17 Satisfying Vegetable Side Dishes
Brighten up your plate with these vegetable side dishes! Veggie-centric sides are the perfect way to add nutrition and flavor to your meals. All of these sides are easy to make and packed with flavor.
Veggies often get a bad rap as being healthy but unappetizing. In reality, they’re full of flavor! Vegetable side dishes are my favorite part of any meal. With the right preparation, even the pickiest eaters can learn to enjoy them.
The best way to eat more veggies is to gradually incorporate them into your meals. The more you cook with them, the more easy and natural it becomes.
If you’re not sure where to start, all of these veggie side dishes are delicious! From sauteed green beans to baked sweet potatoes, you might be surprised how amazing they taste.
Veggie Based Sides:
1. Green Beans Almondine with Bacon
Tender, perfectly cooked green beans with crispy bacon and nutty almonds. This side dish requires just 4 ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.
Steaming the green beans before you cook them in a hot skillet prevents them from overcooking. This creates a tender but crisp texture, not soggy!
2. Sauteed Delicata Squash with Sage
With just 3 ingredients, this Delicata squash recipe is super simple yet flavorful! The squash caramelizes in butter as it turns brown and gets nutty.
It’s topped with crispy fried sage and looks beautiful enough for a holiday dinner, but it’s easy enough for a busy weeknight.
3. Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower
If you’ve been wondering if cauliflower lives up to the hype, this recipe is for you! It’s ready to eat in 30 minutes with just 10 minutes of hands-on time and it tastes delicious!
Cauliflower is roasted in the oven with warm, fragrant spices like turmeric, cumin, coriander, and paprika. It makes a great side dish if you don’t eat it all straight off the pan.
4. 10 Minute Garlic Bok Choy
If you want fast, this recipe is for you! It takes all of 10 minutes to make this garlic baby bok choy. And it looks fancy and elegant. Win, win!
Bok choy is sauteed in a hot skillet with garlic, shallots, soy sauce, and sesame oil. It’s sure to become a part of your regular meal rotation.
5. Roasted Green Beans and Potatoes
Even the kids will love this fuss-free side. Red potatoes and green beans are roasted on the same pan for minimal cleanup!
They’re seasoned with rosemary and garlic for added flavor. The hardest part about this recipe is waiting for them to be done!
6. Roasted Baby Carrots with Honey
My 5 year old can’t get enough of these honey roasted baby carrots. If you’re like me and you always have baby carrots on hand, then this side is for you!
This recipe is only 5 ingredients and made with pantry staples. Just toss everything together in a bowl, dump it on a sheet pan, and roast until tender. So easy!
7. Slow Cooker Herbed Baby Potatoes
Imagine mini baked potatoes that are bite-sized and full of buttery, herby goodness. That’s what these slow cooker potatoes taste like!
No chopping required! All you do is toss the potatoes in olive oil and let the slow cooker do the rest. Season with butter, parmesan, and spices to finish them off. SO good!
8. Layered Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a layered dish with thinly sliced eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes.
To keep things quick and simple, use a mandolin to slice the veggies. You don’t need a fancy one to get the job done!
If you want to speed things up, swap the homemade marinara with your favorite store-bought version.
9. Sheet Pan Veggies
A simple way to get your veggies! When you roast vegetables at high heat, they’re natural sugars caramelize against the hot pan. This creates more flavor!
This recipe features broccoli, bell pepper, brussels sprouts, and red onion. It goes great with grilled chicken or steak!
10. Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Potato Gratin
This butternut squash gratin is pure comfort food! Thinly sliced butternut squash, sweet potato, and potatoes are covered in a creamy cheese sauce then baked until fork-tender.
It’s a decadent side dish that’s full of veggies! Perfect for the holidays!
11. Maple Roasted Rainbow Carrots
These stunning rainbow carrots add a pop of color to any meal! They’re sweet and savory with maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
Pomegranate seeds add a pop of juicy sweetness.
12. Hasselback Potatoes with Garlic and Sage
These Hasselback potatoes look super fancy, but are incredibly simple to make!
Slicing the potatoes beforehand allows the oil, herbs, and salt to seep through the cracks for more flavor!
White potatoes get a bad rap, but they’re a good source of antioxidants and vitamins like potassium and magnesium.
13. Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts
Bacon and brussels sprouts are a match made in heaven! These roasted brussels sprouts feature crispy bacon, sweet dried cranberries, and crunchy pecans.
This recipe will turn any skeptic into a brussels sprouts lover! This side dish is perfect for Thanksgiving or any holiday meal.
14. Vegetable Au Gratin Recipe
The golden, bubbly cheese topping and vibrant, tender vegetables make this dish breathtaking and irresistible.
This gratin features sliced zucchini, yellow squash, eggplants, and potatoes, instead of just potatoes! It’s rich, indulgent, and packed with veggies.
15. Sauteed Zucchini with Feta and Corn
This simple sauteed zucchini with corn will convert you into a summer squash lover!
The corn is caramelized in a hot skillet, then zucchini, shallots, and feta enter the picture. It’s quick, simple, healthy, and full of flavor!
16. Baked Sweet Potatoes with Maple Butter
The best way to cook sweet potatoes is in the oven! Baking them brings out their natural sugars for a deep, caramelized sweetness.
Top them with cinnamon maple butter and toasted pecans for a magical equation. So simple yet good!
17. Garlic Butter Broccoli
Garlic butter broccoli is a 10-minute, easy side dish! Tender broccoli florets get cooked in the microwave then tossed with garlic, butter, and parmesan.
So simple and fresh!