Roasted Hoisin Glazed Cabbage

There are certain “shortcut” sauces out there that I almost always reach for when I want to infuse a bunch of delicious flavor without spending lots of time time chopping, blending, peeling, or pulsing. Some are easy to make at home and others would take hours. Homemade sriracha sounds like a great challenge but the thought of the chile fumes and fingers sends me packing. One of my favorite shortcut sauces is Hoisin sauce, which is the star of today’s recipe. Hoisin is a Chinese sweet, salty, slightly spicy sauce that pairs great with proteins, stir frys, and veggies. It can usually be found with other Asian sauces and ingredients or you can make your own version at home in about 10 minutes. Either way it infuses great, rich flavors into dishes and makes the perfect pairing for earthy cabbage in this simple roasted side dish. For glazing, like in this recipe, I like to thin out the sauce with a touch of soy and rice vinegar, but you could also use the sauce as is. I recommend giving the Hoisin a quick taste before adding soy since some versions are very salty. If yours is already plenty salty, just add water instead or leave it out.