Rainbow Roasted Vegetables are the perfect way to enjoy eating healthy, colorful vegetables for adults and kids! Makes a perfect side for quick meals or dinner parties where you want to impress!
The name of the game in our house has been rainbows and unicorns since we became parents and in the effort to get the kids to eat vegetables we are totally willing to play to their weaknesses.We buy baby food pouches and arrange them in the cupboard in rainbow order to get them excited to eat different flavors, we make rainbow popsicles and rainbow smoothies at every turn to entice them. 
This rainbow gets them to eat roasted bell peppers and red onions. Carrots aren’t yucky when cooked with the rainbow colors (personally I’d always choose a roasted carrot over a raw one!) and that’s enough to get me prepping these vegetables. 
The vegetables I chose for this recipe can be chopped and stored ahead of time if you prepare your week’s cooking on the weekends. Here are some fun alternatives to the veggies I chose to include in the Rainbow Roasted Vegetables:
- Red: beets, radishes, red potatoes, tomatoes
- Orange: orange bell pepper, butternut squash, pumpkin, acorn squash, sweet potatoes
- Yellow: yellow bell pepper, yellow beet, yukon potatoes, yellow tomatoes
- Green: brussels sprouts, green bell pepper, asparagus, green beans, zucchini, snow peas
- Blue/Purple: Eggplant, purple cabbage, purple asparagus, purple carrots, purple potatoes
Tools Used in the Making of these Rainbow Roasted Vegetables:
Sheet Pan: A good quality sheet pan, I keep a stack of these in my kitchen. And they don’t need to be expensive. Just make sure you keep the food from touching each other/in a single layer for optimal roasting.
My Favorite Knife: This is a funny one to mention but I will because there is so much chopping here. I have almost everything you’d imagine Williams-Sonoma would sell including a super expensive Shun Knife Set. Instead of using that, I use this knife every single time I cook. I bought it in 2005 and the whole set was 20$ The knife I love is the rock ‘n chop one with the ball on top and the curved blade. Never been sharpened and I can cut anything with it. Total knife love. Also, 1200 reviews on Amazon can’t be wrong. This knife is amazing.
Rainbow Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 red bell peppers , cut into 1" chunks
- 4 carrots , cut into 1/2" thick coins
- 2 yellow squash , cut into 1/2" thick half circles
- 1 pound broccoli , trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 red onion , trimmed and cut into 1/2" thick wedges
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In one large bowl add 1/2 tablespoon of oil and gently toss onions, then place onto tray. Do the same for every veggie except the broccoli when you use a full tablespoon.
- Arrange them in a single layer onto your cookie sheet in the order of the rainbow: red bell pepper, carrots, yellow squash, broccoli and red onion.
- Sprinkle on Kosher salt and black pepper.
Cook for 20-25 minutes or until they're just starting to brown and the carrots are fork tender.
Sabrina, these are delicious! Instead of plain salt and pepper, I use Famous Dave’s Meat Seasoning. I know it sounds crazy, but give it a try and tell me what you think. Also great that way on the grill!
Thanks for the suggestion.
Just wondering if you could use purple, green or orange cauliflower for one of the colors, or if the cauliflower would need to roast a lot longer than the other veggies. We love cauliflower but I’ve never roasted it, don’t really know how long it would need to cook.
You could totally use one or more of it.
I only have regular vegetable oil on hand. Can I substitute the canola oil with it?
Yes 🙂
This was and will remain helpful to all of us. Loved it 🙂
Thanks
How do you suggest reheating?
Reheat them at 425 degree f oven for 15-20 minutes.
We loved these veggies – even my son, who can be real picky about some things. Planning on making them again soon!
Its a lovely dish, that’s for sure! I cut the calories by cutting way down on the oil. I use real evoo and lightly oil my fingers and pick up each piece to allow a fine coat on the veggies. I don’t like oily roasted vegetables. But with this one change it’s just as pretty and good!
I’m glad you enjoyed and were able to make it fit to your taste!
The idea is fun and it is healthy so I gave it a two. I used coconut oil because I know that roasting veggies with regular oil isn’t a fam favorite. We love the taste of the other. But with just salt and pepper it was very bland. I added some more spices to kick it up. I also cooked chicken on our cast iron with coconut oil and made a quick sauce using lemon juice, zest, cornstarch and some broth. Thank goodness I did because the sauce saved the meal. They ate it and I would do it again with the changes I made but it’s not something we will keep on the mix as written.
I’m trying this recipe tonight!! Can you send the link to the knife you are referring to, please?
Sure, the knife I loved is the curved rock and chop one from this set.
Served this over rice, with homemade tahini sauce and (accidentally) some ghost pepper hot sauce. This’ll go into our weekly rotation – easy to make, and delicious for sure.
That sounds amazing!
This looks amazing! Could it be done with extra virgin olive oil? Or is that too a high a temperature?
No, EVOO would be fine to use!
FINALLY – an easy, versatile roast vegetable recipe that is quick and, well, “one size fits all”-style!
This was so easy, tasty, and pretty!
I made it with red bell pepper, carrots, garlic (yellow-ish, right?), zucchini, and cabbage.
I will be making this again and again…and again. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Zofia!
I made this for my wife last night, reducing the quantity obviously. We both loved it. My broccoli was on the thick stalk so I peeled that and sliced the tender inside into 1/2″ pieces and used it too. Delicious!
Coincidently I bought mushrooms the other day just before I received your garlic butter mushrooms email. I’m looking forward to that.
Thank you for coming back to let me know how much you guys enjoyed it! I think it was serendipitous that you bought mushrooms 😉
Roasted veggies are my absolute favorite….I love the rainbow!
Thank you Cathy!
Oooooooo… I am loving all those colors! <3
So many great colors on this sheet. Great recipe for this time of year too!
Thank you! The colors just make me happy!
Gorgeous pan of veggies! I love being able to cook it all on one pan!
Oh, yes! Easy clean up is a bonus!!
I love these rainbow roasted vegetables more than I can say. Isn’t Mother Nature glorious?
Definitely!
Gorgeous and what a great idea! This would be a fun cooking project to involve my kids with!
Thank you Kimberly!
I love this! These are so pretty!!
Thank you Des!