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30+ of Our Best Carrot Recipes You Need to Try

updated 3 days ago

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Credit: Food Styling: Pearl Jones

Carrots are rarely the subject of a lot of praise, which is shocking given how versatile they are! In fact, there aren’t many other vegetables that can be equally tasty roasted alongside a whole chicken as they can be baked into a cake that’s piled with cream cheese frosting. It’s time for carrots to get the recognition they deserve.

Next time you’re at the grocery store, buy that big bag of carrots. I am always surprised by how cheap a bag is; it will barely set you back a few dollars, and that’s still the case even if you’re buying organic. So, naturally, carrots are a good grocery investment all around. You’ll have no trouble cooking your way through the bag (and getting a serious dose of vitamin A) — especially if you lean on these carrot recipes for inspiration.

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Sides, Salads, and Starters

Carrots make for a colorful side dish or unique appetizer, whether roasted, glazed, shredded for a crunchy salad, or blended into a creamy dip. If you bought that bag of rainbow carrots, you can have even more fun with how the final dish looks.

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Bourbon-Glazed Carrots

In an upgrade from basic glazed carrots, this recipe ups the ante big time with a splash of bourbon (in place of traditional orange juice) to bring an added layer of warm smokiness to the plate.

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Roasted Carrots with Orange

The sweetness of carrots in a savory recipe can be challenging, so we tossed these carrots with a generous sprinkle of chili powder and orange slivers.

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Quick Pickled Carrots

Meet the spicy pickled carrots that are about to forever change your Taco Tuesday or even just your snack-dinner Wednesday. These crunchy, spicy, tangy pickles are made for serving with (or on top of) Mexican staples like tacos and enchiladas, or even just alongside a cold beer.

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Honey-Garlic Butter Roasted Carrots

Once you’ve tasted these roasted carrots bathed in a honey-garlic butter sauce, you might proclaim that it’s the only way you’ll ever eat carrots again.

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Grilled Carrots with Lemon and Dill

Carrots are one of our favorite vegetables on the grill: Their charred, sweet flavor needs just a squeeze of lemon and some fresh herbs to become a simple-but-surprising side dish.

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Sweet and Spicy Roasted Carrots, Parsnips, and Chickpeas

Elegant but not complicated, this dish is just the thing to both comfort and awaken the palate on a winter day.

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Carrot Tahini Salad with Spiced Chickpeas

This salad comes together easily, and sweet raisins pair exceptionally well with the spiced chickpeas for a wonderful combination of sweet and savory.

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Baby Beet and Carrot Salad with Herbed Yogurt Ranch

This salad makes the best of spring's most colorful arrivals, combining tender beets, quick-roasted carrots, and tangy beet greens. A creamy ranch-style dressing made with Greek yogurt, green onions, and herbs brings it all together for a salad that’s both fresh and hearty.

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Kohlrabi and Carrot Slaw

This kohlrabi slaw is actually one of our favorite summer recipes. Quick and easy to make, it’s a nice cool side dish to eat after a long, warm day of working in the garden, or at a sunny picnic under flowering fruit trees.

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Cumin-Roasted Carrots with Wild Rice and Chickpeas

The flavor of cumin shines with the mellow flavor of the carrots. Add in some earthiness from the wild rice and chickpeas, and the dish comes together nicely.

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Moroccan-Spiced Roasted Carrot Hummus

This hummus is so irresistible, both in flavor and in color. The Moroccan spices add such a lovely dimension, too.

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Tangy Carrot Slaw

This slaw makes a light, flavorful lunch on its own but also begs to be paired with a simple roast chicken for dinner.

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Carrot Soufflé

Puréed carrots, eggs, milk, and cheddar cheese get blended into a soufflé base that puffs beautifully into a light, airy, almost custard-like side dish.

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Mains for Lunch and Dinner

Carrots become part of the main attraction when they’re tossed with pasta or tucked alongside a roast.

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Farro with Caramelized Carrots, Crispy Broccolini, and Herby Yogurt Dressing

This good-for-you grain bowl is quick to whip up, and is packed with veggies, protein, and a simple yogurt dressing.

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Moroccan-Spiced Carrot and Sorghum Soup

At its heart, this is a pretty basic carrot soup, but it becomes special with the addition of the warm spices and sorghum.

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Instant Pot Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes

While a traditional pot roast is a labor of love that takes a significant chunk of a day to cook, an Instant Pot is your best friend when you want pot roast on the dinner table stat. Here’s how to do it.

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Carrot Ribbon Fettuccine

The carrots lighten this pasta dish a bit, but it’s super satisfying! The sauce is simply olive oil, lemon juice, and Parmesan. Garnish with a bit of basil and lemon zest (and more cheese, if you wish!) — it’s a fresh and filling main course.

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Roast Chicken with Fennel, Carrots, and Gremolata

Tired of mashed potatoes and gravy with your roast chicken? Here’s a classic dinner with a flavorful punch of fresh herbs — plus sweet roasted fennel and carrots, which absorb savory juices from the chicken by sharing the same pan.

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Individual Pot Roasts with Thyme-Glazed Carrots

We like to serve this quite simply with just the carrots, making it a true one-pot meal. The carrots get tender but not mushy with just the faintest bit of snap still left inside.

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Carrot Soup

If you’re looking for a recipe to turn you into a soup person, here’s the one that did it for me.

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One-Pot Farro with Carrots and Chickpeas

Here, farro forms the base for one of the fastest feel-good meals we know. Cook the farro in a big pot, stir in protein-packed chickpeas and a bag of seasoned frozen carrots, and you’ve got a three-ingredient dinner that’s ready in 20 minutes.

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Honey Mustard Salmon with Caramelized Carrots

This easy honey mustard salmon has a lot going for it. With savory, sweet, and spicy flavors in every bite, it’s a skillet dinner that’s sure to add excitement to your weeknight routine.

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Shaved Beet & Carrot Salad with Sumac & Dill

This salad is perfect for fall and winter when root vegetables are in abundance. Since both beets and carrots can be rather tough raw, slice the beets and carrots as thinly as possible (using either a mando­line or your hands) to create a delicious crunch.

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Sweet Breakfasts & Desserts

Carrot cake is classic, sure, but carrots can dabble in other sweets too, like muffins, scones, and even cookies!

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Olive Oil Carrot Muffins

These muffins make carrot cake accessible for more than just dessert, which, as carrot cake-lovers, is music to our ears.

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Carrot Cake Scones with Spiced Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

These simple carrot cake-inspired scones are loaded with fresh shredded carrots and drizzled with a spiced cream cheese glaze.

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Spiced Carrot Oat Cookies

These breakfast cookies are naturally sweetened with maple syrup and loaded with oats, walnuts, shredded carrots, and raisins — making them perfect for a quick breakfast.

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Upside-Down Carrot Cake

This version takes the classic upside-down cake and turns it on its head. Very thinly sliced carrots form the pretty, striped top. It might not have cream cheese frosting, but it’s got pizzazz.

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Carrot Cake

Good carrot cakes balance many variables. They have to be sweet, yet spicy; moist, yet delicate; and beautiful, but not pretentious. Finding a recipe that embraces all of these and holds its own under a mountain of fluffy cream cheese frosting is a challenge — but we’ve done it!

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Domenica Marchetti's Carrot Polenta Cake with Marsala

A little rustic, a touch boozy, and all Italian, this is a carrot cake to make you look at the classic dessert in a whole new way.

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Carrot Quick Bread

This moist carrot quick bread is flecked with warm notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, loaded up with cups of shredded carrot, and topped with a glaze made with powdered sugar and yogurt.

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Carrot Halwa

Carrot halwa is an Indian dessert made with grated carrots, whole milk, dried fruit, and nuts, and it has a delicious light-yet-fudgy texture.

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Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies With Cream Cheese Glaze

These are perfectly chewy cookies studded with freshly grated carrots covered in a tangy cream cheese glaze. Part oatmeal cookie and part carrot cake, these are the perfect treat for people who can’t decide between the two.

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Carrot Cake Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

Spiced with fragrant cinnamon, studded with carrots and walnuts, and finished with both a crumble topping and a cream cheese drizzle, this updated twist brings together all the things I love about carrot cake and marries it with a classic coffee cake.

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Sheela Prakash

Senior Contributing Food Editor

Sheela is the Senior Contributing Food Editor at Kitchn and the author of Mediterranean Every Day: Simple, Inspired Recipes for Feel-Good Food . She received her master's degree from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy and is also a Registered Dietitian.

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Source : food