If you love carrots, today you’re in for a real treat. I’ll be showing you how to spice up carrots with minimal hands on time. The key is to steam your carrots first. This will soften them, making them great for kids, then we’ll spice them up with a quick sauté.
This quick and easy recipe could totally be one of your vegetable sides this Thanksgiving, along with our Vegan Cheesy Green Beans.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nut (including Coconut), Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Top 8 Allergens, Sesame, Alliums, Apple, Avocado, Banana, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Buckwheat, Cane/Refined Sugar, Celery, Cinnamon, Citrus, Corn, Cruciferous, Garlic, Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Oat, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Rice, Seeds, Squash & Gourd, Stone Fruits, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: Diabetic, EOE, Low Histamine, Paleo, Vegan
Compatible With: Seed Free, AIP, Fructose Intolerance, GAPs, SCD
For Corn Free: Omit smoke or use homemade smoke.
For Fructose Intolerance: Omit the maple sugar.
For Seed Free & AIP: Omit Cumin
For GAPs & SCD: Use a safe and legal sweetener.
Related Resource: How to Oven Roast Carrots
Answers to Common Questions
What Kind of Carrots Can I use?
For this recipe, you can use baby carrots in a pinch, but we like to use full sized carrots for corn free reasons. The baby carrots may also be a bit too small, and can become mushy pretty easily when steaming.
For an extra fun dish, use rainbow carrots. Kids will be entertained for sure.
Related Recipe: Carrot Cake Waffles (Gluten Free, Vegan, Top 8 Free)
Can I Use Brown Sugar Instead?
Yes! This recipe is pretty versatile where the sweetener is concerned. In fact, you can omit the sweetener all together. Usually I’d say only use a granulated sweetener, but in this recipe, even a liquid sweetener (honey, maple, etc) would work out well.
If you use a liquid sweetener, be sure to give it some time to cook down a bit, as we don’t want to serve saucy carrots.
Related Recipe: Carrot Cake Fritters
Is This The Same As Roasted Carrots?
No. Roasted carrots mean they’ve been cooked on a baking sheet in your oven. With roasted carrots, you can toss them in oil and seasonings and cook until fork tender.
The benefit to steaming is it’s a cooking method that retains the most nutrients, and generally yields softer results.
Is This The Same As Glazed Carrots?
Not exactly. For your carrots to have a true glaze, you would need more liquid than what this recipe calls for. If you’re a fan of glazed carrots, you could absolutely make those instead, and use the seasonings/ratios below along with your glazing liquid.
Related Dessert: Refined Sugar Free Carrot Cake (Gluten Free, Vegan, Top 8 Free)
Should I Use Dried or Fresh Herbs?
For this recipe, we used dried herbs. If you’d like to use fresh Italian parsley or flat leaf parsley, you could. Be sure to chop your fresh parsley on the finer side before using.
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Pin Recipe Add to Your Recipe Lists/CollectionEquipment
- Steamer
Ingredients
- 450 g Organic Carrots (16 ounces)
- 2 TBSP Oil of Choice for Cooking
- 1 TBSP Organic Maple Sugar
- 1 TBSP Organic Dried Parsley
- 4 drops Liquid Smoke
- 1/2 tsp Organic Ground Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
Optional
- Squeeze of Lemon to Taste
- Organic Ground Black Pepper to Taste
Instructions
- Peel, wash, and dice your carrots. They should be bite sized pieces.
- Steam your carrots until fork tender. This can be done in your rice cooker, or on the stove top.
- Once the carrots are done, heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat.
- Add your oil, then your steamed carrots.
- Add your spices & sweetener and mix well.
- If adding the optional squeeze of lemon, add it at the end of cooking for a nice bright flavor.
