Every Australian Sunday roast has a tray of watery, beige, boring carrots.

Why you are cooking this tonight

Every Australian Sunday roast has a tray of watery, beige, boring carrots. This is not that. Whole baby carrots, whole, roasted in a tangle of butter, honey and cumin, until the edges caramelise and the butter turns nutty. You end up with the sweetest, most savoury vegetable on the table.

Dutch carrots with the tops left on look beautiful and taste right. If your greengrocer only has the bagged regular carrots, halve them lengthways – the cut side is where the caramelisation lives.

Notes on method

Unsalted butter, real honey (something floral, not the cheap squeeze bottle), fresh cumin seeds toasted at the start.

What to pour with it

With a roast lamb or chicken, a Heathcote shiraz or a McLaren Vale grenache. For the drinks table, an Old Fashioned with orange peel.

Woodford Reserve Bourbon

An Old Fashioned alongside. Caramel on caramel.

Dolin Rouge Sweet Vermouth

Sweet vermouth on ice with an orange twist.

Aperol

Aperol Spritz pre-dinner with these on the table.

Burnt Butter Carrots with Honey and Cumin

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 35

Total Time 10

Servings: 6

Cuisine: Australian, Middle Eastern

Calories: 220

Ingredients Method Nutrition

Ingredients

Carrots

1 kg Dutch carrots (or 800g regular carrots, halved lengthways)
80 g unsalted butter
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp cumin seeds
3 sprigs thyme
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Sea salt flakes and cracked pepper

To finish

2 tbsp Greek yoghurt, dolloped on top
2 tbsp toasted pepitas
1 tbsp chopped parsley or dill

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C fan-forced. Wash carrots, leave on a couple of centimetres of the tops if using Dutch.
Toast cumin seeds in a dry pan for 60 seconds until fragrant.
In a large roasting tray, melt butter over low heat on stovetop. Once it foams and turns golden brown (about 3 min), remove from heat. Stir in honey, cumin, thyme, garlic, salt.
Add carrots, toss to coat.
Roast 30-35 minutes, turning once halfway, until carrots are tender and edges deeply caramelised.
Tip onto a serving plate, dollop yoghurt in spoonfuls, scatter pepitas and herbs. Serve with pan juices drizzled over.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 220kcal

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Two things that go wrong

Your butter wasn’t browned enough.

Pale yellow melted butter is just butter. The browning is where flavour comes from, keep cooking it past golden into a deep amber, watching for the milk solids at the bottom to turn nut-brown. Off the heat the second it’s there, or it’ll burn black.

You crowded the tray.

Carrots packed tight steam instead of caramelising. Spread them in a single layer with breathing room. Use two trays if needed. Want golden-brown edges, not pale tender lumps.

Variations worth knowing

Harissa and yoghurt

Stir a tablespoon of harissa paste into the burnt butter. Serve on a bed of thick yoghurt with toasted almonds.

Maple and pecan

Replace honey with maple syrup and scatter toasted pecans over before serving. Particularly good with roast turkey.

Whole spice

Add a teaspoon each of fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds to the burnt butter. Toasted-spice fragrance.

Leftovers and make ahead

Burnt butter carrots are even better cold the next day, the flavour develops overnight. Toss into a green salad with goats cheese and walnuts, or chop and stir through couscous with herbs. They keep 3 days in the fridge.

Autumn, Recipes, Sides and Snacks, Winter

Burnt Butter Carrots with Honey and Cumin

Why you are cooking this tonight

Notes on method