The Best Roasted Frozen Carrots Recipe - Build Your Bite (2024)

FAQs

The Best Roasted Frozen Carrots Recipe - Build Your Bite? ›

Roast the frozen carrots at 425 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes, checking to stir/flip every 10ish minutes. You can cook them even longer for more caramelized crispy edges! This is a very forgiving recipe, and these will taste more amazing as they continue to cook a bit longer.

Freezing carrots is such a great way to avoid waste. It will also make cooking them a little quicker from frozen. Like most vegetables, if frozen raw, the texture, taste, colour and nutritional value of carrots deteriorates. Make sure you blanch the veg to preserve these elements.

Undercook them, and the texture is tough and dense. Overcook them, and they're dry and wrinkled. The secret is to soften the carrots slightly by boiling them briefly before roasting. The texture will be firm-tender with just the right amount of caramelization on the outside.

The secret is to roast them.

Roasting draws out the natural sweetness and you get a nice caramelized flavor. They're so much better than boiled carrots!

This is actually due to moisture loss that occurs in the freezer. But the rubber-like texture of your carrots can also be influenced by a few factors such as slow freezing, using old and wilted carrots for storing, improper storage/container, or over blanching.

The best way to lessen this texture change, as much as possible, is to blanch carrots prior to freezing. However, be aware that over-blanching will also result in less than stellar texture also. Just a couple of minutes in boiling water and then straight into the ice bath they go!

If you have a Harvest Right home freeze dryer, the days of making do with soggy vegetables in winter are over. You can freeze dry vegetables whether they are raw or cooked. If you plan to rehydrate your vegetables, we've found that blanching them beforehand will help bring them back to that perfect texture.

Roasting Tips

Parboiling skin-on carrots and parsnips lets you soften them without them losing too much moisture.

As with many vegetables, roasting carrots brings out their sweet inner nature. Peel the carrots or don't peel the carrots—it's up to you. Peeling takes a bit more time, obviously, but also leads to a more consistent final texture to the dish.

As they cook, vegetables give off moisture, and when arranged too close together it results in a soggy outcome. Follow this tip: To achieve beautiful browning and crisp, roasted perfection, vegetables need some breathing room. Arrange vegetables in a single layer and don't overcrowd the pan.

What enhances carrot flavor? ›

Roasting really brings out carrots' best qualities. To make them, just toss carrots with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake until they're golden on the edges and tender throughout.

Roasting intensifies the flavour by removing water. Try not to brown them too much though, which will give them a burnt-sugar taste. Use complimentary spices. Mace, which is the dried membrane that surrounds nutmeg, compliments and enhances the flavour of carrots very well.

The breaking of cells in the freezing and thawing process causes the terpenes to leak, making the carrot sweeter — however, this same breakdown will probably have some negative impact on the texture.

Once stored in the freezer your carrots will stay fresh for 10 to 12 months in the freezer, but will remain good to use beyond that time frame. So you've put your expertise on how to freeze carrots to good use and now you've found the perfect carrot-based casserole or soup recipe.

You can boil, roast, sauté, or microwave frozen carrots without thawing; because they've been blanched, they'll cook faster than usual. That precooking does mean your frozen carrots won't have the crunchy texture of fresh, so it's best to avoid using them in salads, slaws, or other raw dishes.

Drop into a large pan of boiling salted water and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Drain well and lay out in a single layer on a baking tray to dry out and cool completely. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours, then put in freezer bags and freeze for up to 1 month. To cook, preheat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/ gas 5.

You can freeze carrots without blanching them, but they will lose their signature crunchy texture.

Once stored in the freezer your carrots will stay fresh for 10 to 12 months in the freezer, but will remain good to use beyond that time frame. So you've put your expertise on how to freeze carrots to good use and now you've found the perfect carrot-based casserole or soup recipe.