Turnips & Rutabagas

Turnips and rutabagas are versatile root vegetables good for roasting, mashing, and adding to soups and stews. They're at their best in season, during fall and early winter. Like all root vegetables, they have impressive storage properties and last, properly stored in a cool, dry place, through the winter. If you buy turnips with their greens still attached, don't throw them away, they are an excellent cooking green.

10 Great Ways to Use Root Vegetables
Find great ways to use root vegetables like turnips and rutabagas.

All About Turnips
Turnips are a root vegetable commonly associated with potatoes or beets, but their closest relatives are radishes and arugula, which are also members of the mustard family. Large or old turnips can become unpleasantly "hot" because of this unless properly cooked and combined with milder vegetables like potatoes, but younger turnips add a great zip to dishes.

Creamy Turnip Soup
This soup could not be easier to make. Just saute a few aromatics, boil them in broth with the turnips, puree, and add cream. It's warming and comforting and full of flavor.

Mashed Turnips
Mashed turnips are a great alternative to mashed potatoes – they have a bit of bite that is delightful alongside roasted meats of all kinds.

Roasted Turnips
Roasting mellows the sometimes sharp flavor of turnips and concentrates their texture into a tender, melting vegetable in this easy recipe.

Shaved Turnip Salad
Small, baby turnips - about the size of golf balls - can be thinly sliced and lightly dressed for a crispy, refreshing salad.

Turnip Soup With Greens
This simple turnip soup is augmented with turnip greens, and is a great use for a bunch of turnips if you're lucky enough to get them with their greens still attached.

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