What Is Turnip and How Can I Use It?

Turnip is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 201 recipes to get you started.

What is turnip?

The turnip's root is high only in vitamin C. The green leaves of the turnip top ("turnip greens") are a good source of vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, vitamin K and calcium. Turnip greens are high in lutein (8.5 mg / 100g).

The most common type of turnip is mostly white-skinned apart from the upper 1–6 centimeters, which protrude above the ground and are purple, red, or greenish wherever sunlight has fallen. This above-ground part develops from stem tissue, but is fused with the root. The interior flesh is entirely white. The entire root is roughly conical, but can be occasionally tomato-shaped, about 5–20 centimeters in diameter, and lacks side roots.

Turnip leaves are sometimes eaten as "turnip greens" ("turnip tops" in the UK), and they resemble mustard greens in flavor. Turnip greens are a common side dish in southeastern US cooking, primarily during late fall and winter.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find turnip: Turnip is usually found in the produce section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Turnip is a member of the Vegetables and Vegetable Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

芜菁

British (UK) term

Turnip

en français

navets

en español

nabos

How much does turnip weigh?

Related

Vegetables and Vegetable Products

Recipes using turnip

There are 201 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Spicy Winter Vegetable Chowder

A warming chowder of turnips, mushrooms, lima beans, and tomatoes seasoned with cumin, fennel seeds, and chili powder in turkey stock. Hearty cold-weather comfort in a bowl.

Mixed Vegetable Salad with Maple, Soy Sauce & Mustard Vinaigrette

Different kinds of fresh vegetables are tossed with this flavourful vinaigrette, it goes well with any kind of main dish, or even good on its own!

Super-Moist Roast Turkey

This tender turkey is perfect for Thanksgiving. Especially if you don't want any leftovers!

Corned Beef & Cabbage (Stovetop)

Traditional Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe with tender brisket, carrots, parsnips, and potatoes. The authentic stovetop method for St. Patrick's Day perfection.

New England Boiled Dinner (Clay Pot)

This hearty and healthy New England Boiled Dinner is a classic dish that is perfect for feeding the whole family. Made in a clay pot, this one-pot meal is full of flavor and nutrition. The dish includes a variety of vegetables and protein, such as corned beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and onions, all cooked together to create a delicious and satisfying meal. This recipe is perfect for busy weeknights or lazy Sundays, and is sure to become a family favorite.New England Boiled Dinner (Clay Pot) Classic boiled dinner is full of falvor and nutrition you need, and one pot tasty food that feeds the whole family!

Au Gratin Turnips & Potatoes

A simple and very economical side dish. Turnips and potatoes are roasted and then flavored with cheese and milk to create a simple creamy sauce.

Best Vegetable Burgers

A selection of root vegetables and herbs gives these veggie burgers excellent flavor and bits of hazelnuts and oats helps provide good texture.

Lemony Glazed Turnips & Carrots

Turnips and carrots are cooked in the pan and glazed with lemon, thyme and brown sugar. A quick and tasty side dish.

Hearty Stovetop Beef Stew

Chock full of beef and loads of veggies that suck up the flavor of the red wine, herbs and garlic. Make up a large batch on the weekend and freeze in individual portions in zipper bags for up to 3 months.

Kim Chee #6

Homemade kimchi with napa cabbage, daikon, cucumber, and turnip seasoned with garlic, ginger, and chili flakes. Salt-brined overnight and fermented in the fridge.

Rabbit Hoggan

Rabbit hoggan, a traditional Cornish lard-pastry parcel stuffed with rabbit, potato, turnip, and carrot. Tin miner's lunch from the West Country, baked free-form.

Sashimi

Sashimi at home: paper-thin slices of sashimi-grade red snapper served with a soy dipping sauce. It's all about pristine fish and a sharp knife. Naturally gluten-free with tamari.

Spicy Tomato-Based Vegetable Stew

A big-batch vegetable stew loaded with carrots, turnips, parsnips, and mushrooms in a spicy tomato-chicken broth. Freezer-friendly and served over couscous.

Golden Vegetable Fondue

Golden vegetable fondue made from pureed carrots, turnip, swede, and celery simmered in chicken broth and finished with butter and nutmeg. A savory dipping pot for sausages and potatoes.

Sunday Vegetable Hash

A cost-effective veggie only hash that uses up basic pantry vegetables. Develops a nice crusty brown surface as it cooks.

Sopa De Entulho

Hearty Portuguese rubble soup (sopa de entulho) loaded with red kidney beans, pumpkin, turnips, carrots, potatoes, and hand-torn cabbage. A warming, rustic one-pot meal.

Tasty Vegetable Stew

An old-fashioned root vegetable stew with salt pork, cabbage, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and potatoes slow-steamed until fork-tender. Farmhouse cooking at its most honest and filling.

Braised Squab in a Mold of Vegetables

Elegant braised squab nestled in buttery cabbage and bacon, unmolded in a mosaic of turnips, carrots, and broccoli with a rich veal jus. A showstopping French-inspired centerpiece.

Nori Lamb Surprise

Nori lamb surprise butterflies lamb loin around scallops, mango, mushrooms, and pickled ginger, wraps it in seaweed, and pairs it with a chili-lemongrass syrup and a roasted pepper relish.

Vegetable Stew with Nut Dumplings

Hearty vegetarian stew with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and turnips topped with homemade walnut dumplings. Slow-simmered for deep, rustic flavor.

Spicy Spinach

An Indian-style saag of fresh spinach and turnips mashed together, then tempered with ghee, mustard seeds, garam masala, and turmeric. Vegetarian comfort food with serious spice.

Seven Vegetable Couscous

Hearty North African vegetable couscous with chickpeas, cabbage, turnip, squash, and tomatoes spiced with cumin, coriander, turmeric, and fresh ginger. A filling vegan one-pot meal over fluffy couscous.

Potage Au Potiron

Potage au potiron, a silky French pumpkin soup with onion, white wine, turnip and carrot, enriched with cream and buttery croutons, then served right inside the hollowed pumpkin shell. A showstopping autumn first course.

Tornep with Chestenne

A medieval recipe brought to life: young turnips simmered in white wine with chestnuts, sage, and a touch of honey. Simple, earthy, and elegant enough to grace a lord's table or your Tuesday dinner.

Turnip & Lentil Pie

Red lentils, grated turnip, egg whites, and whole wheat breadcrumbs baked until golden and firm. A hearty vegetarian pie with just 5 ingredients that proves plant-based comfort food can be dead simple.

Couscous Beidaoui

Traditional Moroccan couscous with lamb shanks, saffron, pumpkin, turnips, cabbage, and chickpeas served over buttery couscous with raisins. A spectacular North African feast that feeds six generously.

Root Vegetable Soup

Root vegetable soup simmers leeks, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and potatoes in a butter roux-thickened chicken broth. Finished with cream, wilted spinach, and chives for a rustic European bowl.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Roasted vegetable soup that starts with a from-scratch stock: carrots, onions, leeks and tomatoes roasted until deeply browned, then simmered into a rich broth. Built into a hearty vegan soup with potatoes, zucchini, pasta and peas.

Sauteed Rice Noodles

Sauteed rice noodles in the Thai pad thai style with shrimp, bean curd, pickled turnip, egg, bean sprouts, ground peanuts and fresh chili. Tangy, savory, and finished with lemon.

Savory Beef Stew

Savory beef stew with parsnips, turnips, succotash, and red wine in a crushed tomato base. A hearty root vegetable stew with chuck beef simmered until tender.

Rack of Lamb Primeurs

Rack of lamb primeurs roasted over its own bones with thyme, then sauced with a deglazed pan jus and plated with spring baby vegetables. Classic French bistro dinner-party centerpiece.

Irish Lambpot

Irish lambpot: lamb shoulder simmered with turnip, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and marjoram in one pot. Simple, hearty, and ready in just over an hour.

Athlete's Delight

Hearty vegetable fettuccine loaded with potatoes, turnips, and tomatoes simmered in fresh herbs. This fuel-packed vegan pasta dish is a satisfying one-pot meal that's built for hungry appetites.

Slow Cooker Chicken

Let the aroma of this tantalizing dish fill your kitchen by using this easy to follow crockpot recipe.

Consomme Primavera

Crystal-clear chicken consomme reduced to a quarter of its volume, garnished with steamed julienned vegetables and enoki mushrooms. A refined French-Italian soup with intense concentrated flavor.

Roasted Root Vegetables With Chermoula

Moroccan-style roasted root vegetables with a chermoula oil of garlic, paprika, and cumin. Russet and sweet potato, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, and butternut squash roasted into crisp-edged, spice-slicked fall flavor.

Cous Cous with Lamb

North African lamb and vegetable stew over fluffy couscous, built on a garlic-ginger paste with cumin and tomato. One pot, layered vegetables, tender-braised lamb.

Crunchy Beans with Turnips

Crunchy beans with turnips bakes a curried lima bean puree with steamed turnips, walnuts, and soybean sprouts. A plant-based side with Indian-inspired spice.

Pisnyi Borsch

Pisnyi borsch is a meatless Ukrainian beet soup with dried boletus mushrooms, beet kvas, root vegetables, and fresh dill. A clear, jewel-toned broth served over vushka dumplings for a traditional Lenten meal.

Harold's Pig & Roots

One-pot braised pork shoulder with carrots, potatoes, turnips, and parsnips, served with steamed cabbage and a silky pan gravy. Old-fashioned Sunday supper done right.

Orange, Onion, & Basil Salad

Bright colors make salads more appealing and give you a different taste you can't get enough of!

Turnip Gratin with Potatoes

Turnip gratin with potatoes, Gruyere cheese, and fresh dill baked under a crispy breadcrumb topping. A creamy, nutmeg-scented side dish that can be prepped a day ahead.

Spicy, Tomato-Based Vegetable Stew

Spicy root vegetable stew with carrots, turnips, parsnips, and mushrooms simmered in tomato-paste-thickened broth with chili pepper and herbs. Big-batch, freezer-friendly, and served over couscous.

Southern Turnip Green Soup (Florida Cooking)

Southern turnip green soup with cubed turnip roots, wilted and pureed greens, half-and-half, and a spoonful of cooked grits for body. Florida-style cream soup rooted in soul food.

Warm Vegetable Salad with Truffles

Warm vegetable salad with julienned carrots, turnips, celery, tomatoes, green beans, and snow peas on mache and radicchio, dressed in shallot vinaigrette and garnished with fresh truffles.

Nicomedes' Anchovy

Nicomedes' anchovy, an ancient Roman culinary trick: blanched turnip slices shaped like anchovy filets, dressed with olive oil, salt, and poppy seeds to mimic fish without fish. Brilliant vegetarian party piece.

White Bean Cassoulet

A cassoulet is traditionally a rich, hearty stew of various meat (this recipe is vegetarian, but you can add meat if you prefer) and or beans with a mix of starchy and aromatic vegetables and herbs.

Ox Tails

Oxtail Stew Recipe We serve the oxtails with the bone-in, though if you want you can easily remove the bones from the meat before serving.

Vegetable Eggplant Soup

Light vegetable eggplant soup with carrots, celery, turnips, and canned tomatoes in chicken broth, seasoned with basil, thyme, and oregano. A clean, brothy soup ready in 40 minutes.

Mary's Bouillon

Homemade beef bouillon simmered for six hours from beef shank, soup bones, cloves, and root vegetables. Strained and reduced to a rich, clear broth.

All 201 recipes