Pan fried carrots recipe that's easy, quick, and ready in less than 10 minutes. These pan roasted carrots are tender, crisp, flavorful, and delicious. It makes the perfect side dish served with potatoes, fried drumsticks, rice, steak, pasta, or any side of your choice. Let me show you how to cook carrots in a pan.
Pan Fried Carrots Recipe
These pan fried carrots are the best. Tender, sweet, and delicious. You won't believe it's made with just 4 ingredients and cooked in 6 minutes. Carrots, oil, black pepper, and parsley. In fact, you only just require 2 ingredients- carrots and olive oil but you can add salt, sugar, honey, and any seasoning of your choice if you please.
Move aside oven roasted carrots because these pan roasted carrots save time and come out perfectly cooked. They are healthy, smell, look, and taste amazing.
These fried carrots are faster to make on the stovetop than roasting in the oven. Moreover, it keeps the oven free to cook other meals like roast chicken, and Turkey.
Pan frying carrots is a healthy way of cooking it. It's easy, fast, and simple.
This skillet fried carrots is vegetarian, plant based, gluten and dairy free. Learn how to pan fry carrots in easy steps.
Related: Boiled carrots, Oven roasted carrots
Ingredients
Carrots- Use any type of carrots. Baby carrots, sliced carrots, or whole carrots.
Olive oil- or vegetable or sunflower
Parsley- Or any herb of choice.
Salt and pepper
How To Cook Carrots In A Pan
Here's how to pan fry carrots:
Use a potato peeler to scrape the outer layer of the carrots (Optional)
Wash the carrots and cut them into desired shapes. I recommend bite size because the bigger they are the longer they cook.
Place a skillet on medium heat then add olive oil.
Add carrots to the pan then add a tablespoon of water or broth. Cover the pan with a lid and cook carrots for 3 minutes with the skillet covered to trap in steam (the steam softens the carrots).
Take the lid off, add parsley, black pepper, and seasoning then fry the carrots uncovered till they are crisp (the carrots will be soft inside and crisp outside).
Take off the heat, serve and enjoy.
Variation
Pan fried Carrots and broccoli- You can fry carrots and broccoli at the same time. To do this, cut the broccoli into florets, rinse then add into the pot when you add the carrots.
Honey fried carrots- Carrots are naturally sweet but if you want to up the sweetness and for caramelized carrots, add honey or brown sugar into the skillet when the carrots are fried, stir for a minute then take it off heat.
Make it Asian style- Add soy sauce and Sesame oil to the carrots towards the end of the cooking.
How Long To Cook Carrots In A Pan
How long to pan fry carrots depends on the size, thickness, and heat.
For bite size carrots cut into ½ - 1inch, how long to fry is 5-6 minutes.
When cut bigger, and for baby carrots, it takes up to 6-8 minutes
If frying whole carrots, it will take up to 12 minutes.
So, how long to pan fry carrots is between 5-12 minutes.
Carrots are fried when the inside is tender, and the outer crisp. You can check for tenderness by sticking a fork into one. If it goes in without resistance then it's tender.
What To Serve With Pan Fried Carrots
Pan-fried carrots pairs well with lots of main dishes. Here are some recommendations for what to serve with:
Fried potatoes, Air fryer red potatoes, air fried potato wedges
Pan fried steak, pan fried salmon
Air fryer Salmon
Creamy tomato pasta
How To Store
To store fried carrots, you should leave them to cool completely before packing them in a Ziploc or airtight container and storing them in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you store it in the freezer it will keep well for up to 3 months
It can be reheated in the pan, microwave, oven or air fryer.
To reheat in a pan- Place a pan on medium heat, when heated, add the carrots and stir fry till it's heated through.
To microwave- Put carrots on a microwave safe plate, put in the microwave, and microwave on high settings at 30 seconds intervals till it's heated through.
Tips For Making Fried Carrots
- You can cut the carrots a day before and store them in the fridge so you only have to cook them when ready.
- You can use any type of carrots be it baby carrots, rainbow carrots, or whole carrots.
- Cut carrots to a similar size for even cooking.
- Covering the pan in the first few minutes locks in steam to soften the carrots before then frying/roasting the outer when the lid is removed.
FAQS
Yes, fried carrot is healthy. Carrots are high in nutrients. You only use a tablespoon of oil to pan fry carrots and they turn tender, crispy, delicious, and flavorful.
Yes, you can. No need to boil carrots before frying. The carrots come out tender and crisp when fried the right way and you only use one pan. Follow this recipe for a good outcome.
Follow the directions above to pan fry baby carrots. It's the same process however, baby carrots might take longer to cook than the ones cut into bite size.
Yes, steam frying carrots soften them then crisp them making them tender, and delicious.
Tools
Vegetable peeler
Knife
Cutting board
Skillet
Pan lid
More Quick Vegetable Side dishes
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Recipe
Pan Fried Carrots Recipe
Equipment
- Skillet
Ingredients
- 500 g (1lb) Carrots
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 2 tablespoon Parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Use a potato peeler to scrape the outer layer of the carrots (Optional).
- Wash the carrots and cut them into desired shapes. I recommend bite size because the bigger they are the longer they cook.
- Place a skillet on medium heat then add olive oil.
- Add carrots to the pan then add a tablespoon of water or broth. Cover the pan with a lid and cook carrots for 3-5 minutes with the skillet covered to trap in steam (the steam softens the carrots).
- Take the lid off, add parsley, black pepper, and seasoning then fry the carrots uncovered till they are crisp (the carrots will be soft inside and crisp outside).
- Take off the heat, serve and enjoy.
Notes
- You can cut the carrots a day before and store them in the fridge so you only have to cook them when ready.
- You can use any type of carrots be it baby carrots, rainbow carrots, or whole carrots.
- Cut carrots to a similar size for even cooking.
- Covering the pan in the first few minutes locks in steam to soften the carrots before then frying/roasting the outer when the lid is removed.
Nutrition
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