Honey Roasted Carrots Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you boil carrots before roasting? ›

There is, however, a trick to getting roasted carrots right. Undercook them, and the texture is tough and dense. Overcook them, and they're dry and wrinkled. The secret is to soften the carrots slightly by boiling them briefly before roasting.

If you'd rather not mess with peeling them at all, you can leave it on (wash them well!) or use baby carrots instead. Why are my roasted carrots hard? If your carrots are still hard, then they are likely undercooked.

Carrots are naturally sweet, cutting them doesn't affect the flavor. If you want them even sweeter, roasting is a good option. Toss them with some oil, and something sweet- maple syrup, orange juice or even a little honey.

Cooking instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan, then add the carrots and parsnips and toss to coat in the oil. Add the thyme, cinnamon, star anise and some seasoning. Cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, turning the vegetables frequently, until golden brown and almost cooked through.

As with many vegetables, roasting carrots brings out their sweet inner nature. Peel the carrots or don't peel the carrots—it's up to you. Peeling takes a bit more time, obviously, but also leads to a more consistent final texture to the dish.

As they cook, vegetables give off moisture, and when arranged too close together it results in a soggy outcome. Follow this tip: To achieve beautiful browning and crisp, roasted perfection, vegetables need some breathing room. Arrange vegetables in a single layer and don't overcrowd the pan.

The Oven Temp Is Too Low

You might be tempted to turn the oven down if you've ever burned a batch of roasted vegetables, but we'd advise resisting that temptation. A low-and-slow cooking technique is excellent for vegetables like carrots, beets or potatoes that you plan to puree into soup.

Roasted vegetables aren't high maintenance, but they do need a little bit of attention. Leaving the pan totally unattended means that the bottom of your vegetables will burn, while the tops never crisp up. Flip halfway through, and you'll be rewarded with vegetables that are evenly cooked and golden all over.

At 183°F (84°C), carrots will soften but not turn mushy. The sous-vide method means that the carrots cook in their own juices, packing them with intense carrot flavor.

For carrots, you can try steaming them instead of boiling or roasting them. Steaming helps to retain more of the nutrients and natural sweetness of the carrots. You can also add some fresh herbs, such as thyme or parsley, to the steaming water to infuse some extra flavor into the carrots.

Why do my carrots taste bad? ›

However, when terpenoids reach excessive amounts and are no longer balanced with sugar, they give these root vegetables that unpleasant soapy taste. It goes away once you cook the carrots, though, since the heat breaks down these compounds.

Also, fruits have more sugar content, something that can hinder the digestive process of vegetables. For the same reason, one shouldn't mix orange with carrot as when taken together, they may cause heartburn and excess bile reflux.

Parboil the parsnips in boiling salted water for 10 minutes, then drain well. Pick the thyme leaves. Toss the parsnips with the honey, thyme, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, 10g of the butter and 2 tablespoons of oil. Tip into a roasting tray and arrange in one layer, then roast for 40 minutes, or until golden.

Blanching the veggies before roasting them may allow you to have less salt on the vegetables and for them to caramelize a bit nicely without burning. Sometimes I have burned vegetables when roasting them until they were tender. So try this — enjoy the bounty.

If you're not eating them raw, boiling carrots is the healthiest way to eat them. The only other ingredient needed to boil them is water which adds no fat, calories, or carbs.

Although raw carrot slices go well with a dip, cooked carrots are softer and easier to chew. But that's not the only benefit of heating the vegetable. Carrots provide more antioxidants when boiled or steamed than when eaten raw, according to a January 2008 report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.