There is nothing I love more than using a humble ingredient and coming up with a fantastic result. A case in point is this carrot chutney.
This is not your ordinary chutney recipe. It’s subtle, tangy and zesty with an amazing kick to it thanks to the cayenne pepper and ginger. It’s needless to say that a homemade carrot chutney is healthy and can be used as a spread too. Buy lots of glass jars, make a large batch, and voila, you have created homemade Christmas gifts!
carrot chutney recipe
Overall, this carrot chutney recipe works with all types of recipes and can be enjoyed on any occasion. For example, you can pair the chutney with an Indian curry such as lamb karahi. Serve it as a side dish alongside other delicious chutneys and sauces, like pakora sauce or runner bean chutney.
However, my favourite way of enjoying this recipe is when it’s served as part of a cheese platter. Listen up, cheese lovers! This carrot chutney pairs perfectly with soft and hard cheeses. Plus, it lends a certain aesthetic to your cheese platter, especially if you serve it with fruits like figs and grapes.
Are you up for the challenge of become the master of homemade chutneys? You can start with this simple carrot chutney recipe.
grating and zesting with Microplane
Even though this carrot chutney is a simple recipe, it involves the use of many fresh ingredients. This chutney recipe calls for fresh carrots, ginger, oranges, onions, lemons, in combination with some herbs and spices for extra flavour.
Carrots give the chutney a beautiful vibrant colour which makes the chutney all the more appetising. However, the secret to making this carrot chutney recipe a doddle is to have the best equipment – a Microplane grater. forever!
Microplane is a grating specialist that revolutionised kitchen graters. The company has over 50 years of experience in this type of technology, and I can assure you that you won’t find any grater sharper than Microplane’s. Microplane is original amongst photo-edged graters, and trust me, you’ll notice the difference. I used to detest the monotonous task of grating but with Microplane it was a piece of cake.
Renowned for being the sharpest in the world, the blades are manufactured in the USA. They are photo-edged and long-lasting. While grating a tonne of carrots for this recipe, I’ve noticed the following benefits:
- I grated the carrots with minimal effort
- the carrots were cut precisely
- the aroma of the carrots unfolded naturally, and
- the overall results were visually impressive, making the carrot chutney uniform and appealing
Microplane also has a Premium Classic Zester, which I used for the citrus fruit, and can use for so many of my other potential recipes.
Click here to find out more about Microplane, its unique story and its large blade selection that made history in the kitchen.
best carrots for carrot chutney
There are several types of carrots which you can use for this carrot chutney recipe. Generally speaking, carrots are usually categorised by their shape and colour. Let’s start with the traditional orange carrots, which are most commonly available.
As you might have noticed, there are also various types of orange carrots. Thin, long, thick, short, you name it. However, what intrigues me more are the carrots which have different colours.
what do different coloured carrots taste like?
- Orange carrots: These are generally sweet and carry an earthy flavour. Best consumed raw in a salad like this creamy carrot salad or vegan coleslaw. Also excellent for this carrot chutney recipe.
- Purple carrots: Intense sweet flavour with a subtle peppery note. Excellent with spices, try them with this cumin roast carrots recipe. Or, try them in this carrot salad recipe.
- Red carrots: Taste resembles orange carrots. They are best braised, baked or used in soups. Try them in these recipes: carrot and swede mash or easy carrot soup.
- White carrots or golden carrots: Very mild earthy flavour and perfect for glazing. Try this simple roasted carrots recipe.
Basically, all carrots are interchangeable for this carrot chutney recipe, except for one type of carrot and that is baby carrots. Although they are sweet and flavourful, they are too small to give this carrot chutney the texture you are looking for. This is because they are not so easy to grate. Trust me, the larger your carrot, the easier it will grate.
In addition, think of the fact that you can actually want to make a larger batch of the carrot chutney.
spicy carrot chutney recipe
This is where you are in control of the intensity of the carrot chutney. This chutney recipe gets its spicy flavours from two elements, fresh ginger and cayenne pepper.
Firstly, if you want to cut down or scale up, then lessen or add more ginger, respectively. The latter adds a certain heat and pepperiness.
Secondly, you can tweak the amount of cayenne pepper used in the recipe. Alternatively, you can also consider red pepper flakes or chilli powder.
That’s the beauty of making your own carrot chutney from scratch. You can control which flavours you want to max out on or omit altogether!
carrot chutney for sandwich
As mentioned above, you can pair this chutney with any type of recipe. One great suggestion is to use it as part of a sandwich filling. You can add this carrot chutney to these sandwiches to jazz things up a bit:
- lamb sandwich with avocado and jam
- brie sandwich with chicken, pear and balsamic onions
- steak and caramelized onion sandwich
carrot chutney calories
Believe it or not, a serving of 30ml (2 tablespoons) is only six calories! This means that this carrot chutney is excellent as a flavour enhancer to other low-calorie recipes, which sometimes don’t carry a lot of flavour.
For example, let’s consider that you make this delicious low-calorie curried cauliflower with yoghurt. You can pair the cauliflower with a spoonful of carrot chutney to add more flavours and textures.
Nevertheless, this is why I also opt for adding this carrot chutney onto a cheese platter when I run out of my seedless blackberry jam. In comparison to any type of jam or homemade marmalade, this chutney doesn’t contain too much sugar or fructose. Hence, you can munch away at the cheese guilt-free without worrying about its sugar content.
So, forget counting calories and indulge in these addictive savoury and tangy flavours of this carrot chutney!
How would you serve this carrot chutney? Let me know!
GIVEAWAY
This week one lucky reader will win one Microplane® Premium Classic Zester in Coral Red!
Courtesy of Microplane®, greedygourmet.com is offering you the chance to win an iconic Microplane® Premium Classic Zester in Coral Red. Celebrating 25 years of grating excellence, the Zester is a must-have for food-prep. It saves valuable time when grating everything from hard cheese to citrus fruits, ginger, garlic and nutmeg with minimal effort. The Zester, worth £19.95, comes in 13 colours, has anti-scratch rubber ends and a reusable protective cover for safe storage.
Entering is easy, just follow the instructions below.
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Competition Question:
How would you use the Microplane grater and zester?
Carrot Chutney
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 18 x 250ml (1 cup) glass jars 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
An easy carrot chutney recipe made with oranges, carrots, ginger & more. It’s spicy, tangy and above all, delicious.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg (3¾ lbs) carrots, peeled and grated
- 3 onions, peeled and grated
- 90ml (6 tbsp) fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
- 750ml (3 cups) apple cider vinegar
- 750ml (3 cups) water
- 600g (3 cups) brown sugar
- 15ml (1 tbsp) fresh thyme, washed and leaves only
- 7.5ml (1½ tsp) cayenne pepper
- 1 lemon, washed and zested
- 3 oranges, washed, zested and juiced
- 15ml (1 tbsp) salt
- 5ml (1 tsp) freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a large pot.
- Bring the contents to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, giving it a stir once in a while.
- Reduce the heat and let the chutney simmer gently for 45 minutes until thickened.
- Ladle the chutney into sterilised jars and top with paper jam covers.
- Seal the jars while still hot.
- Leave to mature for at least a month in a cool dark place.
- Category: Chutney
- Method: Boil
- Cuisine: English
Keywords: carrot chutney, spicy carrot chutney recipe, homemade Christmas gift recipe
P.S. This is a sponsored post.
Maxine G says
this would be super for zesting limes into home made hot and spicy salsas!
sam macaree says
i would use it to make a lemon drizzle cake
Shawanda says
I normally just use as zester for citrus fruits, but sometimes use it quickly grate cheese.
Solange says
I would use it to grate a lemon for a lemon drizzle cake.
Jane Willis says
I’m just about to start in on the Christmas baking so I would use it for zesting all the citrus I will need.
★★★★
cheryl hadfield says
I would use to grate carrots for my carrot cake muffins
Susan Lloyd says
I would use it to grate lemons for my lemon curd.
Iain maciver says
perfect for grating my cheese
★★★★★
Peter Watson says
I would use the zester particularly for fruit such as lemons and oranges for adding flavour in a large variety of dishes.
★★★★★
Sheena Batey says
It would be great for getting the peel from citrus fruit for my mincemeat to make mince pies
Tracy Nixon says
I’d use to make salads and cakes
LESLEY BRADLEY says
I’d use it to make your carrot chutney, it looks delicious! It would also come in handy for zesting oranges which I use to decorate my homemade citrus cheesecake.
pete c says
would tend to use it mainly on fruit for when making cakes and desserts
Lucy says
I think for zesting limes for recipes mainly 🙂
Ritchie Dee says
Grating ginger for sweet and savoury dishes
Emma Gosling says
I love a homemade lemon drizzle cake so this would be awesome.