Writing about sous vide glazed carrots is another one of those vegetable posts that my younger self would never have anticipated writing! During my childhood, teens and even twenties I did about as much as I could to avoid eating vegetables. And now, I’m doing my best to find convenient ways to include nutritious side dishes into my daily routine.
Carrots are one of those foods that a lot of diet gurus warn us away from, because they contain a relatively high level of sugar, compared to other vegetables. I don’t buy it. Yes, they may have more sugar in them than a serving of kale, but that is not my comparison point. How about compared to a side of pasta? Or dessert?
The sugar is a carrot is tied up in fiber and a natural food, which completely fits into my eating philosophy, so no worries. Plus, it also contains a host of other nutrients so (lightly) glazed carrots are welcome in my home!
So why sous vide? Why not just glaze them the old fashioned way, on the stove top? Good question. I could, but I prefer the hands off approach that sous vide offers.
Instead of watching and monitoring my carrots, trying to make sure I don’t overcook them, or undercook them either, I simply set the temp to 145 and leave them alone.
I have a habit of adding too much liquid to a pan of carrots, and also of cooking them too long and too hot, well past a well done firmness and into mushy when cooking on the stove. But with sous vide, I know that the temperature will be just right and by adding all my ingredients into the bag at the beginning, I am protecting myself from myself and my heavy hand.
One last note about sous vide glazed carrots, and why I like this approach as opposed to others is that if/when I am cooking a protein for dinner, which is almost always, I generally let the protein rest for a few minutes after cooking and before serving.
Which is perfect to help me time these carrots. I generally wait until I take the roast out of the oven or off the stove before adding the carrots to a pan to finish them off. The amount of time it takes to finish the carrots in the pan is basically the same amount of time that I need to let my protein rest for a few minutes and slice or prepare to be plated.
This way I know for sure that my side of glazed carrots will be done at the exact time that my protein will be plated. Kinda nice any night of the week, but especially convenient for dinner parties and when guests are over, and you have a lot going on in the kitchen.
Sous Vide Glazed Carrots
Equipment
- sous vide immersion stick
Ingredients
- 6 carrots, peeled medium to large
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
Instructions
- set up your sous vide equipment and set temp to 145 degrees F
- peel and chop your carrots, place into sealable sous vide appropriate bag
- add the rest of the ingredients to carrots
- vacuum seal sous vide bag and place into pre-heated water
- let cook at 145 for one hour, give or take, according to your schedule
- a few minutes before serving, empty sous vide bag of carrots and juices into pan over medium heat on stovetop
- cook five to 10 minutes until water evaporates leaving a slight glaze on carrots
- serve warm
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