A touch of warming spice and a dash of orange zest make these simple roasted carrots a perfect autumn or winter side dish. Delicious!
I love roasted vegetables. They are a regular feature on our dinner table. We enjoy things like carrots, beetroots, parsnips, butternut squash and pumpkin in the autumn and winter, and then aubergines, courgettes (zucchini), peppers, tomatoes, shallots and more in the summer.
As well as being a terrific method for cooking familiar vegetables, roasting is also a great way to cook some of the more unusual things that turn up in our organic veg box from time to time. Swede, celeriac, salsify, Jerusalem artichokes… all delicious after roasting!
Roasted carrots – Easy and delicious
Roasted vegetables are so simple to make, and so tasty! Roasting concentrates the vegetables’ natural flavours, as water evaporates from the food as it cooks. This means each mouthful is a deeply flavoursome experience.
Roasting also produces glorious maillard-reaction caramelisation on the surface of the vegetables – another reason why they’re just so delicious. And let’s face it, a generous glug of oil always helps the taste along too. Fat = flavour after all!
Low stress side dish
I also love that I can prepare the veg and then pop them in the oven and almost forget about them! You don’t have to keep an eye on them to check that they aren’t boiling over. You don’t need to keep poking them to see if they’re done. They can even sit in the oven for a while after they’re ‘ready’ and still be fine when you serve them up.
Roasting vegetables is a wonderful low-stress way to cook them, and the results are delicious!
Roasted carrots – spice them up!
Since we eat roasted vegetables pretty often, I like to add different seasonings and spices, and experiment with new combinations, just to keep things interesting. Some experiments work better than others. We usually eat them anyway, but not always with complete enthusiasm…
Still, these roasted carrots with orange and ginger were definitely a success! Golden, caramelised, sweet and gently spicy, and such a gorgeous colour too – just look!
Just add ginger
I’m getting very enthusiastic about ginger at the moment – both fresh and dried. It seems to me to be a very autumnal, warming spice, and it goes beautifully with many of the vegetables of the season, like pumpkin, squash and root vegetables.
I use it to spice up my parsnip soup, for instance, in this gorgeous autumn slaw, and in these sticky baked aubergines & sweet potatoes. It adds a delicious spicy flavour and gentle heat whenever you use it.
Orange you glad you did?!
As much as I love ginger, I felt it just wasn’t quite enough on its own. I considered a few different spices and seasonings alongside before settling on orange zest. The zest was a bit of a gamble, but I figured, how wrong could it go?! Ginger and orange work beautifully together and I couldn’t see a reason why they wouldn’t both be at home flavouring a delicious roasted carrot.
It was definitely worth the gamble, and I really like the way it turned out. Zesty, spicy and with just a hint of citrus. Delicious!
Roasted carrots
My daughter Kipper loves roasted carrots, whether they’re plain or fancy or spicy or whatever. She ate these almost to the exclusion of the rest of her dinner! As a result, we ate the whole batch of roasted carrots between the three of us, and would probably have eaten more, given the opportunity.
Serves 2-3? Or thereabouts.
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Roasted carrots with fresh ginger and orange
Ingredients
- 650 g carrots (approx 6 large carrots)
- 2-3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-2 cm piece of root ginger
- zest of half an orange
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Peel the carrots. Cut each one into halves widthways, then each piece in half lengthways. If your carrots are very thick, you may like to cut each piece lengthwise again. Place the carrot pieces in a roasting dish and pour over the oil.
- Peel and grate the root ginger and add to the carrots with the orange zest. Mix everything together well so that the carrots are coated in the oil, ginger and zest.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until the carrots are soft and starting to brown. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
More roasted vegetable recipes
Other delicious recipes for roasted vegetables include:
- fabulously moreish garlic and parmesan roasted vegetables
- wonderful all-in-one-pan roasted vegetable rice pilaf
- showstopping roasted hasselback butternut squash
- gloriously autumnal honey roasted root vegetables with apples
- deliciously impressive whole roasted romanesco with zaatar
Bev
Hi Helen can I do these and parsnips together as I’m trying to eat more veg but there’s a lot of veg I don’t like so trying to find ways of eating them. Thanks Bev
Helen
Hi Bev, I think this would be great with added parsnips! Please come back and tell us how it was if you give it a try.
I always find it’s easier to eat more veg if you make them really tasty. Even just adding butter, salt and pepper to steamed greens can make them much yummier!
All the best, Helen x.
Sue
Can i make this ahead? If so, should i wait to toss with ginger and orange zest upon re-heat? Looks so delicious!!
Helen
Hi Sue. You can certainly make this ahead. Cook it as written, then reheat in the oven for about 20 minutes when you’re ready to eat. I hope you enjoy them! All the best, Helen.
Sean Smith
Carrots are full of vitamin and eating them frequently can keep us healthy. Thanks for your sharing and I never tried roasted carrots before but it seems yummy. I want to give it a try!
Helen
Thanks Sean! I hope you enjoy them 😀
Wendy
I will definitely be making this again! Delicious! I squeezed more orange juice over them when they came out of the oven. Thank you for a great recipe!
Sarah-Jane Laycock
Delicious end result but what I love best is the simplicity of the recipe
lovethatglowblog
I love the idea of using ginger and orange. Great combo and one I never thought of beautiful. Very yummy sounding!
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes
What a great way to spice up such a staple vegetable.
Kavey
Lovely way to add extra flavour to a staple vegetable!
Ann
These are delicious! Can’t wait to make them again…easy. I also squeezed some orange juice on them once out of the oven…thanks for a simple, yummy recipe!
Helen
Thanks Ann – so glad to hear you enjoyed this. The fresh juice sounds like a great addition 🙂
recipesfromapantry
Three of my favourite things in one dish. Yes please.
Helen
?????
Thanks!