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A drizzle of olive oil

Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven.
What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven.

Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but is this the right way to do it?

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Keywords for this post:Fillet Oil Vegetables Spread Even Seasoning Mix Coat Brush

Last modified on: July 13^th 2025

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A good method?

Let's say it right away, no, it's not a very good method, and here's why:

Spreading the oil in this way, in one quick gesture, will apply a little, but alas, not everywhere, and a good proportion of the vegetables won't be oiled. As one chef joked, "You put it everywhere, except where it's needed".
By doing this, you're only going to put oil on the top of the vegetables, which may be intentional, or on the contrary, it may interfere with the cooking process.

What to do?

Here are 2 more effective ways.

1) Put the vegetables in a salad bowl, pour the oil over them, mix them thoroughly, and only then put them in the baking dish.

Note : Little oil used, evenly distributed, seasoning can be done at the same time.

By the way, the best and quickest way to mix the contents of a bowl like this is to place a plate or lid on top, hold it in your hand, and shake gently.

2) Coat the vegetables with a brush dipped in oil all over their surface, then only send to the oven.

Note : Very little oil used, perfectly distributed, brush can be replaced by a sprayer, seasoning can be done after the brush stroke, rather suitable for large pieces (half-vegetable).

I've used the example of vegetables with olive oil here, but of course this can be applied to any recipe where you need to spread a liquid (oil, wine, juice, syrup, etc.) on one or more foods.

In short: To spread a liquid on food, it's best to mix it together, or coat the food with the liquid.

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