Roasting carrots brings out their natural sweetness. Carrots have more “sugar” in them naturally than most vegetables, so when you roast them they almost caramelize like you added some type of sweetener to them. They add color to any meal and are a very quick go-to side to any main dish.
Carrots are full of antioxidants including beta carotene, vitamin C and lutein. They can support building up your bodies antioxidants as well as support your eye health. Don’t you remember that when you were a kid they would say that carrots help your eyes? Well, it is true because of the lutein. Carrots also give your body some good and healthy fiber to help support your digestive system.
Some people do better than others eating carrots. They are one of the more starchy vegetables and may be too much for certain people’s physiology. You may need to limit your carrot intake to a couple of times per week, or a couple of times per month depending on your needs. If you are following a grain free diet or a low grain diet, then carrots can be a wonderful source of carbohydrates if you need more of them in your diet and don’t want to eat more grains. Any of the root vegetables can be used for that purpose.
When you are making this dish, remember to use whole carrots. The baby carrots, although convenient, are not as healthy and not processed and washed using chlorine. Chlorine is a known toxin and an endocrine disrupter. So, let’s stick with the benefits of carrots by using the whole ones. What I love to do is soak them in an all natural vegetable wash and brush them off with a vegetable brush to clean off any remaining dirt. Then I cut them up like I normally would. I keep on the skin too, because a lot of the nutrients are in the skin! Plus it saves you a whole lot of time keeping the skins on too. For this dish I quarter the carrots length wise. If you want to use smaller pieces, feel free to do that.
This dish also finished with truffled olive oil. I love the taste of truffled root vegetables and there is a restaurant that my husband and I go to on occasion that are almost to die for. At the end of roasting these carrots you drizzle them with truffled olive oil. You can get truffled olive oil at any health food store. So yummy! I think it increases the sweetness of the carrots.
Ingredients
8 whole carrots, quartered the long way
2 Tablespoons of coconut oil, softened
salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of Truffled Olive Oil, optional
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and take out a cookie sheet
- Cut the carrots into quarters length wise and add them to the cookie sheet
- Put the softened coconut oil on top of the carrots and toss with clean hands. You can melt the coconut oil on the stove first to make it a complete liquid if that helps
- Spread the carrots out on the cookie sheet so they aren’t touching, but still close to each other. I think they cook better when they are closer versus totally spread out
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes
- Take them out and drizzle the truffled olive oil on top and bake for another 5 minutes
- Take them out of the oven and transfer them to a serving dish and you are ready to eat
Enjoy!
Join Dr. Meghan's Insiders
Don't miss out on anything! Join my healthy living newsletter for encouragement right to your inbox to kickstart your health in a simplified way!
Leave a Reply