Carrots
April 2026
Check out some creative dishes that call for carrots below.
Carrot Pakora
Typically this dish is made multiple vegetables, but using only carrots is a cinch and so incredibly delicious! Sautéed with red onion, jalapeño, and mixed with cumin, coriander, and garam masala, these carrot pakora would be a great appetizer for a spring Indian feast!
Fry them briefly in oil, add a dip on the side, or change your spices completely to make it yours!
Multicolored Carrots with Gnocchi
Multicolored carrots look beautiful in this simple, but delicious gnocchi in brown butter recipe. This meal was particularly great for understanding the difference in taste between the different carrot colors!
Carrot and Brown Butter Sauce with Gnocchi
This sauce, as vibrantly colored as it is naturally sweet, goes perfectly with some vegan brown butter. Some apple cider vinegar helped to give it some character. The sauce would go well with just about any pasta.
Cool Facts about Carrots
What makes carrots orange?
Carrots are full of something called beta carotene, a carotenoid pigment. Once consumed, your body converts this into Vitamin A, a crucial vitamin for eye, skin, and bone health.
Do purple carrots have different nutrients?
They do! Purple carrots are high in anthcyanins, pigments which have anti-inflammatory properties. Lutein is also found in purple carrots, another carotenoid that’s crucial for eye and brain health.
What about multicolored carrots?
The orange carrot wasn’t the dominant kind of carrot until the 17th century when farmers in Holland started crossbreeding carrot varieties, making orange the predominant color. Before then, the purple carrot was the dominant variety.
How old are carrots?
It’s unclear how old the carrot seed really is. Evidence seems to suggest the carrot originated in Central Asia (modern day Iran, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan) around 1,100 years ago. At least, this is when the plant would’ve been farmed. But ancient Swiss and German campsites also show carrot seeds from 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, though these were potentially from wild carrots, not ones that were planted and farmed.
