Free Recipe · Winter Vegetables
The most underrated vegetable of the winter garden, roasted hard until the edges go crispy and caramelised.
How do you cook Jerusalem artichokes? Roast them. Wash them well, cut into chunks, drizzle liberally with olive oil, season heavily and roast at 180C for 45 to 55 minutes, until the edges are crispy and caramelised. Serves 6 as a side. No peeling, no par-boiling, no fuss.
Jerusalem artichokes are one of the most underrated vegetables going. They grow like a weed, they crop through the coldest part of winter when there is not much else happening, and they cost next to nothing. But almost nobody knows what to do with them, so they sit in the ground or sit at the market unsold.
That is the problem this recipe is here to fix. Because a vegetable this good deserves to actually get eaten, and once you have cooked them this way once, you will be looking for them every winter.
Fair warning: the tray does not make it to the table intact. Someone always eats a third of it standing at the bench.
Come cook with us
Meet the product
The one ingredient doing the heavy lifting
Alyce's Organic No-Chicken Chicken Salt
All the addictive takeaway flavour, made entirely from organic plant-based ingredients.
Shop now →What is a Jerusalem artichoke?
Here is the thing: it is not an artichoke, and it has nothing to do with Jerusalem. It is the knobbly underground tuber of a sunflower, and it looks a bit like a lumpy, pale ginger root.
Cooked properly it is nutty and sweet with a savoury edge, somewhere between a potato and a chestnut, with skin that goes shatteringly crisp in a hot oven. On its own, though, it is a fairly mild root vegetable. That is exactly why the seasoning matters so much here.
Why you should be growing and eating more of them
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They grow like a weed
Plant a few tubers and they multiply, year after year, with barely any input from you. Plant them somewhere you are happy for them to stay.
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They crop in winter
Exactly when the veggie patch is otherwise quiet and you most want something hot and crisp on the table.
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They are cheap
And once you are growing them yourself, they are essentially free food.
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Brilliant for your gut
They are a good source of inulin, a prebiotic fibre that feeds the good bacteria living in your gut.
Let's talk about the gas
We may as well be upfront: Jerusalem artichokes have a reputation for giving people gas. The inulin that makes them so good for your gut is the same thing that can cause a bit of bloating and wind, because it is not broken down until it reaches your large intestine.
The fix is simple: start small. Have a modest serve the first few times rather than a whole tray to yourself, and give your gut a chance to adjust. Cooking them thoroughly, as we do here, helps too. Most people find it settles down once they are eating them semi-regularly.
Please do not let this put you off. It is a wildly overblown reason to avoid a brilliant vegetable.
Let's Cook
Crispy, Caramelised Jerusalem Artichokes
Serves 6 as a side · oven · about 1 hour
Ingredients
*Aioli is egg-based, so use a plant-based aioli if you want to keep this one vegan.
The Tools
Does all the flavour work here. Use far more than feels sensible.
Shop now →Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Wash the artichokes really well. They grow underground and the knobbly bits hold onto dirt, so give them a proper scrub. Do not peel them: the skin is where a lot of the flavour is, and it is what crisps up.
Cut into chunks, roughly even in size so they cook at the same rate. Leave the very small ones whole.
Transfer to a roasting tray and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Do not be shy here. The oil is what gives you those crisp, caramelised edges.
Sprinkle on heaps of No-Chicken Chicken Salt. And I do mean heaps. This is the step that turns a mild root vegetable into something you will fight over.
Roast for 45 to 55 minutes, giving the tray a shake once or twice, until the edges are crispy and deeply caramelised and the insides are soft.
To finish
Serve scattered with spring onions and toasted seeds, with a generous dollop of aioli.
Notes and tips
Give them room on the tray. A crowded tray steams instead of roasting, so use two trays if you need to, and lay the cut sides down for maximum caramelisation.
Season again the moment they come out of the oven. A final sprinkle on hot, oily edges hits differently. And do not pull them out early: the magic happens in the last ten minutes, when the edges go properly dark and crisp.
Want to grow your own?
They are genuinely one of the easiest edible things you can grow, which is why we dedicated a whole episode of my podcast, Rooting for You, to them. It is a beginners guide to edible gardening that I make with my friend Tess: no fancy gardening terms, nothing complicated, just practical step-by-step instructions.
Listen to the Jerusalem artichoke episode on Spotify →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to peel Jerusalem artichokes?
No. The skin is thin, entirely edible, and it is what gives you those crispy caramelised edges. Just scrub them well to get the dirt out of the knobbles.
What do Jerusalem artichokes taste like?
Nutty and slightly sweet, a bit like a cross between a potato and a chestnut. Roasted, they go creamy in the middle with crisp edges.
Why aren't my Jerusalem artichokes crispy?
Almost always one of two things: not enough oil, or too many crammed onto one tray. Give them space and be generous with the olive oil.
Do Jerusalem artichokes give you gas?
They can, especially if you are not used to them. It is the inulin, a prebiotic fibre that ferments in your gut. Start with a smaller serve and build up.
Can you eat Jerusalem artichokes raw?
Yes. Sliced very thinly they are crunchy and sweet, and lovely in a winter salad. But roasting is where they really shine.
When are Jerusalem artichokes in season in Australia?
Winter and into early spring, which is exactly when you want something hot and crispy on the table.
Want everything out of your oven to taste like this?
Roasted veggies, chips, wedges, popcorn, eggs, a buttery slice of sourdough. One sprinkle is the difference between dinner that tastes thrown together and dinner that tastes considered. Hand-made here in small batches, vegan, with no added MSG and nothing artificial.
