This simple and easy roasted carrot recipe will transform your main meal with the help of intensified flavours and a dash of colour. A healthy side dish that works with just about any meal.
What is Roasting?
Roasting is classified as dry, high-heat cooking (over 200˚C/400˚F). The dry cooking means, no added water or stock liquid which would constitute boiling or steaming.
When it comes to roasting vegetables oil is added as a light coating which caramelises the veggies and brings out sweeter flavours. All vegetables roast differently, even the way they are sliced can also affect the results.
Roasting Different Vegetables
Some vegetables prefer being roasted at lower temperatures while others, especially root vegetables, take longer and prefer much higher temperatures.
Thinly sliced vegetables, tomatoes and leafy vegetables, like spinach or kale, must be roasted at lower temperatures. Peppers produce amazing results under very high temperatures.
A lower heat cooks the vegetables but does not produce the crispy, browned exterior we aim to achieve with the roasting process. Check out my roasted green beans recipe as an example.
Adding liquids to the roasting process boils or steams the veggies and they lose the sweet flavonoids we want to extract during the roasting process.
Parboiling
A lot of chefs do maintain it is easier and goes faster if you parboil root vegetables, like potatoes before roasting. Although it certainly speeds up the process, for maximum results it is best if you roasted vegetables from their raw state.
Roasted Fruit
Fruit can also be roasted. There are some spectacular dishes you can prepare for dessert by roasting fruit and adding other ingredients like chocolate chips or nuts during the roasting process.
Adding liquids to fruit for roasting is accepted and encouraged mainly because of the sugar content of fruit.
With sugar burning easily, adding liquid counteracts the burnt bitterness, which would be completely counter-productive when you are preparing a dessert.
The History of Roasting Vegetables
I have never really thought about the origins of roasted vegetables. My interest in food and cooking processes grew along with the rest of the global foodie explosion being experienced worldwide.
Thinking about it though, I remember while growing up no-one ever experimented with various cooking techniques of vegetables.
Traditional South African cooking methods, boiling and barbecuing (!), were used in most households. Every home you went to cooked their vegetables the same way so not much innovation was going on.
Now suddenly, almost every household roasts vegetables.
Roasting Trends
It got me thinking. How did this happen? We went from generations of boiling, mashing and infrequently steaming to roasting and caramelising just about any ingredient we can find.
Roasting makes the vegetables look gorgeous,. You actually want to eat them, unlike the boiled, colourless insipid boredom of our past.
Roasted Neanderthals
As it turns out there is scientific evidence that Neanderthals who roamed the earth, a very long time ago, cooked and may have even roasted their vegetables.
I would have imagined they followed the most prestigious diet of “raw and fresh” but apparently that is not true. Read all about the scientific study here.
Before closed ovens were invented, roasting was done out in the open. There would be someone standing, turning the handle of a stick which the body of the animal is pierced with.
Thus cooking slowly and turning over an open fire for hours on end.
Turning Meat
Vegetables were a part of this roasting process. They were “dressed”, spiced and cooked with the meat on the spit.
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It seems the changing of the vegetable cooking process in the USA can be traced to just after the Civil War. The generational, traditional forms of cooking were forgotten.
Boring Recipes
I did quickly have a scan through some recipes of that time period and they really are very boring and colourless. Certainly not dishes that I would find intriguing or even appetising. This dreary form of cooking seemed to continue well into the 21st century.
Twenty or thirty years ago everyone boiled vegetables and there were no other options. How this sudden revolution in vegetable cuisine came about no one is entirely sure of.
Exciting Vegetables
One of the theories is that roasting vegetables became popular in the early 2000's thanks to the Italians in the USA. This makes sense to me as Italians have never lost their traditional ways of cooking and they roast vegetables in a lot of their cuisine.
Examples are antipasti dishes such as charred red peppers and roasted plums for tomato sauce.
Roasting Italians
A famous Italian restaurant in Rhode Island only had an oven and the chefs started experimenting with roasting vegetables in the oven and charring them on top of the hot plates. They wrote a cookbook in 1991, Cucina Simpatica, that changed the face of vegetables and vegetable cooking as we know it today, in which they gave extensive advice and tips on roasting vegetables.
The launch of the book and the extraordinary ways they prepared vegetables started gaining more and more popularity.
This led to Florence Fabricant writing an extensive article in the New York times about the advancing trend of roasting vegetables, and doing a survey of chefs countrywide who were starting to use these techniques more expansively.
This all happened in the same year that the Food Network started further boosting the foodie culture that is still going strong around the world.
Roasted Carrots
This is a simple, quick and easy roasted carrots recipe which will make your main meal burst of colour and nutrition.
There are several ways to roast vegetables - follow the recipe and add some other flavourings.
Balsamic Vinegar
Doing something as simple as sprinkling balsamic vinegar over your carrots before roasting them, you add a complexity of flavours.
If you want to add variety to your dishes cut the carrots differently when preparing them. Chopped, diagonally sliced or whole. Carrots shrink while roasting so make sure your slices are big, you don’t want them disappearing.
Garlic
When you sprinkle your oil on the carrots, rub them with some minced garlic or leave whole pieces of garlic in the pan to roast with them.
Butter
Use butter instead of oil for a change of flavour. Do remember to add a little bit of oil to prevent the butter from burning though.
Honey
Toss the carrots in honey and a little oil before roasting. Check them regularly as the honey could burn under such high temperatures.
Make your roasted carrots are even more attractive and use coloured heirloom carrots. Very few people will be able to resist them!
More side dish recipes for you to try
Print📖 Recipe
Roast Carrots
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 side dish servings 1x
Description
In this Roast Carrots recipe you'll learn how to parboil carrots as well as how long to roast carrots for. The end results? Super sweet, caramelised carrots!
Ingredients
- 1kg (2lbs) carrots
- 30ml (2 tbsp) oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
- Either scrub the carrots thoroughly or peel them.
- Top and tail the vegetables, then halve or quarter them lengthways.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
- Add the carrots and boil for 5 minutes.
- Drain the vegetables in a colander.
- Toss the carrots in a large roasting tin with the oil and season to taste.
- Roast the carrots for 30-40 mins.
- Serve immediately as a side dish.
Notes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Roast
- Cuisine: English
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 163
- Sugar: 12.3 g
- Sodium: 463 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.8 g
- Fiber: 6.1 g
- Protein: 2.1 g
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Natalie Crossan
Roast lamb
George Wright
Vegetable tian
Rich Tyler
Roast Dinner 🙂
sharon martin
would have to say roast lamb
Isabelle Smith
roast parsnips on sunday dinner
Jessica Hutton
Parsnips
Cheryl O'Sullivan
Definitely roast beef!
Lyn Pringle
I have tried roasting most veggies but I love sweet potato, aubergine, and brussel sprouts :-):-):-)
Jacqueline Roberts
Has to be parsnips
claire little
Parsnips
ellie spider
I liked roast sweet potatoes and onions
alison clark
A good old Roast dinner with roast carrots a must and then roasted peaches with a cinnamon syrup.
Emma Davison
Roast potatoes
Kat Allinson
Roast potatoes
Lynsey Buchanan
My favourite roasted dish is Roast Lamb
DawnLouise
Oven roasted chilli cauliflower!
Graeme Macmillan
Pekin duck
Ali Thorpe
I love sticky honey roasted parsnips with a few sesame seeds atop.
Milly Youngman
I could just eat roast potatoes on their own for days...!
Jamie C Millard
roasted piri piri potato cubes
lisa rhodes
honey glazed roasted parsnips and carrots
Patricia Avery
Roasted rosemary potatoes 🙂
Tracey Belcher
It has to be roasted vegetables - but overall I love crispy roasted parsnips
Diana
I love roasted potatoes
Angela Wilcox
I love roasted vegetables with lots of garlic cloves
Gill Barwood
We love mixed roasted vegetables, such as red onions, peppers, courgettes, aubergines, broccoli etc, which we roast together and serve with feta crumbled over as a main dish
Karen R
I've subscribed 🙂
Karen R
I love roast lamb!
Krzysia
I love a mix of roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, butternut squash and onions served with a chipotle cream dip 🙂 x
Andrew Hindley
Roast Potatoes
Jo W
Roasted parsnips
Em S
I've subscribed to the newsletter.
Em S
My favourite roasted dish is roast chicken with roasted Mediterranean vegetables ( peppers, cougettes, aubergines).
Katie Skeoch
Roast goose fat potatoes!
Fiona
Got to be roast potatoes
Susan Hoggett
I'm subscribed, my fave roasted veg is butternut squash
Helen Thurston
Roasted mediterranean veggies with lots of garlic and rosemary, or butternut squash roasted with chilli flakes
Lisa Wilkinson
Roast pork with apple sauce
Laura-Jane Baker
Sunday roast beef with all the trimmings!
Sam Rhodes
I love roasted veg - sweet peppers and red onions are my fav!
Deborah Walker
Roasted cauliflower with garlic
Linda Griffiths
roast lamb with garlic and anchovies
cathyj
vegetables
Catia Rodrigues
As a family we love and eat lots of roasted vegetables.
Hassni
I do like roast vegetables with garlic and herbs on a winter's evening.
Sam Miles
My favourite roasted dish is a slow-roasted pulled pork. Delicious with cider!
Sam
Marc H
Nice roast leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic.
Solange
I love roast lamb.
Iris W
I love a mixed roasted vegetables tray we just have whatever there is in the fridge and it always turns out delicious
Penny H
I love roasted peppers and red onions.
Sarah Ann
I love roast lamb - delicious!
Elaine Garrett
Roasted sweet potato is my fave
frances hopkins
I love roasted tomatoes, x
Rebecca England
Roasted tomatoes with rosemary and garlic
Jo Carroll
I'd be lying if I didn't say Dad's roast potatoes. x
Sara MacGregor
My favourite roasted dish is roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary.
amy bondoc
i love roast potatoes and roasted carrot 🙂
Lorraine Stone
LOVE to have roasted parsnips, carrots, pots and onions. Usually served with chicken.
Laura Jeffs
Love roast parsnips, but I am also partial to roast potatoes
Suzanne
I love roasted Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes and carrots.
Kelly M
Simple ways to have tasty vegetables.
Fiona Hannant
Roasted sweet potato, topped with roasted chickpeas, roasted kale then crispy streaky bacon.....YUM!!!!! ?
Kat Lucas
I love roasted squash
Rachael G
Roast potatoes!
Zoe C
Quite simply just roast parsnips, I love them
Vanessa Cox
I love roasting mixed seasonal vegetables with herbs and different flavours like moroccan, indian, italian, thai or chinese seasoning!
Maddy
Roast potatoes 🙂
clair downham
roast lamb and roasted parsnips
Kim Neville
I like roasted peppers, carrots and red onion
laura banks
has to be roast potatoes and carrots but i love roasted peppers
kellie@foodtoglow
It was so interesting to read about the history of roasting vegetables. Seems as though although our ancestors were au fait with this flavour enhancing technique, that there was a long spell of boring unimaginative and flavourless boiling. Thank goodness of ovens. And olive oil. And butter 🙂
Mary N
My favourite roast vegetables are beetroot with garlic and balsamic vinegar.
Katie Bryson
Roasted vegetables are just a joy aren't they. I don't roast carrots very often, and I'm not sure why! Really interesting article, I love how much info you pack into your posts Michelle!
Camilla Hawkins
Aren't they pretty. We do love roasted carrot but I've never though to do them whole, thanks for the inspiration:-)
Tracy Nixon
I often make Mediterranean roasted vegetables: red onion, courgette, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms!
Tracey Peach
just lots of roasted vegetables that's my favourite roast veg dish I especially love roasted carrots because they taste so sweet when roasted 🙂 x
Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs
You really do take the most beautiful photos 🙂 and I am always amazed at just how much I learn reading your posts!
As for my favourite thai seafood, I've never eaten authentic thai before! That being sad Rick Stein does a mean (prawn) pad thai in his café in Padstow!
Helen @ family-friends-food.com
Very interesting to learn about the history of roasting veg. We love roast carrots! I add a drizzle of maple syrup and a bit of chilli which really enhances the flavour. Yum!