Favorite Turnip Recipes?

[GardenerGirl]

Okay, this was my first year growing turnips and they are ready! (I planted them in September). I also need to use the space for something else! We're not thrilled with the taste of them in our stir frys. Any other suggestions? BTW, these are the "Snowball" Turnips. Thanks!

[2dollarbill]

Okay, this was my first year growing turnips and they are ready! (I planted them in September). I also need to use the space for something else! We're not thrilled with the taste of them in our stir frys. Any other suggestions? BTW, these are the "Snowball" Turnips. Thanks!


GardenerGirl,

I too dislike turnips when they have heat applied to them. However, I have discovered that when mixed with kohlrabi, in a 1 to 1 mixture, they make an excellent cole slaw. Just add a little carrot and whalaa.

I will be growing 20 to 30 pounds of turnips(purple top) and kohlrabi this year to can this slaw.

Good harvesting,

2DB

['49er]

I suppose they can be used a lot like a po-ta-TO; boil 'em, mash 'em, put 'em in a stew. Last St. Paddy's Day, I cooked up a corned beef and cabbage along with some winter vegetables, including turnips, rutabagas, and parsnips. Turnips and all were just dandy! Cooking up a batch next weekend. Recipe even includes some Guinness Stout.

I'm starting some turnip seeds soon. Weather out here by the coast is good for growing all year, so I'll be looking for more turnip recipes myself.

[ChemicalGal]

I like them raw, in fact about the only way I will eat them.
cg

[Heartofdixie]

Yum, I love Turnips! :mrgreen:

The greens are better in stir fry than the white part. Just toss in some slivered turnip greens towards the end of cooking. Just enough to wilt them. :-D

I like the greens and part of the white part, chopped up into cubes, simmered in chicken broth, with a dash of vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic, and a jalapeno if you like spicey, and a slice of bacon, simmer until tender. Very yummy. Goes great with black eyed peas, or any bean.

You can take cooked turnip greens, with some of the white part diced, and add to black eyed peas, put over rice, and you have Hopp'in John. Eat with corn bread. Yumm! (Cook the black eyed peas with a bit of bacon, or a ham hock, or some diced ham.)

Add a half of a large turnip to a pot of potatos, with about 6 cloves of garlic. Cook until tender, and mash with butter and sour cream for wonderful garlic mashed potatos. The half of turnip makes them, IMO. :-D

Boil or steam until tender, and then mash with cream, (or sour cream), salt and pepper to taste. Very yummy!

Raw, peeled and sliced, sprinkled with salt is always good...

Then of course, put into soups or stews for about the last 20 minutes or so of cooking.

Toss and coat turnips, Parsnips, Potatos, Sweet potatos, Rutabegas, with a little Italian oil type dressing, salt and pepper, spread out in a shallow baking pan and roast until tender, toss them in the pan to mix them up a bit about half way through roasting. Makes a great side dish for roast beef, Pork, chicken, or fish. 8)

[SheWoff]

Turnip greens...those are a little bit of heaven right here on earth! :mrgreen: We have a turnip/greens patch twice a year in our garden. Just raise them for the greens, since neither of us likes the root part (except me, then I only eat them raw and sliced up and sprinkled with salt :-D)so we just grow the ones that don't make much of a root.

We do can up those greens too instead of freezing them. And they turn out much better than the frozen ones. You have to pressure can them and when you do, it makes that hard spine in them just as tender as the leaves, sort of like canned spinach you buy at the store. To fix them, we just open a jar and put in a medium sauce pan, add a tablespoon of bacon grease and heat through. Serve those up with some purple hull peas, a mess of fried okra, hot corn bread and a slice of valdalia onion. Yummy!

She

[GardenerGirl]

Thank you all for the wonderful recipe ideas! It's mostly the root part that I'm having trouble using - it's not our favorite flavor! I will definitely try out the slaw and the baked turnips w/italian dressing. And the cubes cooked in chicken broth might be a nice complement to our bbq'd chicken tonight! Thanks!

Turnips turned out to be incredibly easy for me to grow. Just threw the seed in the ground and ignored them! ( We have been selectively thinning out the greens all winter for stir-fry.) Now, I just have to figure out how to get my family to develop a taste for them!

Thank you all again and if there are any more turnip recipes out there, I would love to try them out! (I have a 12 square foot planter box full of the things!)

[joyce1954]

How about Taddy's and Bash? You know mashed taters and turnips You can adjust the turnips as you go and sneak up on the flavor of turnips for them. and I love them steamed with butter.

[GardenerGirl]

Well, I tried this recipe:

3 Potatoes
3 Turnips
2 1/2 cups beef broth (I used chicken)
salt & pepper
Chopped parsley

Cube or slice the potatoes and turnips and cook in broth. Season with salt & pepper and garnish with fresh parsley.

Results: My family was not impressed. I thought it tasted fine but they weren't down with the texture of the turnips. They ate it but no one requested 2nds! I'll be trying the coleslaw and a "turnip puff" next! Thanks for all the great suggestions! Please keep them coming! (I don't want to have to feed these to my neighbor's chickens!)

[Cassie]

I agree with many of the others. I like them raw, and usually slice them up in a salad.

[susie]

Shred them and toss with a vinaigrette made from three spoonfuls of oil, one of wine vinegar, a lump of sugar, a spoonful of mustard, salt and pepper, and a slpash of Aromat or soy sauce.

Raw beets are also good shredded and served this way...maybe with the addition of chopped onion and hard boiled egg.

Raw carrots, too, can be done like this...or substitute the vinegar with lemon juice and use olive oil, and perhaps add a dollop of mayonnaise.

[Amaryllis]

Interesting thread. I've always eaten turnip greens boiled in water with salt sometimes with bacon or ham served with tobasco pepper sauce. I never even knew that there was any other way to eat them, lol.

[Dee74]

The only way i can eat them is as oven fries. Toss with a little olive oil and spices you like and bake until crispy, like FF.

[joyce1954]

Interesting thread. I've always eaten turnip greens boiled in water with salt sometimes with bacon or ham served with tobasco pepper sauce. I never even knew that there was any other way to eat them, lol.

The reason the greens should be eaten with some form of fat (butter, bacon grease etc) is that it has been proven scientifically that the fat helps your body metabolize and take advantage of the iron and vitamins in the greens that would otherwise just flush on thru. I found this on one of those sites that tells the 'why' behind how our ancesters cooked. I have to go find that again so I can get it printed off.

[AngelDance]

I adore turnips. I love the greens, too, but the turnip? YUMMY!

Dice in half inch dice. Simmer in water enough to cover with just a little sugar added until tender enough for a knife to pierce easily. Drain and return to pot. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste and toss until the butter is melted all over. Serve hot.

I read years ago in an 1800s cookbook that root vegetables should be cooked with a lid on them and NOT salted until after they are cooked as the salt can cause them to be bitter and "tough". A small amount of sugar (the same amount of salt you would add to the water) added to the water while cooking root veggies greatly improves the flavor and texture. Since reading this, I have always prepared them this way and it holds to be true, in my experience.

The only root vegetable this does NOT apply to is potatoes because they are not really a vegetable, but a tuber.

Angel

[joyce1954]

I adore turnips. I love the greens, too, but the turnip? YUMMY!

Dice in half inch dice. Simmer in water enough to cover with just a little sugar added until tender enough for a knife to pierce easily. Drain and return to pot. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste and toss until the butter is melted all over. Serve hot.

I read years ago in an 1800s cookbook that root vegetables should be cooked with a lid on them and NOT salted until after they are cooked as the salt can cause them to be bitter and "tough". A small amount of sugar (the same amount of salt you would add to the water) added to the water while cooking root veggies greatly improves the flavor and texture. Since reading this, I have always prepared them this way and it holds to be true, in my experience.

The only root vegetable this does NOT apply to is potatoes because they are not really a vegetable, but a tuber.

Angel

O.K. lets explore this......taking this to the canning of turnip. The directions in the ball book said to add salt to the jars. So how about adding the same teaspoon of sugar for the canning process. would that work for eliminating that little bite that the canned turnips have? What do you think?

[SheWoff]

O.K. lets explore this......taking this to the canning of turnip. The directions in the ball book said to add salt to the jars. So how about adding the same teaspoon of sugar for the canning process. would that work for eliminating that little bite that the canned turnips have? What do you think?


I'll let you know joyce. I have a HUGE turnip patch going and hubby planted the ones this year that also develop an edible root to it. We used to just grow the ones that are only good for the greens. But since I love turnips, he planted them for me. And now there are enough out there to feed a small city LOL. :mrgreen: So I am going to can some up and I will try the sugar instead of the salt in them. I plan on doing them Sunday while the guys are watching football and out from underfoot. But you know what they say about the best laid plans...

She

[Animal Lover]

Oh my turnip, my MOST FAVORITE veggie. I like them any way you want to cook them and raw. But probably the most liked by the family is cut up with potato and carrots until tended with salted water. Drain very well, all lots of butter, salt and pepper and mash all together until smooth. This will make them golden in color and sooo yummy. Now, if my grandpa were here, he would make a mountain out of mine, make a road around my plate and place peas along the road. (He always made sure I ate my veggies by making them fun on my plate. Smart Granpa I had. I miss his soooo much. Good eating everyone. AL

[Olddogg]

Paula Deens Turnips in Dijon Sauce-Yummy!

2 med. turnips pealed and sliced
1 med potato peeled and diced
1 carrot diced
1 onion diced
1 stalk celery diced
1/2 cup mayonaise
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
1 TBS lemon juice
Pepper

Steam the vegetables for 10 minutes, or until tender. Combine mayo, mustard, lemon juice, and pepper in small saucepan and heat gently. Add the veggies to the sauce and stir to coat. Serve immediately.

[momof23goats]

i just boil them up with a pinch of sugar, then mash like spuds ,yummy.
adding sigarinstead of salt, wil take the bite out of them when you can them up.

[Preacher's wife]

Turnips is one of my secret ingredients in my homemade vegetable soup. Most of the time no one even knows I added them.