Bring out the natural flavour in carrots with this delicious honey-ginger glaze.
These roasted carrots with honey-ginger glaze are sweet with a little heat. Glazing and roasting intensifies their natural flavour.
Sometimes the root vegetables that are available in late winter just don't have the same flavour as those freshly pulled from the garden. While I was excited to find these rainbow carrots in the market this week, their flavour just didn't compare to those we grew ourselves last summer. Roasting and glazing with this sweet and pungent honey-ginger glaze, however, brought them to life and made them something to be savoured.
Oven-roasting brings out the best in root vegetables. Not only that, they are easy to prepare. Just throw them in a pan and pop them in the oven, right? Well, no. Not exactly. Here are 5 tips to make sure your roasted carrots will turn out perfectly every time.
How to make the best roasted carrots
1. Roast them whole.
While you'll want to cut other root vegetables into uniformly sized pieces, carrots are particularly good roasted whole. They're just pretty, and part of what appeals to our senses when we sit down to eat is how our food looks on our plate.
2. Use a sheet pan with low sides.
Roasting in the oven causes the natural sugars in root vegetables to caramelize and the proteins to brown, resulting in that sought-after sweetness, sometimes with some crispy singed edges. Don't try to roast vegetables in a pan with high curved sides. The vegetables release their moisture and the sides of the pan direct it back down so that they end up being steamed and not roasted. Read: soft and mushy. Not the crisp and tender veggies you're looking for.
3. Space them out.
Surface area is paramount. These carrots need their own piece of real estate. Don't dump them on top of one another. The more space they have, the more caramelization you will achieve. Their surfaces need to be in contact either with the hot pan or the hot air circulating in the oven. Sometimes when I'm cooking for a group, I'll spread my veggies out on 3 baking sheets and use the convection feature of my oven to avoid crowding them.
4. Flip them over.
Part way through, remove the pans from the oven and turn the carrots over. You want them to be slightly browned on both sides, not just dark on one side and light on the other. Give them a toss once or twice during their cooking time.
5. Serve them right away.
Try to time them so they'll be finished roasting just when the rest of your meal is ready to serve. They're best when they're hot right from the oven.
Hang in there. Spring is on the horizon now, our gardens will be sprouting and farmer's markets will be thriving once again. Until then, I'm going to keep on experimenting and creating and finding new recipes to create with different vegetables, like these Fennel Orange Roasted Beets and these Lemon Tahini Roasted Vegetables!
Easy Roasted Carrots with Honey-Ginger Glaze
Ingredients
- 12 medium carrots peeled
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
- 2 tsp, fresh chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk olive oil, honey, ginger and chile flakes together.
- Toss with carrots.
- Heat the baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes before adding the carrots.
- Space them out on the sheet.
- Roast carrots for 15 - 20 minutes or until fork tender, turning once halfway through.
- Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
SAVE THIS RECIPE FOR ROASTED CARROTS WITH HONEY-GINGER GLAZE TO ONE OF YOUR PINTEREST BOARDS
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Jackie says
You have inspired me to deal with fresh ginger. I don't use it very much and usually in very small amounts. So, it sits in the fridge until it is ugly and has to be thrown out. I am going to try peeling it, grating it and freezing it on parchment paper in 1 tsp mounds, then placing in a freezer container. Apparently you can also freeze medallions, or chunks, although they last 3 months versus the 6 months for the grated ginger. This will help me to be able to make these whenever I want without having to shop for the ginger. Thank you for all of your yummy recipes, Elaine!
Flavour & Savour says
Great idea! Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us. My excess ginger seems to end up in my stir-fries or smoothies. I love peach and ginger together and that makes a yummy smoothie. Thanks for commenting!
Cecilia Inness says
Gave hubby the night off cooking and made these but added sweet potatoes, zucchini and red onion.. A definite hit! I will definitely make them again. By the way, I keep a lump of ginger in the freezer and just grate it as needed. Whatever is left goes into stir fry or hot tumeric drink.
Flavour & Savour says
That's a great idea, Cecilia! Sounds delish! And thanks for the tip about storing ginger in the freezer. I agree, grating ginger is often so much easier than mincing. Thanks for commenting 🙂