Vegetable Confit? What, Why and How: The Ultimate Guide!

Confit is associated with poultry and pork, but did you know there’s a whole sub-category of confit dedicated to vegetables? While vegetable confit may not be real confit to some, it’s another way to bring an element of excitement to serving vegetables. To help with that, I’ve put together this ultimate guide to confit vegetables for you. Let’s get started!

What is confit?

Before we get to vegetable confit, it’s helpful to know what the original type of confit is.

Confit is meat—typically poultry or pork—slow cooked in its own fat or additional cooking fat. Not just a little fat—the meat is entirely covered by fat during cooking. Fats used in confit are duck or goose fat and/or lard. Confit meat is tender, often so tender that it falls off the bone.

Confit is the cooking method, the result of the cooking method and a traditional French method for preserving meats.

After cooking, the meat is covered completely in its own cooking fat for storage. It’s been used for hundreds of years—before refrigeration—and was invented in the Gascony region of France.

In their book, Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie, Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman say, “Before refrigeration, families would put up enough confit to last throught the winter … they wouldn’t eat this confit during the upcoming winter … They would eat the confit from the previous year only once they’d put up a new batch, to ensure that they had enough food for this year and the next.”

Making confit is simple and takes no special equipment; all you need is a pot, knife and oven or stove.

How to pronounce confit

Confit is a French word, pronounced con-fee. In English, we anglicize its usage for the past tense verb. For example, you could say, “Hey, look at these duck legs I confited,” and in that scenario, we’d pronounce it con-feed.

What is vegetable confit?

Vegetable confit is vegetables slow cooked in oil. The vegetables are completely submerged in oil during cooking.

Confit vegetables are generally cooked in olive oil, but some recipes call for clarified butter or vegetable oil. Of course, like meaty confit, you can also cook vegetable confit in duck fat or lard but that means your final product will be in solid fat, instead of liquid oil. This is fine if you’ll use your vegetable confit in a hot dish. If you’ll use your vegetable confit in cold dishes, prying them out of lard may not be to your liking.

What is “fake” vegetable confit?

Okay, as we’ve seen from the last two questions, confit is about submerging foods in fat or oil during the cooking process. Vegetable confit recipes generally include cups of oil, like two or three, depending on how much veg you’re using.

However, you’ll find some confit recipes call for barely any oil. Certainly not enough to drown the vegetables. These recipes should be called something else, not confit.

Alas, this is not the hill for me to die on. But I did want you to know about fake confit recipes lurking out there on the internet. Shockingly, the Onion and Red Pepper Confit recipe on the Food52 website calls for a mere two tablespoons of oil. And I thought another vegetable confit recipe that called for half a cup of olive oil was scandalous. I stand corrected.

What vegetables can you confit?

You can confit most vegetables, including the winter crops like squash and beets. However, some vegetables seem to be more popular for confit than others.

Popular choices for confit vegetables:

Onion.
Tomatoes.
Garlic.
Potatoes.
Squash.
Peppers.
Zucchini.

Even if you confit a vegetable in cups of olive oil and it “wrecks” the vegetable, it’s still gonna taste good so don’t be afraid to experiment!

What oil is best for confit vegetables?

Olive oil is best for confit vegetables because of its strong and pleasant flavour. Plus, it’s known to be one of the healthy fats from the vegetable world.

You might have heard that extra virgin olive oil is good but that you shouldn’t use it for cooking. That it’s fine to use lesser grades for cooking. This may or may not be true and it’s a matter of preference.

Personally, I’d recommend sticking with the extra virgin olive oil and ignoring the rest. When your olive oil says “extra virgin,” it means that the oil comes from the first pressing. The first pressing is a physical extraction of the oil, done at low temperatures. No chemicals are used.

As you get into ordinary and light olive oil, the extraction process involves heat and chemicals which lowers the health properties of the oil.

Regular priced extra virgin olive oil is fine for your confit. However, you might want to save your most expensive, artisanal bottles of extra virgin olive oil for raw applications.

In Lisa Radinovsky’s article, How to Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Suggestions from Greece, on the Greek Liquid Gold site, she says, “Dominique Perrot, former chef for Francois Mitterrand, is one of many who prefers to use the best EVOOs raw, especially in salads.”

However, the article notes that this is not a consensus. They also say, “Extra virgin olive oil is commonly used in Greek stewing, sautéing, frying, and baking; it is a good, healthy choice for almost everything.”

So, use olive oil for your veggie confit.

But you’ll notice there are plenty of vegetable confit recipes out there that call for industrial seed oils or any oil you prefer.

Using these seed oils—also known as simply vegetable oil—isn’t the best choice for flavour or health.

Chris Kresser, M.S., takes a stand against these oils in his article, How Industrial Seed Oils Are Making Us Sick. He says, “Contrary to what we’ve been told, industrial seed oils such as soybean, canola, and corn oils are not “heart healthy” or otherwise beneficial for our bodies and brains; in fact, plenty of research indicates that these oils are making us sick.”

[If you’re interested in learning more about why you might want to remove industrial seed oils from your diet, read that article and/or watch Nina Teicholz’s video Vegetable Oils: The Unknown Story.]

Are confit vegetables vegetarian?

For the most part, confit vegetables are vegetarian. Though confit is traditionally made with animal fats like duck fat or lard, most of the confit vegetable recipes I looked at used olive oil (or another type of oil) as the cooking medium. I saw one recipe for confit potatoes that used animal fat. Of course, I didn’t inspect all the confit vegetable recipes on the internet but I’m certain that if you need a vegetarian recipe, you’ll have no trouble finding one.

And actually…

Are confit vegetables vegan?

Confit vegetables are very vegan-friendly. If you find a confit vegetable recipe that’s vegetarian, it’ll actually be vegan. This is because the ingredients in confit vegetables are generally vegetables, olive oil and spices. Vegan by design. That’s super handy if you have a vegan coming over to dinner, as vegetable confit is one less thing to veganize.

Are confit vegetables preserved and how long do they last?

As mentioned earlier, poultry and pork confit stored in its own fat can last for years—even without a fridge! This is a traditional method of preservation.

However, vegetable confit is not a preserved food like that.

In their book, Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie, Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman have recipes for garlic confit and onion confit. About both of these vegetable confit recipes, they say, “They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.”

There’s a particular risk for botulism with garlic confit because the acidity level of garlic is so low. On their page about preventing botulism, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “Many cases of foodborne botulism have happened after people ate home-canned, preserved, or fermented foods that were contaminated with toxin. The foods might have become contaminated if they were not canned (processed) correctly. New sources of foodborne botulism continue to be identified.”

One of those new foods is “chopped garlic in oil” which sounds a lot like garlic confit.

By the way, the low acid veggies prone to botulism when not canned properly are asparagus, green beans, beets, corn and potatoes.

I should also mention that confit vegetables are not canned at the end of the cooking process. Canning is a preservation process where sweet food like jam or acidic food like pickled beans are cooked in a water bath. So, sticking our onion confit in a mason jar does not give it any preservation properties that the canning process would. Though it makes the onion confit look super cute, of course.

How do you confit vegetables?

Making confit vegetables is as easy as making confit duck legs and it requires no special equipment. Unless you think a pot is special, ha ha.

Basic process for making confit vegetables:

Put your vegetables and spices in a pot.
Cover your vegetables with olive oil.
Gently heat the pot to a simmer.
Cook the vegetables (uncovered) until they’re done. This could take 30 to 60 minutes or more, depending on the size and density of the vegetables.
When it’s done, transfer the vegetables and oil into a mason jar or another vessel that comes with a lid.

However, just like meat confit, you can make confit vegetables in the oven. (Actually, with meat confit, the oven method is more common whereas with vegetable confit, the stovetop method is more common.)

According to Andrea Soranidis in her How To Make Tomato Confit recipe on her Petit Cook website, making cherry tomato confit in the oven takes 90 minutes to two hours, at a temperature of 260°F (130° C). She makes this recipe in an uncovered baking dish. (This is also different from meat confit cooked in the oven; it’s always covered.)

One reason I prefer the oven method for (meat) confit is it’s easier to keep things at a steady simmer in the oven than on the stove. It’s more hands-off too. But that’s my preference and you’ll have your own preference. Both methods work so there’s no problem!

Can you confit vegetables in a slow cooker?

Yes, you can make confit vegetables in the slow cooker. [A slow cooker is an electrical, countertop appliance that includes a metal outer compartment and an inner cooking vessel, made of glazed ceramic or porcelain and a lid, usually glass.]

Slow cookers traditionally had three or four settings (low, high, keep warm and off) and though modern slow cookers are fancier (and sometimes multipurpose), these basic settings are all you need.

It’s a great idea to use your slow cooker to confit root vegetables like squash, carrots, turnip, etc. because they take so long to cook anyway. Having a pot of simmering oil on the stove for more than an hour might require more attention than you want to give.

Using the slow cooker for vegetable confit will take from two and a half to five hours, depending on your ingredients and recipe, of course. But it’s totally hands off which is great!

I’ve collected a few slow cooker vegetable confit recipes for you, and I’ll include them in the recommended recipes section below.

Can you confit vegetables sous-vide style?

Yes, you can sous vide confit vegetables!

Sous vide is another slow cooking method. The food is placed in airtight plastic or silicone baggies (or in glass containers) and cooked at a low temperature in water. If you use the plastic or silicone baggies (and most people/recipes do), the food should be completely submerged in the water. If you use glass mason jars to sous vide, you can submerge the jars completely (with the lid on) or keep the water level just below the top of the jar.

Like confit, sous vide is a French term; it means under vacuum. When you use the baggies, you usually suck the air out of the bags before cooking. (It’s possible to do this if you use the mason jars, but less common.)

The basic process for making sous vide vegetable confit is:

Put your veggies, oil and aromatics/spices in a sous vide baggie (made of plastic or silicone) or mason jar.
Prepare the sous vide water bath according to your recipe.
Submerge the food in the water and cook for the time specified in your recipe.
Remove and enjoy!

You can sous vide delicate vegetable confit (such as tomatoes) and hardy vegetable confit (such as ones made of root vegetables).

Can you confit vegetables in the microwave?

Well, folks, I never would’ve guessed but, yes, you can confit vegetables in the microwave! [I haven’t lived with a microwave in more than 20 years, in case that helps you understand my surprise.]

In the Warm Squash Salad recipe on the ChefSteps site, they use the microwave to make confit squash. Interestingly, after they “cure” the squash in sugar and salt for half an hour, they confit the squash in a jar of clarified butter in the microwave. The process takes about 15 minutes on a low setting.

So, microwaved confit vegetables might be just what you need when you’re in a time crunch. The other processes can be reserved for when you have the time to let your confit vegetables cook for hours while you do something else.

What is a confit vegetable tian?

When I was investigating confit vegetables, I saw that people were searching for “confit vegetables tian.” I said to myself, “What the heck is tian?”

A tian is a French baked vegetable dish that’s typically made with layered vegetables. Unlike with scalloped potatoes, the vegetables are layered upright by type to make a rather elegant dish. The tian has a base (could be tomatoes, onions etc.) and can be topped with cheese. The usual vegetables used in a tian are eggplant and tomatoes. Other options include red onions, peppers and zucchini. In many recipes, there are three or four main vegetables.

A tian is sometimes confused with ratatouille, perhaps because they’re both made with basically the same ingredients. But they’re not the same thing.

In the article, The Signature Dish in Disney’s ‘Ratatouille’ Wasn’t Actually Ratatouille, on the MyRecipes site, Tiffany Stevens explains the difference is in the cooking method and final result. She says, “Tians derive their name from the earthenware dish that they are traditionally baked and served in, but the word can refer to any dish which includes thinly sliced vegetables aesthetically arranged in a casserole-cooking dish. Ratatouille, on the other hand, usually involves cooking cubed or thinly sliced vegetables in olive oil until they create a hearty stew.”

So, think of ratatouille as a stew texture whereas a tian is not goopy at all.

But now that I’ve said all that, you may still be wondering what a confit vegetable tian is. Well, I don’t think there’s such a thing! I’m guessing people search for that because of confusion with confit byaldi—another term I just learned today!

What is confit byaldi?

According to Wikipedia, “Confit byaldi is a variation on the traditional French dish ratatouille by French chef Michel Guérard.” But according to the picture on the site, it looks like a vegetable tian cooked in a different shaped vessel.

Like the vegetable tian, confit byaldi is a work of art, with all the sliced veggies beautifully arranged/stacked upright against each other and cooked.

According to other foodies, such as food blogger, Aleksandra, on her Everyday Delicious site, Baked ratatouille (confit byaldi) is “a delicious cheesy vegetable casserole.”

Again, based on what I just learned about vegetable tian, it seems more accurate to say it’s a cheesy baked version of a vegetable tian. Most of the confit byaldi recipes I looked at did not contain cheese, but I think Aleksandra has the right idea to make it cheesy.

What everyone does seem to agree on is related to the Pixar movie, Ratatouille. Confit byaldi was invented as a modern (and fancier) take on ratatouille by Thomas Keller, who was a consulting chef on the movie Ratatouille.

Cheese or no cheese—that’s up to you.

One thing you might be wondering is why this dish is called confit byaldi as it’s a baked vegetable dish, not a bunch of vegetables simmered in fat like a confit. This is a good question and I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer. Nomenclature, in the world of food, can be confusing and contradictory. Calling this food confit doesn’t make sense if you know confit as slow cooked meat or veg in fat. Oh well!

What can I serve with vegetable confit?

Vegetable confit makes a great side dish to meat, pasta, bread and even other vegetable dishes.

Leda Meredith says in her The Spruce Eats article, Tips for Making Vegetable Confit, “The result of vegetable confit is an unctuous treat that can be used as an instant hors d’oeuvres (think confit on toast points), or mixed with whole grains or root vegetables to turn them into a luxurious side dish, mixed with pasta for a quick dinner.”

I think of vegetable confit like kim chi—you can put it on your plate at any meal to add a splash of flavour. For example, I cut mini peppers in half and fill them with cream cheese for my husband (because I’m an excellent wife) … but a piece of garlic confit would go well on top of the cream cheese layer, don’t you think?

You could even serve vegetable confit beside duck leg confit and confit byaldi. That would be amazing and also fun in a nerdy kind of way.

The sky really is the limit here.

Recipe suggestions for confit vegetables

While I was researching this topic, I came across a bunch of recipes. I’ve compiled the ones I found most appealing here, so you don’t have to do all the vegetable confit curating yourself.

Recipe suggestion for garlic confit: Herby Garlic Confit by Andy Baraghani on the Bon Appetit website. This one looks extra good because you don’t even have to peel the garlic. Which means when you use it, you get to squeeze garlic purée out of the garlic shell.

Recipe suggestion for slow cooker vegetable confit: Slow-Cooker Root-Vegetable Confit by the folks at the Martha Stewart website. This recipe uses four to five cups of olive oil, so you know it’s legit.

Recipe suggestion for slow cooker vegetable confit: Slow-Cooker Cherry Tomato Confit by Rachel Soszynski on the Real Simple site. Now, imagine if you mixed some of these tomatoes with the garlic confit and put it on some sliced-up sausages or with some pasta …

Recipe suggestion for non-vegetarian slow cooker vegetable confit: Slow Cooker Confit Potatoes by Miss South on the North South Food site. This is the recipe I found that calls for duck fat. Warning: at the time of me writing this article, there was no https security certificate on this site.

Recipe suggestion for sous vide vegetable confit: Vegetable Confit Sous Vide by the folks at the Sous Vide Supreme website. I believe you could follow this recipe with a regular sous vide set-up, the Sous Vide Supreme (which is a sous vide oven) isn’t strictly necessary.

Recipe suggestion for vegetable tian: French vegetable tian by Johanna Reder on the Kitchen Stories site. I wasn’t wooed by the picture that went along with the recipe because they used non-ripe, non-appetizing tomatoes. But the pictures that readers submitted looked amazing (except the one that drizzled tofu on top instead of Gruyère).

Recipe suggestion for confit byaldi (cheesy kind): Baked ratatouille (confit byaldi) by Aleksandra on her Everyday Delicious website. The cheese makes it look so great.

Recipe suggestion for confit byaldi (vegan): Ratatouille (Confit Byaldi) by Erin Wysocarski at her Olives for Dinner website. This one contains olives and is beautifully presented in a cast iron pan so that’s fun. This website is stunning and entirely vegan so if you have any vegan friends, send them there.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it! There’s a whole world of vegetable confit to explore and I encourage you to dive in if you’re inspired. May your vegetable confit always be scrumptious!

Further resources on confit

I’ve written a few other articles on the meaty kind of confit (this is Forcemeat Academy after all) and if you like vegetable confit, you might like to know more about poultry and pork confit that originated in Gascony, France. If yes, check out the articles below!

Articles about confit:

The “What’s the difference?” series: