This easy vegetable side dish features roasted radicchio paired with a two-ingredient strawberry balsamic reduction. It’s the best way to eat radicchio, hands down!

roasted radicchio with strawberry balsamic

My inspiration for this recipe was the turn of the seasons. Radicchio is on its way out and strawberries are on their way in. So why not pair them together?!

If you’re not familiar with radicchio, it’s a beautiful burgundy lettuce that looks similar to red cabbage. But it doesn’t taste like cabbage at all! In fact, radicchio has a strong and bitter taste that some people find off-putting.

But cooking this vegetable softens its bitter taste. That’s why I experimented with a roasted radicchio recipe as opposed to one that uses raw radicchio leaves.

Still, you can eat raw radicchio, and it’s actually really tasty in a salad with other lettuce varieties! Try it out after you get hooked on radicchio because of this recipe ;-)…

How to Make Strawberry Balsamic Reduction

Before you actually start prepping the radicchio for this recipe, you’ll want to get the DELISH reduction started.

Reduction is the term for liquid that has been reduced in volume, which means it has been exposed to heat until it becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

The reduction for this recipe is made from balsamic vinegar and strawberries, so it has a lovely sweet and tart taste. I personally love tart sauces, but if you don’t, consider yourself forewarned.

To make it, bring balsamic vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan. Then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add chopped strawberries, bring it all back to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

The strawberries will soften as they cook, and the vinegar should reduce until it’s thicker than when you started.

The level of thickness for the reduction is up to you, however. You can take it off the stove whenever it looks good to you!

How to Roast Radicchio

Next up: get the radicchio in the oven! Simply slice the head of radicchio in half, and then slice each half in half again. AKA – quarter it.

Transfer the wedges to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, drizzle them with olive oil, add a crack of salt and pepper, and pop in the oven for 20 minutes. BOOM.

When the wedges are tender and slightly charred, remove them from the oven. Drizzle them with the strawberry balsamic reduction, and get ready for an explosion of amazing flavor in your mouth.

Don’t say I never gave you anything…

What to Serve with Roasted Radicchio

This would be a beautiful recipe for date night, Valentine’s Day, or a holiday dinner party! Serve it alongside scallops, baked fish, pork chops, turkey, steak, or really any protein.

If you want to elevate the recipe with a couple other ingredients, try adding cheese (bleu or goat would taste really good!) and/or nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds…to name a few).

And if you’re looking for some other vegetable dishes that use strawberries, check out my Butter Lettuce Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing (it’s so good for this time of year)!

📖 Recipe