Recipes › Turnip › Miso-Glazed Turnips with Sesame and Spring Onion
Miso-Glazed Turnips with Sesame and Spring Onion
Small, tender summer turnips are halved, roasted cut-side down until caramelised, then lacquered with a sticky white miso and mirin glaze in the final minutes. The bitterness of the turnip cuts right through the sweet, salty glaze and the result is something genuinely special with very little effort. This is a side dish that outshines the main course — serve it alongside plain grilled salmon or a bowl of steamed rice.
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Ingredients
- 800 g small turnips, tops trimmed, halved through the rootuse baby turnips if available — they are sweeter and cook faster
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp white miso paste
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauceuse tamari for a gluten-free version
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 spring onions, thinly sliced at an angle
- 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced (optional)
Contains: cereals gluten, sesame, soya, sulphites.
Method
- Heat your oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Toss the halved turnips with the neutral oil and a pinch of salt. Place them cut-side down on a large baking tray — do not crowd them. Roast for 15 minutes until the cut faces are deeply golden and caramelised.About 15 min
- While the turnips roast, whisk together the miso paste, mirin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and caster sugar in a small bowl until the miso is fully dissolved and the mixture is smooth.About 2 min
- Remove the tray from the oven and spoon the miso glaze evenly over each turnip half, coating the cut face generously. Return to the oven for 5 minutes until the glaze is bubbling and sticky.About 5 min
- Transfer the glazed turnips to a serving plate. Drizzle over the sesame oil, then scatter with the spring onions, toasted sesame seeds, and fresh chilli if using. Serve immediately.
Tips
- The cut side needs direct contact with the hot tray to caramelise properly — use a metal tray rather than a glass dish, and make sure it is hot from the oven before you put the turnips on.
- Watch the glaze closely in the final 5 minutes. The sugar in the miso and mirin can burn quickly, especially at this oven temperature. You want sticky and dark, not charred.
- Baby turnips from a summer harvest work best here — the flesh is sweeter and more tender. Large autumn turnips are fine but may need an extra 5 minutes in the first roasting stage.
Ring the changes
- Swap white miso for brown (red) miso for a more intense, savoury glaze — reduce the caster sugar by half as brown miso is less sweet.
- This glaze works equally well on halved radishes or wedges of fennel if you want to extend the recipe into a larger platter of glazed vegetables.
Keeping it
Best eaten immediately — the glaze softens if left to sit. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days and are excellent cold in a packed lunch, or reheated in a hot pan for 3 minutes.
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