Vegetable Cookery Crib Sheet

Could you help me out with a cribsheet helping me figure out what order I should satuee vegetables? I was sauteeing a number of different ones for a veggie lasagna recently, and realized that I wasn’t sure what length of time each had to cook relative to the others.

In general, the length of time any particular vegetable is going to have to cook is dependent upon two factors: its size and its density. Assuming you have all of your vegetables cut to pretty much the same size, the following list is a pretty good crib sheet for what order they should be added into the pan:

    1. carrots, potatoes, beets
    2. turnips, parsnips, winter squashes
    3. onions
    4. broccoli stems, fennel
    5. garlic, peppers
    6. broccoli florettes, apples
    7. collard greens, mushrooms, swiss chard stems
    8. zucchini, summer squash, corn
    9. kale, mustard greens, cranberries, tomatoes (if they’ve been juiced and you want them to still retain some of their shape; otherwise add tomatoes as part of any liquid that goes in the dish and use them to help simmer everything else)
    10. spinach, swiss chard, arugula
      Assume a couple minutes of sauteeing (or, if applicable, roasting) time between each level if your vegetables are cut to a small dice; longer the bigger they are. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few vegetables from the list. If I’ve neglected your favorite veg, post a comment and I’ll fit it into the list for you.

5 Responses to “Vegetable Cookery Crib Sheet”

  1. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Preparing for Potlucks Says:

    [...] As for your quiche filling, don’t use tomatoes as part of your vegetable mixture because they’re too watery and the quiche comes out with an undesireably wet consistency (think soggy crust and water drooling onto the plate). Otherwise, most vegetables and meats are fair game, but always saute your fillings briefly before adding them to the quiche. This “pre-cook” gives them a head start in their cooking time and ensures that they’ll be cooked all the way through at the same time the quiche is. Follow this handy guide for relative vegetablecooking times when trying to decide in what order to add your vegetables to the saute pan. Onion and garlic go well with almost everything and usually make an appearance in all of my quiches. [...]

  2. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Tomato Sauce (Last of the Mothers) Says:

    [...] Most vegetables go well in a tomato sauce, assuming they aren’t overcooked. Add hard vegetables like carrots and onions toward the beginning of the process so that they have a chance to cook down enough that they aren’t crunchy; add softer vegetables later in the process so that they don’t cook down too much and get mushy. For a general order of which vegetables go before which others, consult this handy crib sheet. [...]

  3. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Halving Recipes Says:

    [...] A good (if somewhat vague) rule of thumb if you’re ad libbing vegetable combinations is to lay out as much as you think you’ll eat and cook it until it’s done.  Soups, stews, and stir-frys should be simmered or sauteed for as long as the recipe calls for or until the ingredients are done: the ingredients don’t cook any faster just because there’s fewer of them.  This crib sheet provides general guidelines on the order in which you should add vegetables to a dish of your own creation, based on relative cooking times. If you’re baking a half recipe of something (like brownies, etc.), adjust the size of the container you’re putting the batter in to one that has approximately half the surface area of what’s called for in the recipe; keep the baking time the same.  If you spread the batter out too thinly, cooking time will be fairly unpredictable. [...]

  4. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Halving Recipes Says:

    [...] A good (if somewhat vague) rule of thumb if you’re ad libbing vegetable combinations is to lay out as much as you think you’ll eat and cook it until it’s done. Soups, stews, and stir-frys should be simmered or sauteed for as long as the recipe calls for or until the ingredients are done: the ingredients don’t cook any faster just because there’s fewer of them. This crib sheet provides general guidelines on the order in which you should add vegetables to a dish of your own creation, based on relative cooking times. [...]

  5. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Happy Birthday, Corduroy Orange! Says:

    [...] Not only that, but once you are to the point where you’re cutting your vegetables to consistent sizes, the quality of your cooking will go up as a result, because every piece in your pan will cook at an identical rate, as opposed to the small pieces burning while the larger pieces are still half-raw. So, if you haven’t already looked at it, check out my knife skills table of contents and follow the links for a step-by-step guide to using your knives in the best manner possible. Then, look at my vegetable cookery crib sheet to see what order you should put your well-cut vegetables into the pan so that the vegetables that take the longest to cook get the most time. If you’d like some further assistance learning better knife skills and cooking techniques, private instruction is available in the Pittsburgh area on a limited basis. Email me for more information. [...]

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