Roasted Fennel Recipe (Easy & Caramelized!) - Wholesome Yum (2024)

FAQs

Roasted Fennel Recipe (Easy & Caramelized!) - Wholesome Yum? ›

Gently toss in olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder until evenly coated. Transfer to a sheet pan and spread in a single layer (without any pieces touching). Roast fennel in the oven for 20 minutes, stir, then return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, until the fennel is fork tender and caramelized.

Though often overlooked by home cooks, this versatile ingredient is beloved by chefs for its pleasantly sweet, fresh flavor and mild aromatic character.

What Does Fennel Taste Like? “Anise-flavored” is the term used most often to describe fennel's flavor—but that doesn't mean it tastes like a licorice stick! In fact, fresh fennel's anise factor is delicate and mild; many self-proclaimed licorice-haters find that they actually like it.

Fennel has a very mild anise or licorice flavor that can be enhanced or sweetened depending on how it is cooked (or not cooked). When diced and sauteed with onions as one of the first steps when making a soup or stew, fennel becomes very sweet.

We love it both ways! Roasted fennel has a buttery, caramelized flavor with very mild licorice notes while raw fennel provides a crunch and sweet, stronger licorice flavor like in our Easy Fennel Salad. We also love a sautéed version such as in our Spicy Gnocchi with Fennel and Mushrooms.

Both the flavorful, crunchy bulb and aromatic seeds of the fennel plant are highly nutritious and may offer an abundance of impressive health benefits. Adding them to your diet may improve heart health, reduce inflammation, suppress appetite, and even provide anticancer effects.

There isn't enough reliable information to know whether fennel is safe when used long-term. Although rare, side effects might include stomach upset and seizures. When applied to the skin: Fennel is possibly safe. Fennel can make skin extra sensitive to the sun and make it easier to get a sunburn.

If you're especially sensitive to licorice flavor, you may even find raw fennel to be too pungent for your tastes. To tone down the flavor, Chowhound suggests slicing or chopping fennel and soaking it in water for half an hour.

Citrus: Fennel pairs well with citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, and limes. Herbs: Fennel pairs well with fresh herbs such as dill, parsley, and thyme. Cheese: Fennel pairs well with cheeses such as parmesan, feta, and goat cheese. Nuts: Fennel pairs well with nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, and pine nuts.

Eaten raw, fennel works particularly well with fish and pork. It can be oven-baked to add complexity to roast vegies. Sautéed fennel is a great side dish and adding raw slices to a fresh salad will add a sharp bite and crunch to the mix.

What is the bitterness of fennel due to? ›

Fennel fruits contain an essential oil ("Bitter fennel oil") with sweet-tasting trans-anethole (main component) and the bitter fenchone that gives the Bitter fennel its slightly bitter taste.

Anise, fennel and licorice are three entirely different plants, but they all have similar taste properties. They are all sweet and aromatic. This often leads to confusion when eating products that contain any one of them.

In many parts of the world, it's common to eat a little bit of fennel after a meal to aid with digestion and relieve gassiness. Fennel has been shown to help with digestion by reducing inflammation in the bowels and decreasing bacteria that cause gassiness.

If you were lucky enough to buy fennel with the stalks and fronds attached, separate them from the bulb when you get home. You can place them upright in a jar of water on the counter (so pretty!). Alternatively, you can wrap and refrigerate them for up to a week.

Fennel – A Matter of Personal Taste

Its unique flavour is not to everybody's taste but those who love it, really love it. The white bulb with its green stems resembles anise in its flavour and is both bitter and sweet at the same time.

Technically speaking, all parts of the plant are edible, but most people will find the stalks too tough and fibrous to eat. The leaves can be chopped and used to flavor salads, dressings, marinades and sauces. They tend to have a slightly more citrusy flavor than the base. The base (or bulb) is delicious raw or cooked.

How to prepare fennel seeds. You'll get more flavour out of fennel seeds by grinding or toasting them. To grind, either crush in a pestle and mortar, put in a sealed food bag and bash with a rolling pin, or whizz to a powder in a clean coffee grinder.

To harvest fennel seeds, cut off whole umbels with secateurs early in the morning. Then lay them out to dry out at room temperature for a few days. The dried fennel seeds usually fall off the umbels on their own. You can keep the seeds in a jar, and store them in a dark, cool place for several years.