Easy Roasted Carrots Recipe = Side Dish Perfection! • The Simple Parent (2024)

FAQs

Should you boil carrots before roasting? ›

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. The texture will be firm-tender with just the right amount of caramelization on the outside.

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.

Sautéing is one of the healthiest ways to cook carrots.

Method. Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Toss your carrots with a good lug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves. Place in a roasting tray or earthenware dish, cover tightly with tinfoil and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until just tender.

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.

When to Skip Peeling Carrots. “Juicing and roasting carrots are good times to avoid peeling,” says Hilowitz. “If you are making a rustic dish, then leaving the peel on could potentially enhance the look and experience of the dish.

#1 Roasted

This is our CSA members' favorite way to enjoy our farm's fresh carrots. Slice or keep them whole if baby sized and toss with salt and pepper as your most basic preparation, or optionally add garlic, dill or honey to change it up. Roast on a baking sheet at 400 degrees until tender. So, so, so sweet!

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. Only a few fruits are starchy in nature. These include green bananas and plantains.

Your body has an easier time absorbing the carotenoids in carrots if you eat them cooked rather than raw. Cooking breaks down the vegetable's cell walls, making its nutrients more available. Of course, how you cook them matters—boiling vegetables can leach out nutrients, so it's better to steam, sauté, or roast.

Carrots. Raw carrots are fine, but cooked carrots are better for you. Cooking carrots allows beta carotene, an antioxidant compound that gets converted to vitamin A in the intestine, to absorb more easily in the body, explains Beckerman.

Are roasted carrots healthier than raw? ›

Raw carrots are rich in fiber, which helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and cooked carrots release carotenoids, compounds the body converts to vitamin A to help ward off infections and support a healthy immune system, notes Andres Ardisson Korat, a scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition ...

Why are my roasted carrots hard? If your carrots are still hard, then they are likely undercooked. They should be good to go with somewhere between 20-30 minutes of roasting time, but add time as needed so that they're nice and soft.

Don't Crowd the Pan.

If your roasted vegetables aren't crispy, it is likely because you overcrowded the pan. This will cause the vegetables to steam instead of roast. Be sure the carrots are in a single layer and the pieces are not touching.

Sometimes I've burned vegetables when roasting them until they were tender. Blanching veggies before roasting them allows them to caramelize a bit without burning. So, try this — enjoy the bounty.

You're Using Too Much (Or Too Little) Oil

But skimp on that oil and those vegetables will be too dry. Luckily, it's easy to find Goldilocks' just right amount. The solution: Before hitting the sheet pan, place the vegetables in a large bowl and add a tablespoon of oil.

You can eat carrots raw, but they are also extremely easy to cook. Boiling carrots is a quick and simple way to bring out new textures and flavors in them.

Place the carrots in boiling water. Blanch the carrots for 5 minutes, starting when the water returns to a boil. Drain the hot water and run cold water over the carrots for 4 to 5 minutes. Or you can microwave the carrots in a bowl with water and covered with a lid or a plate on high for 2 minutes.