Roasted Glazed Rainbow Carrots

These roasted glazed rainbow carrots are the perfect side dish for your holiday meal, its gluten free, parve (non-dairy), and also vegan! It can fit if you have a dairy meal or a meat one.

November is already here, believe it or not! And this year Thanksgiving and Hannukah are very close in date. This means many will probably celebrate the two holidays together and that means lots of yummy food!

Some people get more excited about the side dishes for Thanksgiving then the main one and the recipe I am sharing now creates one colorful and beautiful side dish that can really wow your guests. It’s the perfect veggie side dish for any dinner dish as well, it's simple and easy to whip up and the flavor is just divine.

Usually on Hannukah, since it’s a full week of celebrating, people tend to have dairy meals that are easier and lighter. Plus on Hanukkah, we have so much fried food you need to lighten the meals somehow and make them healthier.

Ingredients

To make this dish of roasted carrots you will need 16-18 colorful rainbow carrots, olive oil, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, chopped basil leaves, salt and pepper.

Carrots – carrots are a fall root vegetable so now it’s the best season to enjoy them. Carrots are a good source of many vitamins and minerals including vitamins A, K1 and B6, biotin and potassium. For this recipe, I used rainbow colored carrots that are rich in these vitamins too. This recipe can be made with only orange carrots too.

Garlic & Basil - For the garlic and basil in the glaze I used frozen cubes. I find it easier and quicker than mincing fresh garlic and chopping fresh basil. Of course, it's still an alternative if you don’t have any frozen cubed garlic and basil.

Maple syrup - Make sure to use sugar free maple syrup, it will have the real flavor and the outcome will be so much better.

Balsamic vinegar - if you serve the dish to someone vegan, make sure the balsamic vinegar is vegan indeed, sometimes cheaper balsamic vinegar might contain gelatin which makes it not vegan.

The glazed carrots taste is balanced and so good. The flavor tends to be sweeter thanks to the maple syrup and the carrots themselves. These roasted glazed carrots are tender with a bit of crunch in the center, glazed with delicious garlic and basil aroma and deep flavor of the balsamic vinegar.

What are rainbow carrots?

Rainbow carrots are colored carrots that you usually find in grocery shops as a package to buy. In the package, you'll have purple, red, yellow, white, and the regular orange carrot. The difference from the orange carrot is mainly in the color. You can use rainbow carrots for anything you would use an orange carrot for. The different colors originated in different levels of beta carotene and anthocyanins in each different carrot color.

Do rainbow carrots taste different?

When raw, you might feel some slightly minor different flavor for each different color, when cooked I find it is harder to notice the differences. In addition, the carrots with the maple balsamic glaze on them get the glaze flavor so it's harder to differentiate.

Do rainbow carrots need to be peeled?

I like to peel carrots before eating them raw or cooked. So for these roasted glazed rainbow carrots I first peeled them. If you feel the carrots you have are clean enough for you or you are not used to peeling carrots, it's not a must. After washing them you can keep them unpeeled, you roast them at high temperatures in this recipe so it will be safe to have them unpeeled. Just be sure to get rid of any dirt before roasting the carrots.

Do purple carrots stay purple when cooked?

Yes, as you can see in the images, the purple roasted carrots stayed purple and got a deep dark purple color like a beet. They also stained the other light colored carrots near them in the pan. One interesting fact is that sometimes the purple carrots aren’t purple inside. When cutting them you might discover that their inside is orange, red, or white depending on the level of their anthocyanin's content.

How to make roasted glazed rainbow carrots

To whip up this yummy dish all you need to do is to cut the carrots to half lengthwise. If you have some very big carrots and some smaller, cut the bigger ones to 4 lengthwise to have them all cooked evenly. Arrange all the carrots in a baking pan with baking paper. In a small bowl mix the glaze ingredients and brush the cut carrots in the pan. Roast the carrot in a hot oven for 30 minutes and enjoy these yummy roasted carrots.

How to store roasted carrots?

The cooked carrots need to be refrigerated in airtight containers. Properly stored, cooked carrots will last for a few days (3 to 5 days) in the refrigerator.

To reheat the cooked carrots and keep them crisper and less mushy or soggy, you should reheat them in the oven. Simply spread them out evenly on a baking pan. If you want, you can drizzle them with a little extra maple syrup or some olive oil. If you know in advance you will reheat the carrots, save a bit of the glaze for the reheating and brush the carrots with it.

This side dish is refined sugar free, gluten free and also vegan. It can fit many types of guests on different diets for the holiday meal. You can also garnish these roasted glazed rainbow carrots with fresh herbs like parsley or thyme when serving to the table. The dish looks colorful and beautiful on its own but garnish can always upgrade it especially for holiday meals.

If you have a lot of fresh carrots from your garden, or you just bought lots of carrots, this recipe uses a big amount of carrots and it's delicious so just go ahead and whip it up.

For more recipes with carrots check out my carrot recipe index, you will find carrot cakes, muffins, and soup in there, all perfect for the fall season. For more Hannukah recipes check out my Hannukah recipe index.

Recipe yields approximately 6-8 small servings, double the recipe if you need more of it.

Here is the recipe for these yummy roasted rainbow carrots: