Honey Roasted Carrots Recipe (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.

Or, to bring out their fresh, woody flavor, add some anise. If you're roasting your carrots, toss them in olive oil first. This will help keep the moisture in them. To bring out the sweetness in your carrots, season them with orange or lemon juice or a little brown sugar and butter.

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.

Too much oil and your veggies will turn out soggy and dense. 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.

No matter which way you cook them, carrots are a healthy choice. Steaming is a slightly better pick since the carrots don't lose as many of their nutrients to the water. (Steaming is also more environmentally friendly since it uses less water.)

Another study showed both boiling and steaming increased levels of beta carotene. But try to cook carrots whole, as cutting can reduce nutrients by 25%. Wait and wash veggies just before cooking to preserve nutrients. In fact, cooking veggies whole is often the best choice to preserve nutrients.

You don't want to soak them, you want to cook them. The prep and method of cooking will determine how long it will take to soften the carrots. Quickest: slice and boil in salted water; done in a few minutes. Best tasting: clean carrots, toss in oil and a little bit of salt.

The Best Seasonings and Pinch Spice Blends for Carrots:

Herbs De Provence* – The French classic of basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, marjoram, lavender and tarragon.

Raw is for rabbits. High heat and good browning make carrots taste sweeter and more delicious.

What brings out the sweetness in carrots? ›

However, it does matter how you slice it—according to Christopher Kimball. In his newest cookbook, Milk Street: The New Home Cooking, the former America's Test Kitchen host explains that shredding root vegetables like carrots, turnips, or yams makes them taste both sweeter and fresher.

When determining how many carrots to roast, use one to two carrots per person, depending on size. No one is going to be upset if you make a few extra. To prepare the carrots, cut off the top and bottom, then peel them.

Roasted root vegetables: 250 grams per person. This equates to one carrot and one parsnip each.

If you don't par cook the carrots, they will cook faster on the outside than the inside when they are in the oven. It also gives them a better texture. Raw carrots that are roasted can be a little rubbery and chewy. Par boiling softens them, so they have a tender texture.

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.

These hemicelluloses dissolve in the heat and steam of cooking, weakening the cell walls and causing the vegetables to soften. But here's the deal – hemicelluloses aren't soluble in acid and therefore won't dissolve if the cooking environment is too acidic.

Full disclosure: boiled carrots aren't our favorite way to eat carrots, but boiling is a healthy option that lets you have more control the amount of calories you add in the seasoning. Here are some of our other favorite ways to eat carrots: Whip up a batch of these savory Perfect Sauteed Carrots.

Well, carrots contain beta-carotene, also called carotenoids which are better absorbed by the body in the form of cooked carrots. Also, a study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry proves this fact. It shows that boiling and steaming tends to preserve the antioxidant carotenoid found in carrots.