Sauteed Carrots
This sauteed carrots recipe is so delicious you will be adding them to all your next meals. You get the sweet taste from the carrots and it is balanced with the balsamic when you deglaze them.
In this post, we will cover the 5 simple steps on how to saute carrots. Trust me you need to try this recipe!
Ingredients
- Carrots
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Spatula
- Chef knife
How to sauté carrots – 5 Simple Steps
Sauteing carrots is a fast and easy way to make an amazing side for any dinner. The simplicity of sauteing is to cook something that is a hot oil quickly.
When you sauté the carrots they cook quickly and that gives them a soft yet firm bite. The flavors from just a few ingredients are amazing!
Follow along and I will show you how to make the best-tasting carrots in under 10 minutes!
Before you get started make sure you know how to tell if carrots have gone bad.
1. Wash
You always want to make sure that you wash your carrots first thing! Organic or not they most likely have some chemicals on them from the farm or the transport.
Just wash them off and scrub them a bit under cold running water or you can also use a vegetable wash if you prefer.
2. Peel
Peeling your carrots is important for the taste factor. The truth is unpeeled carrots are completely safe to eat as long as you wash them first but some say they are more bitter if you do not peel them.
I recommend, especially for this dish, that you peel them completely and cut the tops and the end off.
3. Cut
You can cut your carrots whichever way you want but I like to Julianne mine. Julianne (AKA matchstick) cut is when you cut the carrots into strips that are about 1/8th inch thick and 3 inches long.
I find this to help the carrots sauté evenly and I like the way the presentation looks too.
You can also slice the carrots into rounds that are 1/8 inches if you prefer. They will cook evenly cut this way as well as long as you keep your slices consistent.
At this point, if you have extra learn how to freeze carrots so that you can use them at a later date.
4. Heat your pan
The first thing you want to do once your carrots are cut the way you want is to heat up your pan on medium heat.
Once your pan is hot you want to add your oil. I like to use olive oil myself for sautéed carrots. Let the oil heat up for a minute until is nice and loose in the pan.
It is important to get them into the pan before the oil smokes, if the oil is smoking then the pan is to hot.
5. Sauté carrots
Add your carrots to the hot oil making sure you stir them up a little to get the oil on all sides of the carrots.
You want to make sure the carrots are all touching the bottom of the pan. If they are all stacked on top of each other they won’t cook evenly.
add salt
Go ahead and sprinkle a pinch of salt other them. Don’t go too heavy with the salt. You can always add more later.
Cook the carrots until they are tender but not mushy.
deglaze with the balsamic
Once they start to brown a little go ahead and deglaze the pan by adding in your balsamic vinegar.
Stir the carrots around picking up all the brown bits that were stuck to the pan and coating them in the balsamic.
How to choose your carrots at the store
When you are buying, look for carrots that are nice and orange in color and are firm. You also want to avoid ones that are black near the tops and limp. Those are indicators that they are not fresh.
Medium-sized carrots that taper at the ends are going to be less tough than bigger carrots as well.
What dish to serve with sauteed carrots
- Chicken is by far one of the best things to pair with some sauteed carrots. They go great with braised chicken and also baked chicken thighs.
- Beef also goes great with carrots. My braised beef recipe is delicious.
Variations of sautéed carrots
Sautéed carrots and honey
Adding honey to the carrots really brings a unique flavor to the carrot. You want to follow the recipe above but in the end, don’t add the balsamic just pull the carrots off the heat and toss them in the honey.
Don’t go crazy, a tablespoon of good honey should be enough.
Sautéed carrots and brown sugar
This is a favorite around the holiday season. This really is a sweet version of carrots. You want to follow all the steps in the sautéed carrots but in the end, don’t add the balsamic instead add 1 tbsp. of butter and 1 tbsp. of brown sugar.
Sautéed Carrots – 5 Simple Steps
Equipment
- Chef kife
- Cutting board
- Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 3 carrots
- 1 tsp Olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
Instructions
Washing the carrots
- Wash the carrots under cold water or using a vegatable spray.
Peeling the carrots
- Peel the carrots and cut off the tops and ends.
Cut the carrots
- Cut up your carrots by slicing them into 3in x 1/4in matchsticks. Start by cutting the carrot in half the long way and then cut those halves in half the long way again.
- Now, cut them in half across in the other direction and then go ahead and slice those pieces so that they are 1/4" thick.
Prepare to sauté
- Heat up your pan on medium heat. Once the pan is hot go ahead and heat up your olive oil.
Sauté the carrots
- Once the oil is hot add in your carrots; stir them around and sauté them.Make sure that all of the carrots are touching bottom of the pan so that they can cook evenly.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt evenly over all of the carrots; mix them around and continue to cook.
- Once the carrots are tender and starting to brown a little, add in the balsamic vinegar and deglaze the pan. Stir everything around coating the carrots in the balsamic and getting the brown bits unstuck from the pan.
I made these carrots as directed and i was pleased with h ow they came out. I used a non-stick pan so there was nothing to deglaze but the the flavor was good with the vinegar.
That’s great! Sautéed carrots are a great way to spice up the plain old carrot.