How Long to Cook Turnips

Preparation

How to Prepare Turnips Before Cooking

Peel turnips if the skin is tough, thick, or waxy, then cut them into even slices, cubes, or chunks. Young turnips with tender skin may only need a good scrub.

Cut turnips to a similar size so they finish at the same time. Remove fresh greens before storing the roots, and save the greens if you want to cook them separately.

Method

How to Cook Turnips Step by Step

1. Scrub turnips well. Peel large, mature, tough-skinned, or wax-coated turnips more deeply.
2. Cut turnips into even slices, cubes, or chunks. Keep pieces smaller if the turnips are mature or sharp-tasting.
3. Add most cut pieces to boiling salted water. Start whole small turnips or large chunks in cold water if you want more even cooking.
4. Simmer steadily until tender, checking early for thin slices and young turnips.
5. Drain as soon as the pieces are tender.
6. Let turnips steam-dry for 1 to 2 minutes before adding butter, cream, sauce, or mashing.

Cooking chart

Turnips Cooking Time Chart

Size

Young vs Mature Turnips

Young turnips are smaller, milder, and often have thinner skins. They cook faster and may not need peeling if the skin is tender.

Large mature turnips can be sharper, denser, and more fibrous, so they are better peeled and cut into smaller pieces before cooking.

Comparison

Turnips vs Rutabaga

Turnips are usually smaller, whiter, sharper, and faster-cooking. Rutabaga is usually larger, denser, yellower, sweeter, and needs longer cooking. If a recipe uses rutabaga, expect a longer boiling time than for turnips.

Greens

Can You Cook Turnip Greens?

Yes. Fresh turnip greens are edible and can be boiled, steamed, sauteed, or added to soups. Rinse them well, remove tough stems if needed, and cook until tender.

Flavor

How to Reduce Sharpness or Bitterness

Cooking softens turnips' peppery sharpness. If large turnips taste strong or bitter, peel them well, cut them into smaller pieces, and cook until fully tender.

Butter, cream, potatoes, carrots, honey, vinegar, broth, or gravy can help balance turnips' sharper flavor.

Use

Cook by Final Use

For a simple side dish, cook turnips until tender but still holding their shape. For mash or puree, cook them longer until very soft. For soup or stew, simmer turnips directly in the broth so they absorb flavor.

After cooking

Drain and Steam-Dry Turnips

After boiling, drain turnips well and let them steam-dry for 1 to 2 minutes before adding butter, cream, sauce, or mashing. This helps prevent watery turnip mash.

Alternatives

When Another Cooking Method Is Better

Flavor

Why Roasting or Braising Often Tastes Better

Roasting usually makes turnips sweeter and milder than boiling because it concentrates their flavor and browns the edges. If you want turnips as a standalone side dish, roasting or braising is often more flavorful than plain boiling.

Texture

How to Know When Turnips Are Done

The pieces should be tender with no hard center. For a side dish, they should still hold their shape.

For mash or puree, turnips should crush easily with a fork. If the outside is soft but the center is firm, cut the turnips smaller next time or cook them a few minutes longer.

Flavor

Best Seasonings for Turnips

Classic turnip seasonings include butter, salt, black pepper, parsley, and chives.

For creamy turnips, use cream, sour cream, creme fraiche, cheese sauce, or bechamel. For warmer flavor, use nutmeg, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, sage, honey, maple syrup, or brown butter.

Turnips also pair well with vinegar, lemon, mustard, pickles, horseradish, potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, cabbage, leeks, peas, beef, lamb, pork, chicken, bacon, sausages, turnip greens, spinach, kale, and collards.

Avoid this

Common Mistakes

• Not peeling large or tough-skinned turnips.
• Cooking mature turnips as if they were young turnips.
• Cutting pieces unevenly.
• Boiling turnips too long until they become watery.
• Not cooking turnips long enough for mash.
• Leaving boiled turnips sitting in hot water.
• Forgetting that turnip greens are edible.
• Expecting boiled turnips to taste as sweet and browned as roasted turnips.

Serving

What to Serve With Turnips

Serve turnips with butter, parsley, cream, potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, cabbage, leeks, peas, beef, lamb, pork, chicken, bacon, sausages, mustard, vinegar, or horseradish.

For a simple side, drain well, steam-dry briefly, and finish with butter or olive oil, salt, black pepper, and fresh herbs.

Recipe ideas

Turnips Recipes You May Like

These ideas work well with cooked turnips.

• Boiled turnips with butterCook until tender, steam-dry, then finish with butter, parsley, salt, and pepper.
• Mashed turnipsCook large chunks until very soft, drain well, steam-dry, then mash with butter or cream.
• Turnip and potato mashMix turnips with potatoes for a milder, lighter mash.
• Turnip soupSimmer cubes in broth with leeks, potatoes, carrots, herbs, or cream.
• Roasted turnipsRoast cubes or wedges when you want browned edges and a sweeter flavor.
• Turnip greensCook fresh greens briefly with garlic, butter, broth, or vinegar.

Leftovers

How to Store Raw and Cooked Turnips

Store raw turnips in the refrigerator. Remove the greens before storing because they pull moisture from the root. Store the greens separately and use them soon. Keep turnips firm and discard any that are soft, shriveled, or moldy.

Cooked turnips can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Reheat gently with butter, broth, cream, gravy, or sauce. Leftovers can be mashed, added to soups or stews, roasted again, or mixed with potatoes and carrots.

Tools

Useful Tools for Cooking Turnips

• Medium or large potUse enough room for evenly cut turnip pieces or whole young turnips.
• Vegetable peelerUseful for large, mature, tough-skinned, or wax-coated turnips.
• Large sharp knifeOlder turnips can be dense, so cut them on a stable surface.
• Stable cutting boardHelps keep firm round turnips steady while cutting.
• ColanderDrain as soon as the turnips are tender.
• Potato masherUseful for turnip mash or mixed turnip and potato mash.

Keep cooking

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