November 17, 2022

Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots

I just looove the brightness of this dish and, most importantly, the delicious-ness of the carrots. Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots has middle-eastern flair and robustness from the harissa and cumin and then is layered, mellowed and sweetened with maple syrup. It’s a perfect side dish for fall and winter recipes. I often-times serve it for Thanksgiving since it’s a great make-ahead and serve-room-temp recipe.

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Ingredients

Organize the ingredients: mulit-colored carrots (petite or regular-sized), olive oil, harissa paste (mild or spicy), maple syrup, grated garlic, cumin seeds, and lemon/orange zest.

Harissa Paste

Harissa is a North African chili pepper paste. Mina is the brand of Harissa I use. It comes in Mild and Spicy. Use either version for this recipe.

Making the Sauce

Place sauce ingredients in a medium sized bowl - olive oil, maple syrup, harissa paste, garlic, and cumin seeds

Place garlic, cumin seeds, harissa, olive oil, and maple syrup in a medium-sized bowl. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Mix sauce together until thoroughly combined.

Prepping and Roasting the Carrots

Place carrots on a disposable pan or double stacked baking sheets. Combine carrots with sauce using your hands or tongs.

Roast carrots for 35-40 mins until tender and charred in places, turning occasionally.

For easier clean-up I highly recommend using a disposable pan for this recipe or use two baking sheets – one nested inside the other. Place the carrots in the pan and spoon 1/2-3/4 of the sauce over the carrots. Combine sauce with carrots using your hands or tongs. Place pan in a pre-heated 450 degree oven and roast, turning occasionally, until carrots are tender and charred in spots, 35-40 minutes.

Zest 1/2 of the lemon and/or orange right before serving Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots, optional.

Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots

Transfer carrots to a serving platter. When ready to serve drizzle on some additional sauce and lemon/orange zest, if using. Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots can be served hot, room temp, or cold.

Print Recipe

Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time50

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: carrots, cumin seed, extra virgin olive oil, harissa, maple syrup

Servings: 8 servings

Author: GFchow @ gfchow.com

Equipment

disposable baking sheet

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves finely grated or crushed in a garlic press
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon harissa paste mild or spicy, I use Mina brand and I know Trader Joe's carries their own brand
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 1/2 pounds rainbow carrots (orange, yellow, purple) peeled or scrubbed, tops and bottoms trimmed if necessary. For large carrots, halve or cut into thirds vertically. set aside green carrot tops to use as garnish, optional.
1/2 lemon zested, optional
1/2 orange zested, optional
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to season sauce and carrots

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450°.
Mix garlic, cumin seeds, harissa, olive oil, and maple syrup in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. (See NOTES section below for more info.)
Combine carrots with the sauce and thoroughly coat in a large disposable roasting pan or on stacked baking pans. Roast, turning occasionally, until carrots are tender and charred in spots, 35-40 minutes.
Transfer carrots to a serving platter. When ready to serve drizzle on some additional sauce and lemon/orange zest, if using. Harissa Maple Roasted Carrots can be served hot, room temp, or cold.

Notes

I used prepackaged multi-colored petite carrots from Trader Joe’s, which did not need peeling or trimming in combination with full sized multi-colored carrots, which did need peeling and trimming.

If you like extra sauce like I do, either make 1 1/2x the recipe or double it. Combine half of the sauce with the carrots before roasting and spoon on extra sauce before serving. Or serve the extra sauce in a small bowl and let guests spoon on their own sauce.

For easier clean-up I highly recommend using a disposable pan for this recipe or use two baking sheets – one nested inside the other. I learned the hard way!

If using very large, extra thick, or smaller, petite carrots, the roasting time will need to be adjusted more or less accordingly. Ideally, you want all of the carrots to be similar in size for even cooking.

This is an easy recipe to double.

Carrots can be cooked 6 or so hours ahead. Once carrots have cooled, cover and chill. Bring to room temperature or reheat slightly before serving. If doing this, add extra sauce and zest right before serving.

Recipe from Bon Appétit.

If you like this recipe, you may also like these other GFchow recipes. Roasted Pepper Cups with Cherry Tomatoes, Olives and Ricotta, Crispy Harissa Chicken Thighs, and Shaved Carrot and Radish Salad with Pumpkin Seeds.

GLUTEN FREE DISCLAIMER

The recipes you find here are considered by me to be gluten free. However, it is up to you to make sure the ingredients you use are gluten free. Whenever possible, I will list specific brands of ingredients that I use, but always be sure to check the labels yourself to verify the item is gluten free.