In the hierarchy of root vegetables, turnips often fall behind more typical favorites like potatoes, carrots, radishes, and even beets. But they deserve attention, too—not just for their nutritional value, but because when you buy fresh turnips with their leafy tops still intact, you’ve got the makings of two veggie side dishes instead of one.
"Traditionally, the greens are cooked by themselves, and the roots are used in separate dishes,” says Adante Hart, MPH , an outreach dietitian with Oldways, a nonprofit organization that promotes healthy cultural dietary traditions.
The roots have a radish-like flavor when they’re raw, but cooking turns them nutty and earthy. They’re usually mashed or roasted.
In this article
- Cancer-Preventing Properties
- Other Powerhouse Nutrients
- Healthy Ways to Prepare Turnips and Turnip Greens
Cooking also tames the bitter, spicy flavor of turnip greens, which have long been a staple of Southern cuisine. The popularity of the dish was born from opportunity. “On plantations in the South, slave owners primarily consumed the turnip roots, so the enslaved people would take the greens and cook them for themselves,” says Hart. “It was an example of ingenuity—taking the parts seen as scraps and turning them into a flavorful and nutritious dish."
There are many healthy ways to work both turnip roots and greens into your diet. And when you do, you’ll be adding disease-fighting nutrients.
Potential Cancer-Preventing Properties
The turnip is part of the brassica family of vegetables, which also includes broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. These are also known as cruciferous vegetables, a category that’s becoming increasingly associated with its potential to help protect against cancer.
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“Glucosinolates are bioactive compounds found mainly in cruciferous vegetables,” says Kyla Shea, PhD, a scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. “The compounds created when the body breaks down those glucosinolates appear to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties, making them the likely contributor to the health benefits associated with cruciferous vegetables.” No matter which part of the turnip you prefer, you’ll be getting glucosinolates because they’re in both the roots and the greens.
Those properties are being studied for their potential to lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and several types of cancer. Although more study is needed, current research suggests that glucosinolate-rich cruciferous vegetables may help reduce cancer risk by protecting cells from DNA damage, inhibiting tumor formation and reducing inflammation.
Other Powerhouse Nutrients
The nutritional benefits of turnips and turnip greens go beyond glucosinolates. Cruciferous vegetables are good sources of vitamin C, folic acid, carotenoids, calcium, potassium, and selenium.
Turnip greens are especially nutrient rich. A single cup of raw turnip greens provides 37 percent of the daily value for vitamin C, 35 percent for vitamin A, 27 percent for folate, and 115 percent for vitamin K.
“Vitamin K is essential for maintaining normal blood clotting, and there’s some evidence that it’s involved in preventing cardiovascular disease and improving joint health,” says Shea. It also works with calcium to help maintain healthy bone density and reduce osteoporosis risk.
Healthy Ways to Prepare Turnips and Turnip Greens
Turnips can make a velvety soup. Cook them in some broth along with sauteed onions and rosemary. Then purée in the pot with an immersion blender, or pour the mixture into a blender (be careful, as it will be very hot). Or you can mash the roots as you would potatoes (you can even mix in a few potatoes for a thicker texture). Roasting them with some sweeter root vegetables—like carrots or sweet potatoes—balances out the slight bitterness of the turnips.
You can use turnip greens just as you would any other leafy green. Toss a bunch into soup, blend them into a pesto, or layer them into lasagna. You can eat them raw—they’ll add a nice peppery zing to salads. But you may prefer smaller, younger leaves; the more mature leaves have a stronger flavor.
In Southern cooking, turnip greens are prepared in a similar way to collards. “We boil the greens down—usually with a piece of salt pork—cooking them for a few hours,” says Hart. “At the end, you not only have the greens, but also the nutrient-rich cooking water, known as potlikker.” From enslaved people to current-day soul food cooks, potlikker is valued for its nutrient density—it contains much of the nutrients that cooked off while boiling the greens. “You can drink it, but it’s most often stirred with corn bread to soak it up,” says Hart.
If you want the traditional flavor—with less sodium and saturated fat—skip the salt pork and use spices that help replicate its rich taste. (Doing so also makes the dish vegetarian.) Hart suggests steaming or sautéeing the greens in a little olive oil and seasoning them with a pinch of smoked sea salt, smoked paprika, or liquid smoke.
“Making an updated version of traditional Southern turnip greens is a way to honor Black heritage and history,” says Hart. “But it’s also about creating new traditions around these foods now that we have more knowledge of nutrition and how to prepare them healthfully.”
Sally Wadyka
Sally Wadyka is a freelance writer who contributes to Consumer Reports, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, and the Food Network on topics such as health, nutrition, and wellness.
