I rarely post vegetable side dish recipes, but this one is worth sharing.
We usually make the same one or two vegetables for dinner. Steamed broccoli is where its at. Seriously, we eat it like two or three times a week. Every now and then I will try a new cooked veggie but then we usually go back to our all standby broccoli or cauliflower. Maybe it’s just me and I’m hard to please when it comes to side dishes. But these carrots caught my eye in a recipe book the other day and they are awesome.
First of all, these carrots are roasted so I’m already sold because I love the flavor of roasted vegetables. Then you add a hint of sweetness from brown sugar, combined with warm spices and some heat (spicy heat), which make these carrots super flavorful. These would make a great side dish with beef, chicken, or pork. Heck, I could even make this a main course with rice, couscous, or orzo. I think it’s that good.
Carrots may not be as exciting as chocolate chip cookies or a Swedish meatball pasta bake, but we need a little vegetables in our life in order to balance out all of the not so healthy comfort food.
Spicy Roasted Carrots Recipe
(Makes 4 to 6 servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons oil (I use olive oil.)
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 and 1/2 pounds carrots
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Set this aside.
- Peel the carrots. Cut them in half crosswise, then lengthwise into halves, or smaller slices if you need to for the thick part. Keep the pieces as similar in size as possible so that they cook evenly.
- Add the carrots to the oil mixture and mix it together, making sure that all the carrots are coated.
- Place the carrots onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.
- Cover the baking sheet tightly with tin foil and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Carefully remove the tin foil and cook the carrots for an additional 16 to 22 minutes, or until the carrots are browned and tender. (Note, that means the total cooking time is about 28 to 34 minutes.)
- While the carrots are cooking, in a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, cayenne pepper, cumin, and cinnamon.
- Place the cooked carrots onto a serving dish and pour in the orange juice mixture. Gently mix everything together.
- Sprinkle the chopped fresh cilantro on top.
Adapted from: The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook
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