What are the best, healthiest vegetables? The ones that you’ll actually eat, experts say

Raw or cooked? Blanched, sautéed or roasted? How you prepare vegetables matters less than choosing ones you want to eat, nutritionists say

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What is the healthiest way to prepare vegetables? Experts explain. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:15pm, 6 Feb 2025

In Carlene Thomas’ experience, two types of people ask her advice as a dietitian about the healthiest way to prepare vegetables.

Those looking to improve their diet are curious about how different cooking methods affect nutritional content. Others wonder how best to work more vegetables into their diet in general.

The simplest version of her answer to both groups is: the best vegetables are the ones you actually want to eat.

“A lot of people engage in aspirational vegetable shopping” without actually using them, says Thomas, who is from the US state of Virginia. In that case, “it doesn’t matter how you cook them, because if they’re going in the trash, they’re not in your body”.

An image of steak with grilled vegetables. The best vegetables are the ones you actually want to eat, says Carlene Thomas. Photo: Shutterstock

That said, research shows different cooking methods do affect the nutritional content of produce, but they are not as simple as raw vs. steamed vs. roasted.

Are raw vegetables healthier than cooked?

Not always. Prolonged exposure to high heat degrades many nutrients. But cooking not only softens the cellular walls in vegetables, making them easier to digest, it also changes their structure to increase what is called bioavailability – the body’s ability to absorb the vegetables’ nutrients, Thomas says.