Balsamic Roasted Carrots

Balsamic Roasted Carrots are an easy yet flavorful side dish that’s perfect alongside any entree. Tender, caramelized carrots are coated in a savory-sweet vinegar glaze.

When people talk about the cravings that pregnant women have, I always laugh. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had ZERO cravings, only aversions.

The worst ones were cucumbers and balsamic vinegar (I thought pregnant women were supposed to love vinegary cucumbers aka pickles?!?).

Five years later, these aversions are mostly gone, with a few lingering weird feelings. I still feel a little queasy when I see a PICTURE of cucumbers (the brain is wild) but I can cook with them and eat them just fine.

But I luckily have NO lingering hard feelings about balsamic vinegar. Between making balsamic glaze for balsamic green beans and roasted asparagus in oven and marinating steaks in balsamic steak marinade, I seem to go through a bottle of this vinegar every month!

So of course, today, I’m bringing you these balsamic roasted carrots. I like them the most in spring and summer when carrots are at their best (extra credit if they’re fresh out of the garden).

What you’ll need to make these balsamic carrots:

• carrots – you will need 1 pound of fresh carrots for these balsamic roasted carrots. I love small carrots with their tops still on if I can find them, but just like with my honey glazed carrots recipe, larger carrots that you cut into smaller sticks work just fine.
• olive oil – for roasting the balsamic glazed carrots.
• salt and pepper – goes without saying for all roasted vegetables!
• balsamic vinegar – of course this is the star ingredient of the glaze! Because you’ll be reducing the vinegar to 50% of its original volume, that means the flavor will concentrate, too. Which means you’ll want to start with a nice mid-range vinegar for roasted balsamic carrots. Doesn’t need to be super ritzy stuff, but it’s also not the time to use the bargain bin vinegar, either. Eataly has a lot of good information on how to buy balsamic vinegar.
• light brown sugar – this balances the tartness of the vinegar and adds to the syrupy consistency of the glaze for this balsamic carrot recipe.
• soy sauce – this isn’t an ingredient found in most balsamic glaze recipes, but it is in mine! Rather than salt, I use soy sauce to season my glaze, because it adds a hit of umami at the same time. I
• unsalted butter – I like to swirl a pat of butter into the glaze at the end of the cooking process, to enhance the mouthfeel and flavor of the glaze.

How to make Balsamic Glazed Carrots:

1. PREP CARROTS. If your carrots are small, you can leave them whole and unpeeled. If your carrots are large, peel them, then cut them in half crosswise. Then, cut the thinner lower halves of the carrots in half lengthwise. Cut the thicker upper halves of the carrots in half lengthwise, and then in half lengthwise again. 

2. SEASON. Place the carrots on a rimmed baking pan, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss until well combined.

3. ROAST. Roast the carrots 14 to 16 minutes or until they are almost tender, stirring once. Then, drizzle the carrots with balsamic glaze and toss to combine.

4. GLAZE. Return to the oven and roast 4 minutes longer or until the carrots are fully tender, and the glaze is sticking to the carrots, but not burning.

Other uses for the glaze:

As mentioned above, you’ll only need half a batch of homemade balsamic glaze for 1 pound of carrots (4 servings).

You can simply halve the ingredients of the glaze and make just a half batch for these balsamic roasted carrots, or, as I prefer, you can make a full batch and use the remaining glaze to spruce up other meals throughout the week!

Balsamic glaze is so good when served over a variety of protein. I love drizzling it over thinly sliced, rare flat iron steak on grill and even chicken pizza.

It’s delicious served over roasted or grilled chicken. It also adds a special finishing touch to my sockeye salmon, shrimp or almost any other type of seafood you can think of.

I think balsamic glaze really shines when it’s served with vegetables, and not just carrots. When I’m not making maple glazed Brussels sprouts, I absolutely adore Brussels sprouts with balsamic glaze.

I love balsamic glazed parsnips, and this glaze is perfect drizzled over mini Hasselback potatoes, too.

What should I serve with balsamic glazed carrots?

A better question is what CAN’T you serve with these balsamic roasted carrots? But just like my Parmesan roasted broccoli, I think they go particularly well with rich meaty dishes like lamb lollipops and crockpot beef stroganoff.

Balsamic glazed carrots are also perfect alongside savory oatmeal or salmon pasta.