How to Make the Ultimate Sunday Roast
You can’t beat a home-cooked roast dinner on a chilly Sunday afternoon. One of the heartiest ways to warm up the whole family, it’s impossible not to look forward to a plateful of roast meat or meat alternative, potatoes, veg and Yorkshire puddings – and that’s before the gravy!
Even if you’re calorie counting or following a diet plan like Weight Watchers, there’s no need to miss out. While you can ramp up the indulgence with buttery veggies, goose-fat roasties and glazed meats, our slimming-friendly alternatives are so good that you won’t need to.
From juicy, tenderised roast chicken through to fluffy-in-the-middle roasties, we’ve recreated all of the trimmings you could ever ask for on the ultimate Sunday roast.
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Step 1: Roast your meat or main
Every roast starts with a big decision: choosing which meat or main to build the rest of your dinner around. From chicken, lamb and beef to meatless roast options like our Chestnut Loaf, settling on the star of your plate is no easy feat.
You can rest assured there’ll be no complaints when it comes to carving up our Roast Beef and Gravy. Simple but effective, we’ve cut down on faff by roasting our meat at the same time as the veg and stock for our gravy.
While the roasting juices from your beef can provide the base for an extra-delicious gravy, it may heap hidden calories into your dinner too. We use a fat separator to thin out the stock, so that the fats are skimmed and left behind.
Once the separated stock is blitzed together with the oven-roasted veggies from earlier, you’re left with a thick, flavoursome gravy that’s utterly to die for.
It’s an absolute must for any ultimate Sunday roast to rest your meat before carving. Whether you’re preparing a joint of lamb, beef or a full roast chicken, cover with foil and leave for around 20-30 minutes in a warm place. Trust us, your meat will be oh-so-juicy and succulent for carving!
It’s impossible to get bored of a roast dinner, but we like to freshen things up by experimenting with non-traditional twists on the classic format. You can take our BBQ Roast Chicken as a prime, delicious example.
We’ve used a slimming-friendly blend of herbs, spices and seasonings to create a smoky barbecue glaze that’s too good to save for once a week. At just 377 calories per serving, it’s light enough to pair with a portion of Garlic Green Beans for a midweek roast dinner with a difference.
There’s no denying that roast dinners take planning. For those hectic Sunday afternoons where life gets ahead of you, our 20 Minute Whole Chicken is a certified lifesaver.
To save on time without compromising on flavour, we roast the chicken in our trusty Instant Pot. By cooking on high for around 20-30 minutes (this will vary based on the size of your chicken), all that’s left to do is dish out the veg and potatoes and carve. With flavours this good, no one will ever know you cooked in a hurry.
You can use a meat thermometer to be sure that your chicken is serve-ready; they’re so simple to use and affordable on Amazon.
Step 2: Prepare the potatoes
It’s not a roast dinner without Roast Potatoes. Crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle, they’re the highlight of the week all on their own.
The trick to ours is in the parboiling. By softening them in salted water before they’re roasted, you can be sure they’ll leave the oven cooked through with a moreish crunch.
Don’t forget to give them a reshuffle halfway through cooking and spritz them with low-calorie cooking spray. No one wants dried-out roasties on their plate!
You’d be forgiven for thinking that you can’t beat roast potatoes, especially if you’ve never tried our Roasted Potatoes with Smoked Bacon. It’s as easy as grabbing paprika, salt and pepper from your store cupboard to make the simple seasoning.
While they’re a breeze to make, they taste far from basic mixed together with fried onions and smoky bacon pieces.
If you’re looking for more ways to level up the humble potato, take a look at our guide on different types of potatoes and how to cook them.
Step 3: Get the veggies on the go
You can’t have a roast dinner without a pop of green on your plate! One of the best reasons to have a roast in the first place, picking out a selection of seasonal complementary vegetables is half the fun.
A delicious alternative to sprouts, our Creamed Cabbage and Leeks add a touch of luxury to your plate year-round. It’s no secret that we love to make things creamy, and this leafy side dish has indulgent silkiness in spades.
To keep the calories nice and low, we’ve stirred in a helping of low-fat cream cheese to give our greens their velvety texture. Ready in 15 minutes, they’re one of the tastiest ways to get fussy eaters to eat their greens.
When you fancy taking a break from roast potatoes, our Butternut Squash Roasties are just the ticket. Worth the wait, a sharp knife will tell you when your ‘roasties’ are ready – the centres will be nice and soft.
Garlicky and crisp with an irresistible rosemary and thyme seasoning, you won’t believe these baked butternut chunks are as light as 91 calories per portion.
The great thing about carrots is there’s so many different ways to enjoy them. When we’re feeling fancy, we like to rustle up a side of our Maple Glazed Carrots. Too good to save until Christmas, we’ve coated our carrots in a maple syrup, cranberry and lemon zest glaze before oven-roasting them to perfection.
If there’s still some room on your plate, there’s no better way to fill it than with their match made in heaven – our Honey Glazed Roast Parsnips!
Step 4: Don’t forget the Yorkshire Puddings and gravy!
Is it even a roast dinner without a Yorkshire Pudding on your plate? Our Lighter Yorkshire Puddings give you all the familiar fluffiness you’re after, for just 71 calories per pudding.
Not only that, they’re so much tastier than readymade or frozen versions.
With a simple handful of ingredients and 20 minutes, you can transform our slimming-friendly batter into the best bit on everybody’s plate.
Our Mini Yorkshire Puddings might be small, but they’re every bit as satisfying as their larger brothers and sisters. We’ve used a mini muffin tin to evenly divide our batter and give each of them their perfect little shape.
At 18 calories each, they’re the best way to treat yourself to an extra pud without going off track.
It’s not over-egging it to say that a plate of meat, veggies, roasties and Yorkshire puds is nothing without the magical finishing touch: Gravy.
The gift that will give every part of your roast dinner its next-level flavour, our recipe is lower on calories without compromising on thick, rich smoothness.
It’s freezer-friendly too, so it’s well worth making extra batches to elevate your midweek meals.
Step 5: Make the most of leftovers
Roast dinners are simply too good to experience once, and that’s why we can’t resist reliving them through thrifty recipes that make the most of our leftovers. While a roast dinner sandwich is nice now and again, you’ll never go back to bread once you’ve tried a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap on a Monday lunchtime.
The perfect place to repurpose your leftover meat and veggies, we like to keep a bit of Yorkshire pudding batter to the side, specially to prepare one of these the next day.
Once the wrap is fluffed up in the oven, roll your filling into it and go as crazy as you’d like with the trimmings. Just be sure to adjust the calories accordingly, if you’re counting – we like ours with a dollop of Horseradish Sauce!
If you’re looking for an even crispier way to enjoy lunch-sized roast dinner flavours, our Roast Dinner Pasties are the one. We’ve kept things slimming friendly by using low-calorie tortilla wraps to recreate pastry crunchiness for a fraction of the calories.
The best part about this recipe is that it never has to be the same twice; a versatile dream, mix up the fillings by using all kinds of leftovers from your various roast dinners.
The ultimate Sunday roast dinner is served!
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