What Does It Mean When A Recipe Tells You To Sweat Your Veggies?

If you've ever come across a recipe that calls for "sweating your vegetables," you may have thought to yourself, "vegetables sweat?" The answer is, yes! Vegetables, like humans, call for a little sweat session every now and then to reap a whole lot of benefits. In the instance of sweating vegetables in a recipe, it involves cooking vegetables that have high moisture content (such as onions, garlic, leeks, celery, carrots, peppers, etc.) at a low temperature for several minutes. This gentle heat causes the cell walls of the vegetables to break down, releasing the water and natural oils within them. As a result, the vegetables glisten and look like they are "sweating."

Before you put your veggies in a stove-top sauna, you'll want to first clean, peel (if necessary), and dice or slice them, keeping in mind the smaller the veggies are, the less time it will take for them to start sweating. Next, make sure your burner is set to medium-low heat and add just enough of oil or your go-to butter variety to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the heat brings the oil or butter to the viscosity of water, add your vegetables and a few pinches of salt. The added salt helps the vegetables squeeze out moisture while simultaneously bringing out their flavors. You'll need to mix the veggies periodically, but sweating them will only take a few minutes (five should be about right). Covering the pan is optional, but does encourage the vegetables to soften more quickly.

It's important to note that sweating is different than sautéing. Sautéing is done at a higher temperature, and the aim is to cook the vegetables, and often to brown the exterior as well. Sweating is a slower process, typically intended as a first flavor-development step in a longer recipe. That said, if at any point during sweating your veggies you notice browning start to occur, this is an indication your heat may be too high and can be reduced slightly. Alternatively, it could mean that your veggies have already released all their moisture and are done sweating (and you're ready to move on to the next step).

Sweating veggies is great for many dishes, particularly recipes that use large volumes of water, as it creates a solid base layer of flavor. In liquid-based dishes like these, flavors are more susceptible to becoming diluted, and sweating vegetables early provides a strong foundation of flavor to build off. All it takes is some fat and salt, a stove-top burner turned to medium low-heat, and a little bit of patience to get your veggies glistening with a whole lot of flavor.