the recipe, but you can sub in whatever leftover roasted vegetables you have on hand – just skip the part where you cook or roast them!

Try:  

• Moroccan Lamb and Butternut Squash Stew 
• Spicy Roasted Root Vegetable Soup with Parmesan Croutons – This is a good template recipe.
• Cream of Carrot Soup
• Parsnip and Golden Beet Soup
• Slow Cooker Barbecue Beer Beef Stew – Skip the parsnips and carrots and stir in some cubed roasted root vegetables at the end.

4. Make Roasted Vegetable Purees

This is actually very much like a thick pureed vegetable soup, and the same idea applies, just cooked them until very soft and puree them with some broth and a bit of cream if desired, and the herbs or spices you think will pair well. Follow any puree recipe as a template, and sub in whatever leftover roasted vegetables you like, and play with the seasonings.

5. Add Roasted Veggies to Lasagna

A lasagna with roasted vegetables is pure joy. Rich melty cheese, al dente noodles, maybe some crumbled meat (maybe not), and then chopped roasted vegetables of almost any kind make for a truly winning combination.

You can add chopped roasted vegetables to pretty much any lasagna recipe, just use a light sprinkling as you build your layers, so the balance of the recipe remains — and your pieces don’t slide apart when you serve them. 

Or if you want to include more roasted vegetables and make them the full star of the show, just add them to a very simple lasagna recipe, and you can add a more copious amount for each layer. 

Another way to go would be to pull out some of the vegetables in a favorite lasagna recipe, and just replace that amount with the same amount of chopped roasted vegetables.

6. Make Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

The fillings for enchiladas are pretty adaptable, on the whole, since everything gets mixed together and rolled up in small tortillas, then lined up snugly in a pan. Just make sure that the vegetables are cut small enough to stay put and not leap out of the enchilada when you serve them.

Roasted vegetables plus cheese could anchor a pan of terrific vegetarian enchiladas all on their own.. Wrap them up in lightly toasted tortillas and pour some enchilada sauce over the top before baking it all together.

You can also swap roasted vegetables for any other vegetables called for in an enchilada recipe, using approximately the same amounts. Or you could even swap those vegetables in for meat, to make any recipe vegetarian.

7. Add a Sauce or Topping to the Vegetables

These recipes pair a roasted vegetable swith a sauce or drizzle or topping. But, you can lift the topping part from any of these recipes and use it to dollop over whatever roasted vegetables you have on hand. Also, explore how other sauce and dressing recipes work on leftover veggies for a quick second-day dish.

Try:

• Roasted Cauliflower with Chimichurri Sauce
• Simple Roasted Asparagus with Shallots and Parmesan

---

More Roasted Vegetable Recipes!

• Best Parmesan Roasted Broccoli
• Roasted Broccolini with Lemon
• Oven-Roasted Fall Vegetables
• Roasted Squash with Salsa Verde and Whipped Feta and Ricotta
• Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chorizo and Toasted Bread Crumbs
• Roasted Winter Vegetables Sriracha Honey Glaze
• Mediterranean Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Vegetables