Glazing gives not only cakes, but also vegetables a beautiful shine. We’ll show you different methods you can use to glaze vegetables.
Glazing, pouring over, glazing: These terms describe how you can make vegetables shine by covering them with a glaze. Originally, “glaze” comes from the French word “glacer” which means “to coat with a icing”.
In principle, you can glaze any vegetable – but mild and slightly sweet vegetables such as root vegetables, onions or snow peas taste particularly delicious. You can also glaze peas very well. The best time to do so is when the first vegetables are harvested in spring: Young, tender vegetables are prepared in a particularly tasty way with a glaze. It tastes best when you buy fresh organic vegetables at the market or even harvest them in your own garden.
Vegetables are usually glazed with a mixture of butter and sugar, and vegetable broth is often added. What you glaze your vegetables with will depend, among other things, on whether you precook them or not. Below you will find tips for both variants.
Glaze vegetables with pre-cooking
If you want to cook vegetables and then glaze them, they should still be al dente after cooking. Therefore, you should only blanch it for a few minutes until it goes into the pan with the butter and sugar.
How to glaze vegetables with pre-cooking:
Wash the vegetables of your choice, peel them if necessary and cut them into sticks, depending on the variety. You can also leave young carrots whole.
Heat a large amount of salted water in a saucepan and cook the vegetables for a few minutes until tender but still al dente.
Remove the vegetables from the pot and rinse them in cold water to stop them from cooking and to keep their color.
In a large skillet or saucepan, melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter for every pound of vegetables. Dissolve a tablespoon of sugar in it and let it caramelize a bit.
Add the pre-cooked vegetables to the butter-sugar mixture and toss until they are shiny all over.
Depending on how much flavor the vegetables have and what you want to use them for, you may not need to season them at all. Otherwise you can season the glazed vegetables with pepper, coarse sea salt, a little lemon juice and fresh herbs, for example.
Tip: You can add some vegetable stock or white wine to the butter-sugar mixture and let the mixture simmer for a few minutes before adding the vegetables.
Glaze vegetables without pre-cooking
Glazing raw vegetables means you need more liquid—you want the vegetables to cook in their glaze, after all. For example, vegetable broth or a mixture of broth and white wine are well suited. How to glaze vegetables without pre-cooking:
Wash the vegetables, peel them if necessary and cut them into sticks, depending on the variety.
Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter per pound of vegetables in a saucepan or large skillet. Add about a tablespoon of sugar and let it caramelize a bit.
Add the vegetables to the pan and toss them for a minute or two. Then pour in about 250 milliliters of liquid (vegetable stock and possibly white wine).
Let the vegetables simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until they are tender and the liquid has evaporated.
Season the vegetables with a little salt and pepper and, if necessary, with fresh herbs.
Glazing vegetables: tips for variation
Although butter and sugar are the classic ingredients for glazing vegetables, you can substitute other ingredients for them. Here are some tips:
If you want to prepare a vegan dish with glazed vegetables, you can use oil or vegan margarine instead of butter. Which oil you use depends entirely on the dish you want to prepare. However, tasteless oils that do not mask the fine aroma of the vegetables are best suited.
You can replace the sugar with a sugar substitute such as honey, agave syrup, or maple syrup. Many vegetables are also delicious if you glaze them in a mixture of butter and orange juice.
Shallots or other onions are especially tasty if you add red wine and a dash of balsamic vinegar to the glaze instead of vegetable broth and white wine.
