High-heat baking enhances the okra’s taste, makes it wonderfully creamy, and removes the slimy texture typical of this vegetable. Okra is one of those vegetables that people either really love or really dislike. I happen to love it - I find it incredibly flavorful and enjoy its unique taste. A common objection to this vegetable is its sliminess, but high-heat roasting takes care of that. Baking okra in the oven is one of the simplest ways to cook this wonderful vegetable, and it’s just as tasty as more elaborate cooking methods. It needs very little seasoning to taste good, but you can obviously season it more heavily if you wish.
Ingredients
You’ll only need a few simple ingredients to make oven-roasted okra. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below. Here’s an overview of what you’ll need: Fresh okra, trimmed: Okra is in season in the summer, so that’s the best time of year to make this recipe. You should definitely use fresh okra in this recipe. Frozen won’t work as well. Olive oil: I love cooking with this delicious oil. But if you’d rather use an oil with a higher smoke point, you can use avocado oil instead. Melted butter is also very good in this recipe. Kosher salt and black pepper: If using fine salt, you should reduce the amount you use, or the dish could end up too salty. Garlic powder: I prefer it in this recipe to minced garlic. I find that it more uniformly coats the okra.
Instructions
Roasting okra in the oven is easy! Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
- Your first step is to toss the okra with olive oil and seasonings.
- Then, you arrange the coated okra in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Lastly, bake it in a 450°F oven until golden brown and tender. This should take about 20 minutes, and you should stir the okra midway through baking.
Expert tip
To improve the texture of this vegetable and remove its slime, you’ll want to make sure you bake it at very high heat. So set your oven to 450°F. In many recipes, you can play a little with the oven temperature, but here, I highly recommend sticking with a truly hot oven.
Frequently asked questions
Variations
The best way to vary this basic recipe is to add more spices such as onion powder, smoked paprika, dried thyme, and cumin. Another tasty variation is to use melted butter instead of olive oil and to sprinkle the okra with grated parmesan after the initial 10 minutes of baking.
Serving suggestions
Since I cook this side dish in a 450°F oven, I like to serve it with a main dish that I can cook in the same oven. So I often serve it with one of the following: Baked catfish - this dish has a wonderful crispy coating of almond flour.Baked Parmesan shrimp - the parmesan coating is very flavorful!Cajun chicken - a highly seasoned chicken dish that’s also very easy to make.
Storing leftovers
You can keep the leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 3-4 days. Gently reheat them in the microwave on 50% power. They’re not as good as the freshly made dish, but they do keep fairly well up to the fourth day.
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