Brown Sugar Roasted Hasselback Parsnips
These brown sugar roasted hasselback parsnips are genuinely one of our favourite things to put on a Christmas or Sunday roast table. There's something about that combination of caramelised brown sugar, crispy fanned edges and sweet tender parsnip underneath that just gets us every time. The hasselback technique looks seriously impressive but once you've done it a couple of times it's honestly dead easy, and the result is this gorgeous sticky, golden side dish that everyone goes mad for. Trust us on this one, make these once and they'll become a permanent fixture on your roast dinner rotation.
Before You Start
- Large roasting tray
- Large pan for boiling
- Frying pan
- Colander
- Parsnips halved & scored lengthways (½cm slits)
Ingredients
- 3 large parsnips
- 1 tbsp ground almonds
- 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
- few sprigs fresh rosemary
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 8 sage leaves
- handful of halved hazelnuts
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Method
Prepare the parsnips
- Slice the parsnips in half, lengthways
- Cut thin slits down the parsnips about ½ cm apart from each other, ensuring not to go all the way through the bottom
Soften the parsnips
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil
- Once boiling, add the parsnip halves and cook for 5 minutes
- After 5 minutes, drain and steam dry
Roast the parsnips
- Once dry, place the parsnips into a baking tray and add the ground almonds, brown sugar, fresh rosemary, olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper
- Mix well until everything is coated and roast for 35-40 minutes until crispy and golden
Fry the sage leaves
- Add the 3 tbsp of olive oil to a frying pan and warm over medium heat
- Once hot, add the sage leaves and hazelnut halves, and fry for a couple of minutes until golden add a knob of butter and coat the sage and hazelnuts
- Remove the sage leaves and place them on a plate lined with kitchen paper
Tips & Variations
- Don't cut all the way through: When you're making those hasselback slits, pop a wooden spoon either side of the parsnip as a guide. Your knife hits the spoon and stops, so you get perfect slits without cutting the parsnip in half. We've both made that mistake more than once.
- Get them really dry: After parboiling, let the parsnips steam dry properly before roasting. If they're still wet they'll steam in the oven rather than roast and you'll lose that gorgeous caramelisation. A couple of minutes on a rack does the job.
- Upgrade the glaze: We love adding a pinch of smoked paprika or a little fresh thyme into the brown sugar glaze. It lifts the whole thing and adds a bit of depth to what's already a pretty special side dish.
Why This Works
The trick here is parboiling the parsnips before they go in the oven. It softens them just enough so the insides go fluffy and creamy while the outside gets properly caramelised and crisp. The brown sugar melts down into all those little slits and creates this almost toffee-like coating that you simply don't get with a regular roasted parsnip. It's a small extra step that makes a huge difference.