Simple and Delicious Oven Roasted Okra

This delicious oven-roasted okra is bursting with garden flavor. It’s not your typical southern take where we chop it into bits and fry the life out of it, and I have to say I much prefer this flavorful version.

Okra Is a Staple In Our Summer Garden

I love it because it’s easy to grow and keeps producing later into the season. It also grows insanely fast. It’s one of those things, like cucumbers, that you have to really stay on top of picking though. You might go out in the morning and have a tiny little bud showing and by dinner time it’s big enough to use as a baseball bat.

Here’s some okra we are leaving to grow & dry so that we can harvest the seeds to plant next year.
(AKA- I didn’t pick twice that day and they went from perfect and tender to
gnawing-on-cardboard in a matter of hours.)

It’s not my favorite thing to pick- think fiberglass shards in your fingers- but it’s super versatile. You can add it to soups, pickle it, fry it, and of course, roast it up, baby. We have okra coming out our ears right now, so we’ve tried a little bit of everything. Roasting has become a favorite.

Delicious, quick, easy…Mama approved!

Roasted Okra

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh okra- washed & sliced lengthwise.  
  For this batch, I left the ends on & just ate around them, but you can cut them off.
• olive oil
• salt 
• pepper
• garlic powder
• cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Coat okra in olive oil
3. Spread on a baking sheet- I like to line my pan with aluminum foil to minimize the mess.  
   I saw this genius trick on The Pioneer Woman & it was like the clouds parted and I was cooking for the very first time.  Why had I not thought of this before?!

4.  Season okra with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (cayenne if you want a little kick)

5.  Roast for about 20 minutes- the okra should be crispy, but tender.

I know it’s not Grandma’s fried okra, but roasting really brings out the flavors. Plus, you still get the crunch but it’s healthier for you! I was popping these babies like potato chips. In fact, I told Creek they were okra fries…suddenly they were edible.  Go figure.