These roasted carrot strings are bright, fresh and lemony with a little bit of crunch; a really fun way to eat your carrots!
Saturday I made 59 pizzelle with my mom.
The {family} recipe called for 2 sticks of margarine.
Yep, margarine (and for the record, I begged her to use butter instead).
Do people even still eat that stuff?
Let me just say this after that experience, if you ever need something to jolt you out of a week of non-stop sweets, soften 2 sticks of margarine in the microwave and take one glance at the result.
If the neon yellow blob staring back at you doesn’t kick your sweet tooth to the curb, there’s no hope.
So instead of making the apricot brandy cake I’m supposed to bring to Christmas eve dinner like I should’ve yesterday, I played with carrots and Meyer lemons.
Beautiful red, orange, yellow organic carrots and sweet Meyer lemons, just about as far from the chemical shit storm called margarine I could get.
I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a vegetable as much as I did these carrot strings in a verrrrry long time.
If zucchini noodles didn’t convince you to buy a julienne peeler, then I hope these roasted carrot strings do.
Five minutes spent spiralizing some carrots with the
If you use a real
The best part though is the Meyer lemon basil dressing the roasted carrot strings are tossed in first making each bite bright and refreshing.
Oh, and the little crunchy pieces scattered throughout, I dare you to not pick them out one by one straight out of the oven…so good!
If you love this recipe, try my air fryer carrot recipe too. They’re perfectly tender with crispy golden brown edges and ready in just 20 minutes!
Meyer Lemon Roasted Carrot Strings with Lemon Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
- 1.5 pound organic carrots, peeled with a julienne peeler (or cut into very thin strips)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 1 meyer lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
For the Lemon Garlic Yogurt Sauce
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- juice of 1/2 a meyer lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and salt & pepper in a small bowl.
- Toss the carrot strings with the dressing in a large bowl.
- Add the basil and toss to combine.
- Spread the carrots evenly onto the baking sheet.
- Roast for 20 minutes, tossing often to help them crisp up.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for the yogurt sauce in a small bowl.
- Remove the carrots from the oven, plate and serve with the yogurt sauce and extra basil as a garnish.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
These are wickedly addictive :)
I might recommend letting people know that they don’t get totally crisp in the oven (at least mine didn’t), but if you take them out when they seem “almost” dried out, they will crisp up as they cool out of the oven (oh, that reminds me of cookies….lol). I tried to let mine get crisp in the oven, and just a minute takes a beautiful carrot string from almost ready to, um, a bit overdone (although I scarfed them up even though they were slightly too toasty).
Thanks for a great recipe.
At what point do you add the basil? I don’t see it in the instructions. This looks delicious. Hoping to go get the ingredients this afternoon!
Sorry! Just edited the recipe. You’d add it right after the dressing, tossing it together before spreading onto the baking sheet. Then garnish with extra basil before serving. Hope you enjoy it!
I am seriously in LOVE with this recipe. The photo is gorgeous and I love carrots.
Got a spiral doodad last summer (GEFU brand, kinda pricey but substantial + two different width choices), and we had such fun with zucchini “noodles.”
Can’t WAIT to get to the store to round up some carrots and make this immediately. Yum. Merry/Happy!
These carrots look delicious! I’m not always a fan of cooked carrots but when you mentioned that they still had a bit of crunch I was in!!
i am ready to indulge in carrots and zucchinis now, had a fair share of my desserts this season. I dont have a spiralizer but will try it with a peeler :)
It looks amazing, just what I want to eat right now… after all these Christmas cookies and cakes I really starve for some healthy and fresh food! :)
Holiday Greetings, rebecca :D
I AM DROOLING!!
love cutting our carrots like this!! looks delicious. we’ve been loving tri-colored carrots, makes dishes so pretty ;)
I have never eaten, or even heard of, a carrot string! However, peeling the carrot into strings makes it look so fancy and much prettier than your boring old carrot stick. Love the addition of the lemon and Greek yogurt. I’m all over extra punches of protein. Pinned!